I REALLY MUST apologise to someone. I don’t know her name, but she phoned a few weeks ago. And when she asked me who I’d be voting for in the local elections, I had no hesitation. I told her Labour.

The woman’s thanks were heartfelt. Being a Labour party worker these days can’t be as much fun as it was in those halcyon days of 1997. So I’m sorry to disappoint someone I pleased so much. Apologies, but I think I’ve changed my mind.

My voting intention was based entirely on local issues, and one in particular. I would like to sound highbrow about this, but what drives me mad is parking. For you, it might be refuse collection, youth facilities or recycling, but for me it’s the fact that I pay for a resident’s parking permit, can rarely park near my house and then have to fork out a pound for a visitor’s permit every time someone comes to visit me. For the first time in my life I contacted the (Conservative) council about this. Their lame response infuriated me so much, I vowed not to vote for them.

Let me assure you that I am not completely shallow. In fact, parking was the last straw. I’m more worried about why many children can’t get a place at nearby schools, why budget cuts have forced my local library to have shorter opening hours and why the council suddenly decided to stop funding pest control.

However, punishing a local council is a dangerous game as it makes you support someone else by default. I always knew that my thoughtfully cast local vote could be translated into a national one and that any support for Labour locally could look like a vote of confidence in the Government. But after the disasters and embarrassments of the last few weeks, particularly those surrounding the Home Secretary, I’m no longer happy for my vote to be misinterpreted. I’m unwilling to back a Government not just mired in sleaze, but incompetent too.

So what is a floating voter to do? If voting along local lines can backfire, perhaps I should turn to national ones. Except for one big problem — I’m disillusioned with all the main parties.

Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems have often tried to woo me. I can’t even count the number of times I have heard how they are trying to attract female voters or working mothers. But Tony Blair and his leader-in-waiting Gordon Brown, not to mention David Cameron, need to realise that the much sought-after woman voter is not just waiting for a political leader to put on a sweater and mutter sweet nothings. I want somebody who realises that what matters is well-run schools, and hospitals where patients are treated quickly and without catching MRSA. I also want real action on childcare — not just the endless pumping of money into nurseries, when all recent research suggests that they aren’t the best place for babies.

Labour has record numbers of women MPs and the Prime Minister has appointed various females to positions of high authority. Yet its promise of a brave new female world still hasn’t been met. Labour have never had a female leader, home secretary or foreign secretary, while the horribly labelled “Blair babes” were rather a disappointment in the end. In fact, a patronising attitude towards women was revealed last week in a comment about John Prescott’s affair. “John will be feeling he has let the side down, let the Labour Party down,” one un-named minister was quoted as saying. What about his wife?

David Cameron has certainly capitalised on Labour’s problems by trying to directly appeal to women. You can see it by the careful way he chooses his clothes, the soft way he speaks, his appearances on websites such as mumsnet where he answers questions from concerned mothers. And you can also see it by the way that he — as Tony Blair did before him — is becoming synonymous with his whole party. It’s as if he’s hoping we might forget that he’s a Tory and just vote for him because he’s “bicycling Dave”, a caring father of three.

But Cameron has a lot more work to do before he convinces me, even though I admire his PR. He’s right that I’m attracted by his attempts to make his party more appealing to both women and ethnic minorities. However, I’m not persuaded that the reality matches the rhetoric.

I’m also not quite sure why he’s focusing on the environment above everything else. The Conservative slogan for the council elections is not to do with education, health or crime, but “Vote Blue, Go Green”. I need real policies, not just motoring tips. Telling me to drive a greener car isn’t enough to make me vote blue.

How, for example, is he proposing to ease worries about Labour’s future council tax rises and why has he made Tory education policy little different from Labour’s? If I wanted to vote for Tony Blair, I would.

I have always voted, and feel very strongly that having the vote is something which no one should take for granted. I have not always voted for the same party, and never really found a political home.

At one point I veered towards the Lib Dems (and before them, the SDP). These days, however, they seem completely uninspiring. Led by a “safe pair of hands”, the whole party appears lacking in joie de vivre. There may have been some sparks in its recent leadership contest, but since then nothing has enticed me to vote for them.

Turnout will obviously be low today — it always is in council elections. I’m fearful that many people may vote BNP as a protest, and pray that won’t happen. I know I’ll vote; I just don’t know who for. I only hope inspiration strikes as I enter the voting booth.

Times Recommends

• We have kit and leadership. Let’s go
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal
• Conferences — what a waste of money