THE campaign is officially under way for the “election of a generation” and the choice seems to be either Cameron or Miliband.

There is a great difference in this election. Historically it has been easy to predict a winner, but with this election it is impossible to call.

It’s interesting for us voters to think that we could vote for Conservatives or Labour but there might not be a clear majority, so we could see one party having to ‘do a deal’ with another party to form a coalition.

Labour are working hard to win over businesses after being criticised in some quarters for alienating business since Miliband won the leadership in 2010. Membership of the EU could help Labour win votes and yesterday’s advert in the Financial Times showed the clear message that leaving the EU would be the biggest risk to British businesses.

I was reading an article from the British Chamber of Commerce which said that businesspeople, both individually and collectively, seem desperate for a different type of politics - more mature, more long-term and more focused on the national interest. There’s a lack of trust in the political system where businesses feel compelled to set out behavioural standards for candidates. That seems a long way away when parties - in the short-termism electoral interest - tie their hands on taxation, as both Labour and the Conservatives last week.

After watching last week’s TV event with Cameron and Miliband, I’m looking forward to the seven-way political leaders’ debate on Thursday evening. The British Chamber will be hosting a Chamber Network ‘Twitter Hour’, which will allow Dorset Chamber and our members to express the business-critical priorities that the party leaders should address in the debate. Follow @DorsetChamber for further information this week.

Away from the election, it was great to see FlyBe operating again out of Bournemouth Airport and the first flight to Glasgow taking off yesterday. It shouldn’t just be an airport for us to use to fly to holiday destinations, so it’s important we continue to work with tourist boards to attract more visitors from overseas to fly in to Bournemouth and make Dorset their holiday destination.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Peter Matthews from Castlepoint who has been made President of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade & Commerce. I had the pleasure of attending the 99th president’s dinner with over 150 chamber members in attendance.