Not sure how to vote. In my area the Cons are going to romp home.

[NeilYoungCrazyHorse]

I live in a Tory safe seat. The MP basically got over 60% of the vote with no one breathing down his neck in 2015. I am pretty sure that the Con candidate is going to romp it home again next week however I think their margin will be reduced as my town is going down hill rapidly because of the austerity cuts.

I really do not know how to vote next week. I have no loyalty to any of the parties and am not that impressed with any of them. However, I do think the Cons need taking down a peg or 2. Labour, LibD and UKIP all came within a few hundred votes of each other so we have no clear 2nd party that could oust the Cons. There are only the 4 main parties on the ballot.

Not sure what to do. I can't tactically vote and feel I may be wasting a vote. Any suggestions what to do in this case?

[WorldWideWanderer]

You are never wasting a vote, ever. We are lucky in this country to have a vote, use it.
You may feel you can't change anything, and you may not like the likely candidate/party who will get in to your area, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't vote for whoever you believe in most or whoever you'd like to see get in.
Personally I'm not in favour of tactically voting although others would disagree. A vote is a way of registering your preferences, even if it's a lost cause. The only wasted vote is an unused vote......

[hanahsaunt]

Our tory MP was returned with 52% of the vote last time and I can't see it being any different this time. However I am damned if I am going to let him think it's his by right, that everyone supports him and his party and will be out there next week to remind him that he does not enjoy blanket support in this constituency. And one day there will be a suffiency of us that someone else will be elected! But it won't happen if we don't get out and vote.

[noblegiraffe]

Have a look at how each candidate stands on local issues if the main manifestos don't impress? Are any of the candidates doing a better job of campaigning for your vote?

[Topseyt]

I have exactly the same problem here.

This seat has increasingly been a Conservative stronghold under the same MP for the last 40 years. In 2015 he had a majority of around 25,000, with Labour and the LibDems neck and neck for a poor third place, losing their deposits I think too. UKIP was in second with 13% of the vote.

I won't be voting Conservative as TM seems like a disaster waiting to happen. UKIP - definitely not!!! So I am tossing up between the LibDems and Labour. I WILL vote though.

[Topseyt]

Should add there, our Conservative MP, who has been in the job for 40 years and is now almost 80 is standing down at this election, so it will be interesting to see how that affects the voting figures here.

He had become a local man over that time, busy with local issues and well liked. The new candidate is not local, yet I believe the Labour and LibDem candidates are.

Interesting times.

[WildNightsWithAndyDay]

I'm in a similar position- our mp didn't even turn up to the hustings that had been rearranged twice to accommodate him (Ashford). Honestly you could dress a donkey in a blue suit and everyone would vote for it round here.

I will still vote, I will still write to the pompous cunt about everything he does that I object to and one day, somehow he will fuck off.

[SquirmOfEels]

Vote for the candidate who you think will be the best MP, and whose party's policies you can live with.

Huge majorities don't vanish rapidly, but can be eroded over time. But I guess that's a result of growing momentum of support for a party/particular candidate, not attempts at tactical voting which is potentially too changeable

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/mansfield-town-where-labour-votes-used-to-be-weighed-not-counted-is-now-a-realistic-tory-target-a3554116.html

[ahipponamedbooboobutt]

Some position. We've had the same Tory mp since 1997. Can't imagine it changing so I'm voting for the party who's policies I most agree with.
If you are considering tactical voting check out the yougov website otherwise go for who you believe in.

[lamado]

If you genuinely can't choose between the other main parties, then pick a smaller party (greens, independent) that you agree with and vote for them. For smaller parties/candidates it can mean they do not lose their deposit.

[elevenclips]

If you want to vote (which you don't have to - it's your right, not your obligation) then you could go on a website - such as this one (www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com or whatever google brings up) and answer the questions about your views and it will suggest a party for you to vote for. That way you'll be voting as close to your ideals as you can.

Personally I am not voting. I feel that I am being made to choose between unsuitable candidates so I am not choosing. I don't subscribe to the view that women should vote because the suffragettes got us the right to vote. They also got us the right to have jobs outside the home - but we can still be SAHMs if we believe that is the best decision under our own particular circumstances.

[PlymouthMaid1]

I have just found out that we have an independent candidate who sounds like a good bloke. I am so pleased that I won't have to spoil my paper as I can't vote for any of the main parties this time.

[ahipponamedbooboobutt]

wildnights I am shocked! I never knew there was a hustings (tbh I didn't even know what one was) but just seen a friend on Facebook share that DG did not show up. And that if you post on his Facebook page asking why he will delete and block you. He is actually blocking his constituents for wanting to hold him to account?? and yet he will still get a majority vote.
Makes me feel sick

[NeilYoungCrazyHorse]

Topseyt, I think we live in the same area.

[WildNightsWithAndyDay]

He's a wonderful man ahippo - he's still spouting on on his FB page about the cost of the Labour Land Tax. Anyone who comments that labour has specifically said several times they have no plans to do this is deleted and blocked within minutes.

[Wecks]

Same here. I've looked at the opposing candidates. Where are they from, what do they say about local issues. The lib dem lives 300 miles away and even the local party don't seem to know much about him. The labour guy is a local person active in council politics as is the Green. So it's between them.

[Thiscantreallybehappening]

Wild - the Land Value Tax is in the Labour manifesto page 86 I think. They are leaving it as an option and may replace Council Tax and business rates with this new tax.

[Clavinova]

The Land Tax is definitely mentioned in the Labour manifesto as a consideration - there's even a Land Tax campaign group;
www.labourland.org/

[WildNightsWithAndyDay]

You're right there is a Labour Land Campaign clavinova. There is also a statement from a Labour spokesman saying"This is desperate nonsense from the Tories. Labour has no such plans." www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/03/labours-garden-tax-hit-10million/

All references I can find to Labour Land Campaign are not affiliated directly with the Labour Party (happy to be corrected) and I can't see it mentioned in the manifesto either.

[Lweji]

I'd check which is the best candidate.

[allegretto]

I really don't get posts like this. THIS is the reason that safe seats exist! Get out and vote if you want things to change.

[underneaththeash]

Vote for who you would like to be in power.

If you would normally vote labour but think JC is too left wing, use it as an opportunity to tell the party that you are not happy with the direction the party has taken by voting for another party whose politics you agree with. I'm usually a conservative voter, but I vote labour if I think the conservatives are becoming too right wing - I would never vote for JC and I don't like the current political climate where there is no credible alternative.

However, if you like the current labour leader and his policies, vote for them.

You are never wasting your vote.

[Clavinova]

WildNightsWithAndyDay

Happy to correct you regarding the Land Tax.

Page 86 of the Labour Manifesto under Local Communities;
" We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options such as a land value tax to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term."

The Financial Times in 2015 names John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor as a member of the Land Tax Campaign;
www.ft.com/content/585e5784-6b66-11e5-aca9-d87542bf8673

So that's where they're going to plant a Money Tree.

[sexymuthafunker]

Check your postcode here to see what's most tactical where you live neilyoung stopthetori.es/?gclid=CjwKEAjw387JBRDPtJePvOej8kASJADkV9TLdXTdPBaq-2i-BPcwYSDNFouOgTTxBRQsO5gOoEm2FRoCLobw_wcB

It's ALWAYS worth voting

[Clavinova]

The Financial Times might be behind a paywall for you but you can read John Mcdonnell's web page here;

www.john-mcdonnell.net/about_john_mcdonnell

"John campaigns for a fair tax system in which wealthy individuals and big business pay their fair share, a clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion, a land value tax , a Tobin tax on speculators and the payment of a living wage."

[WildNightsWithAndyDay]

But even that one Labour MP that mentions the possibility of a land value tax isn't specifically backing or putting his name to the Labour Land Campaign. The only vaguely political people that seem to be openly backing it are a Labour Councillor from Salford and someone who once ran for the Green Party.

Surely if Labour are openly calling it nonsense and that they have no plans for it then that's the case?