If you’re gender critical…

In the council elections the most effective way to get Reform councillors in was to encourage people to vote Green in Labour seats.
In my borough (historically a straight fight between Labour/Tory) the Tories held their seats, it was Labour who lost seats to Reform. In each of the lost seats the Green vote was slightly larger than the gap between Labour and Reform. I’ve canvassed in these areas and know them well - they are generally poorer and diverse areas with a lot of low income self employed/zero hours workers who have historically been rock solid Labour. Exactly the group who had the bum end of both EU freedom of movement as well as the less helpful changes from Khan in London and the worst effects of austerity. They are not looking for more benefits they were looking for more opportunities and work and fairer access to the public housing stock and public services. This group also includes the kind of women who get the bum side of self ID as aggressively rolled out in the public sector.

A good friend who is a Labour councillor in what was a Labour council kept her seat but saw Labour lose control of the council - again Green votes giving Reform key seats leaving the Tories in overall control. The Green canvassers were cheerfully offering all things to all people and avoided the conflicts in their own wild promises, quite content to see seats go Reform if it displaced Labour.

Shifting left is as problematic votes wise as shifting right.

None of which helps me answer my own question - when will Labour decide its time to prioritise women, particularly women in lower economic groups? I think 40+ years is long enough to wait and it is a fact that Labour still has a woman problem internally. Blair and Brown did a lot to try and address it but the culture is still very male coded and very MC public sector - Momentum has a lot to answer for in perpetuating that and the often patronising messages sent out for “doorstep use”. We see it on MN as well - such people must be stupid or obviously they would vote Labour, without really considering the lives of these “stupid” voters.

Meanwhile the Tories have had four women, one British Indian man and one black woman - one of their recent contested leadership elections had eight candidates - every single one of which was either female, a minority or married to a minority with mixed children. It was notable that policy aside Badinoch attracted much more interest than Starmer (on the doorstep) simply because she was coming across as honest and having a view point - even if they didn’t share that viewpoint. Two years in, most are still asking what Starmer stands for - a question I still can’t answer.

I know. It hasn't been nearly enough and it's incredibly disappointing. But withdrawing support from Labour at the moment means handing the country to an increasingly further right, and that terrifies me.

Basically this. It’s not top of my list, given what’s going on in the world, but I take it into account. Nothing would induce me to vote Reform.

Yes i am a single issue voter and this is my issue. Has been for years. Not voting Reform. My Tory MP understands the issue. He's OK im not keen on the party and its values eg bj etc.

Like you if I was a single issue voter I’d vote Communist before Reform. However whilst Labour haven’t officially opposed the SCJ, they are doing bugger all to push implementation whilst NHS trusts, local authorities and other public bodies actively circumvent the ruling. There are still male sex offenders in women’s prisons, women’s hospital wards and the Scottish government has now announced a “domestic” implementation of the judgement. It is overwhelmingly minority and poorer women who suffer the downsides of being “non men”, not the cool girls from white, MC backgrounds (I’m neither BTW).

We are 50% of the population - I feel like since I was a teen member of the Young Socialists back in the dark ages I’ve been told “yes totes important but there are bigger things this time”. I’m still waiting for the time to be right more than four decades later.

Reform aren't GC. They may be sex-realist. To reuse an old trope-

Women do the washing up (Reform)
Everyone does the washing up (GC)
If you do the washing up, you're a woman (trans ideology)

I'd protest vote for the Communist Party before I'd vote Reform

I was tempted, until I looked at their vote share in the previous election. It really would have been no more than a protest vote.

No. Its important, but anti racism, wealth inequality and the impact of poverty on our society are equally important.
I think the failure of Labour to make an unequivocal statement in support of sex realism is disappointing. But I see no signs they intend to oppose the progress made by the SCJ, so I think the risk they pose to women's rights is exaggerated.
Certainly nowhere near sufficient to vote for a party who 'know what a woman is' but have regressive sexist attitudes towards us, and a stared intent to introduce policies that will disproportionately hurt us.
If I was a single issue voter on GC, I'd protest vote for the Communist Party before I'd vote Reform.

@Hotupnorth
I accept that the NHS has the most absolute protection for long-term health conditions in terms of covering long-term medication. However, google AI suggests that people with a long-term illness in the UK are at higher risk of poverty compared to all these other countries because other support/benefits kick in if you have a long-term illness.
NHS outcomes are so bad compared to other countries that it doesn't make that much sense to be so attached to it.

I am GC but i won’t vote Labour again as they are shit and piss my tax up the wall.

I won’t vote for Reform either.

No idea who i will vote for. Assisted dying is up there for me but i think Kemi voted against that. So no idea.

They are probably lying about a lot of things, not just the reality of sex. Call me cynical.

Reform say a lot of things and I thoroughly distrust them.

The health care systems you've mentioned are great unless you have or contract a chronic illness or long term or permanent condition. Like travel insurance, if you have one of these then your premiums or co-pay bills go through the roof.

@Hotupnorth Reform's manifesto says that they plan to protect the NHS.
The question is whether it is worth protecting.
Maybe we should be looking to other countries for systems, which offer better healthcare outcomes for a similar cost with equal access e.g. Denmark and Australia. The Danish system is similar to ours, costs roughly the same per person but has better outcomes. Australia has better outcomes and costs the same per person
People in Canada, France and Japan pay roughly 10% more per person and have better outcomes.

I wouldn't vote Reform if my life depended on it (and who knows what'll happen in the future, it might if they get their hands on the NHS).

Everyone, should be aware of what Reform are and what they stand for.

I'm gender critical, but that doesn't decide how I am going to vote.

I genuinely don't see any benefit from a party that knows what a woman is but wants to remove their rights in any case.

It's not a deciding vote for me. I think things are somewhat moving in the right direction as people start to actually think about things instead of just repeating a mantra because it's the in thing to do to be liked. Hopefully it will be less of an issue in the future.

Reform are not gender critical, sex realist perhaps but not gender critical. I'm a(nother) politically homeless leftie right now and have no idea how I would vote if a GE were called.

Because all that will be worth it to not have to see transwomen in public toilets! Yay!
It's more than "I just want to pee". For instance, why are you lauding an NHS that thinks male bodies are women, and therefore enable men onto "single sex" wards where they commit rape. Ditto the prison service? Etc, etc.
Is that the world you want for your daughters - no safe spaces?

It's an existential question and we would be daft to give up just when they are finally starting to listen to us.

It's really high up on the list for me but, right now, the greater need is keeping reform out. I am expecting to have to tactically vote Conservative to keep reform out in my constituency, which will grieve me greatly.

I am probably more green or lib dem leaning but neither have a hope in hell in my area and there's no way I will vote for Zach P and his weasel words

Reform are not reliably gender critical. Did you not see Farage's shitshow over prisons last year?

One issue voters would be better off going with the Communists if standing, which they dont usually, or failing that either the Workers Party or the Tories for as long as Kemi is in charge. I'm not suggesting anyone should do any of those things, merely that those are the gender critical options.

@Manchegomango
I totally agree with you. Wealthy liberals are so hypocritical! They stick to their ideals without considering how that affects ordinary people.

@InconvenientlyMaterial When you say your are pro-palestine, you do realise that Hamas are anti-women's rights?

@CurlewKate
I am GC but this would not be the main reason I would vote for a party. However, it is part of my reason why I don't understand left-wing views anymore. The whole pro-palestine and trans rights seem to go against women's rights.

We can’t do anything without a healthy economy.

Any leader who devoted parliamentary time to facilitating gender ideology rather than strengthening our economy in the current post Brexit , war-ridden, energy- crisis world would not get my vote.

I would prioritise the economy, NHS, building constructive relationships with Europe, etc.

And lobby furiously and energetically to defend women’s sex based rights.

Would never in a million years vote Reform or withhold a vote that would tactically keep them out.

The quality of life and future as a woman (or man, or Trans identified person) would be dismal under Reform.

@overunderover I'm thoroughly GC but find it incomprehensible that people can have such tunnel vision about it that they're willing to overlook the climate crisis, the economy and the NHS just to name a few.

I care about all those other things too, but there is no easy answer to them and they are not simple to fix. People disagree on how best to help improve the economy for instance, and while my main longterm concern is for the climate, frankly I don't see how any UK party can stop global disaster.

But women's rights to single-sex provision is a straightforward yes or no, and I know which one is the right answer. Plus, it has wider repercussions, as if a party or candidate does not support this, I do not trust they have women's best interests at heart; and if they say trans women are women, I think they are out and out liars.

This.

No.

I'm thoroughly GC but find it incomprehensible that people can have such tunnel vision about it that they're willing to overlook the climate crisis, the economy and the NHS just to name a few.

What people seem to forget is that these things affect women too. Or are we all going to be celebrating the bright new dawn of spiralling inequality making far more women unable to afford rent and being made homeless, with all the vulnerabilities that entails, more girls having their prospects limited by underfunded state schools, and private health insurance where large numbers of women (as in the USA) can't afford basic hospital care? Because all that will be worth it to not have to see transwomen in public toilets! Yay!

I'd go so far as to say that many GC women have become about gender like Reform voters are about immigration. It's acquired such a totemic significance as a marker of how the government has betrayed them, that they can't step back and actually think through, in a measured way, the likely ramifications of not fully getting their way in it along with the likely ramifications of all those other issues. Any suggestion of specific-issue compromise in the name of big picture thinking is met with shutting down.