POLLING cards have landed on doormats all over Essex in the past few days, and are likely to have been received with a mixture of apathy and bewilderment.

While there are plenty of strong opinions about who should win the next general election, thousands will wonder whether to bother voting in the county council and European Parliament elections on June 4.

Yet the politicians will stress the public’s decision to vote has a direct impact on their own lives.

The evidence is there. In Colchester, it was a Conservative-run Essex County Council which drew up the schools shake-up plans that have dominated the headlines for more than a year.

The cabinet will rely on funding from central Government to drive through the proposals to shut Alderman Blaxill and Thomas, Lord Audley schools, turn Sir Charles Lucas Arts College into an academy and build a vocational college for teenagers in south Colchester.

Other big initiatives the authority is working on include plans to give a private contract to run services worth millions. The scheme will help to save £200million of taxpayers’ cash for pumping into frontline services, an ambition many people applaud.

On the other hand, opposition Labour councillors warn it will put jobs at risk and make it harder for democratically-elected politicians to have a say.

The Tory administration has won plaudits for stepping in to save sub-post offices from closure, and for starting a municipal bank to give loans to struggling local businesses.

In the four years since the last elections, however, it has privatised carer posts – leading to the loss of jobs – and has been rapped by a watchdog over failures in looking after vulnerable children.

These could be the issues that decide who wins and loses, and Julie Young, Labour representative for the Wivenhoe St Andrew’s division, said there was a clear choice.

She said: “Council leader Lord Hanningfield’s priorities have been taking over the running of post offices and opening a bank for local businesses.

“Most council taxpayers think he should run social services appropriately and look after children.

“If you think standing up for the poor and vulnerable is the most important thing, don’t vote for the Conservatives.”

Lord Hanningfield said his policies were saving residents money. He said: “In 2001, the Conservatives took control of a poorly-run council close to bankruptcy thanks to a disasterous Lib/Lab pact.

“Over the past eight years, we have turned the organisation around, working to eliminate waste and inefficiency while focusing on the priorities of our residents. This year, our hard work culminated in the lowest ever council tax increase of just 1.9 per cent.”

Whatever the outcome on the night, one thing is clear – the Tories dominate county hall, holding a huge 50 seats out of a total of 75.

It would take a landslide to change the status quo, but the same cannot be said of the European Parliament.

The East of England counts as one huge constituency, and the politicial colours of its seven MEPs are decided by working out the percentage of votes polled for each party, right across the region.

If a fringe group like the Greens persuaded one in five people to vote for them in Europe, 20 per cent overall would almost certainly be enough to return an MEP.

Also, as there are so many countries involved with only loose cross-border alliances between like-minded parties, daily parliamentary votes can turn on a sixpence.

Labour MEP for the region, Richard Howitt, said: “The European Union really isn’t like a country or a federal super-state, it is a collection of countries and no one party or group has overall control.”

Aside from the obscure rules and regulations for which the EU has become infamous, much of what is decided in Brussels has major implications for life in the UK.

Mr Howitt added: “MEPs recently won a long campaign to get equal rights at work for temporary agen-cy workers.

“It kicks in only after 18 weeks, so it shouldn’t cause too many paperwork problems, but it means people will not be denied sick pay because they work for an agency It’s something at European level that will really benefit our region.”

Mustering the energy and enthusiasm to vote in a county or European election might seem a drag after a long day at work, but whatever your beliefs, the only sure-fire way to make the politicians take notice is to cast your vote.