AREN'T voters shy these days? In earlier elections it seemed that every other house would have posters up showing that their occupants supported one party or another.

AREN'T voters shy these days?

In earlier elections it seemed that every other house would have posters up showing that their occupants supported one party or another.

You would come across seats which were a sea of red or blue - and pockets of yellow or orange stickers as well.

But this time there seem to be very few posters about - although I did see one location where a Labour poster had a Tory leaflet stuck on top of it. The Tory leaflet didn't survive very long!

In the past we often hear from disgruntled party supporters who claim their opponents have taken down their signs, but this time there have been little of that.

One household that has had its signs taken down is Jim Auton's home in Colchester Road where the Labour banners were carefully moved.

Mr Auton, a former county councillor, didn't waste much time in putting them up again.

“We wanted to get them straight back up - I think I know who took them down.

“There are so few we had to get our voice heard again. Looking around the town I think I know who'll win the election - the estate agents!”

There are a few areas where signs have appeared - there's a massive Labour sign in Tuddenham Road, in the heart of the St Margaret's ward of Ipswich which is always closely fought between the Tories and Liberal Democrats.

It's almost as if a Labour supporter is cocking a snook at his Tory neighbours!

And there are other small pockets where a number of people seem intent on showing the world their political allegiances.

This time many of the most enthusiastic locations seem to be fields.

There aren't a lot of votes in fields - although if there's a poster beside the A14 or A12 it does get the message across to a good number of motorists.

But what has surprised me is the number of large UKIP posters I've seen in fields.

One industry that has done very well out of the European Union is agriculture with all the subsidies they've been sent from Brussels to overproduce over the years.

So it's a bit rich to see farmers so keen to pull out of Europe at the first sign of a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

It looks like a case of: “We've had our share of the European cake, now we want to get out before anyone else gets any benefit!”