Are you voting in the next general election purely on the transgender issue?

I live in one such City; and what I see is that many are actually turning to parties such. as 'Reform UK' or else to Socialist parties much more 'purist' than Labour. They see Labour as having sold out completely.

What I also noticed during lockdown was that a big contingency of what would normally have been working class Labour voters were being politicised by their opposition to lockdown and compulsory vaccinations etc. I still see these groups every week campaigning in my local park. They also want nothing to do with gender ideology. Some are removing their children from mainstream schooling too.

Also because we live in a Labour city there are few illusions left about the competency of the local Labour run council. It has been so bad that the government has had to come in and operate over-sight for the last three years.

So, everything is not as black and white as straightforward as is often made out. Demographics and patterns are shifting in unpredicatble ways - motivated by different types of issue.

Some good points.

Who has given us these issues? (obv not the war in Ukraine, Tory support for Ukraine has been one of the few good things the Govt has done)

The Tories have presided over them including messing up relations with the EU.

Polling shows Labour don't need the scottish vote, though to be representative, it would be better to have more Scottish Labour.

How do you explain Labour in Wales? 25 unbroken years in government to improve things, but hospitals and education (both devolved to the Welsh government) going down the pan, industry disappearing, third and fourth generations in some areas who have never worked. And yet because of the tribal nature of Welsh politics most Labour voters will go on voting Labour.

I'm a member of the Labour Party and living in Wales but I'm appalled at the quality of Welsh Senedd politicians and the petty-minded small-nation style of thinking and debate. Every time things get worse they blame Westminster — and because they can blame Westminster, they don't have to take responsibility for their own failure.

Good idea, best way to influence

This echoes my sentiments.

Were it not for this issue, I would vote Lib Dems as normal (as I still prefer their policies over all). However, it's my own Tory MP that I'm voting for now, as well as the wider party, as per my comment above. I've found it a very strange experience to have a respect for an individual in public office whose overall politics don't align with my own.

Yes, and I want them to know it.

I'm only voting on one issue, womens Rights. If a politician can't speak the truth about sex, then they are a liar or a coward or been paid off.
So I'm voting Tory, I've spoken to my prospective conservative councillors and PCC and they both know that a woman is an adult human female and support single sex provision.
plus they attend local events and listen to the locals.
im voting Tory .

@Medschoolmum it’s simply the most important issue to me.

No.

The Cass review was the right thing to do to protect children and I'm pleased it was commissioned. But it was nothing to do with women's rights. There are politicians with very different views on safe spaces for women in both parties. As there are for other feminist issues e.g. abortion.

The Tory's overall record on pretty much everything has been abysmal, particularly for single low-income families, carers, and people suffering with MH difficulties. Women make up disproportionately more of this group.

The are currently promising more pain for those groups with their 'benefit crackdown'. So women in the firing line again.

They need to go.

Traditional WC communities have had it to the back teeth of Tories. They're really feeling the impacts of the cuts, but more importantly the impact of their lies. Everyone in the country is feeling the impact of their lies.

Thats why the Tories are losing votes left (to Labour), right (to Reform) and centre (to the Lib dems).

Interesting.
I have always assumed a PR system would result in fairer representation and better democracy.
I'd be keen to hear more about how it has been working in practice. I hadn't realised that Scotland had it in place - apologies for my ignorance!

Probably. I think the Tories have done a much better job here than equivalent left-wing administrations eg Australia & Canada. In some states, if your child claims a trans identity you are legally bound to support that, including financing operations and drugs regimes. If you refuse to affirm, your child can be removed. I don’t trust that Labour (Lib dems/greens) wouldn’t go down this route, and my children are more important to me than anything else.

if Labour were to change direction on this, and do so in a way I could trust, then they would absolutely get my vote.

No way.

Everyone?
Even if they've thought about it very deeply for a long time, followed what's happening in politics, schools and healthcare and have a child at risk of harm?

For the first time ever, I don't know who to vote for. My (safe, Tory) MP has been unremittingly awful, so I always just vote against him in order to send a topical message or try to save someone's deposit.

Now, weird things are afoot. Labour have a real chance of winning for the first time ever. But, when I wrote to our MP about Truss's PMB, he wrote back to say how much he agreed with me and how important this is to him. Hmmm.

There is no party for me. I want to vote for the 'understand reality and be fair to everybody party'. Tories are only fair to people that don't need fairness in the first place. Labour are authoritarian and prone to magical thinking.

I will probably vote Labour and, if she gets in, make it my mission to educate her, because she'll be of the ruling party.

I think that in opposition the Tories will use women's rights as a political weapon only rather than a serious party objective. Which is fine because it will air the issues and hold Labour's feet to the fire.

I am not worried about self-ID. The havoc is already being wrought by wilful misinterpretation of EA2010 and self-ID won't change that. And there's litigation ongoing to try to fix the problem, if Parliament can't or won't do it.

No. I’m voting tactically to get the current government out. Which means voting Lib Dem. While the trans issue important to me, education, utility regulation, transport, workers rights, social and economic justice, relations with Europe, migration policy, environment and corruption in office are also important and anything has to be better than the current government on these policy areas.

But the point you seem determine to ignore is the Tories didn’t introduce Self ID.

Yes, but it cannot be denied that if it had been a Labour government over the last six years then Self Id would have been passed, and it would have been likely that the Scottish GRA would have been too. There would have been no Cass Review, and we'd most likely still be struggling with " No debate".

I think you'll find Maria Miller (conservative) was the pivotal figure in respect of the promotion of self-ID in recent parliamentary history.

Maybe, but if Scotland is full on SNP it makes it that bit harder to achieve.

I agree that the Tories should have got rid of the GRA. But it is clearly a fallacy to say that because the Tories haven’t yet turned this around, Labour would be better. Labour in Wales, and their voting record in Scotland, show what would happen.

I do think there are a lot of traditional working class communities who no longer automatically look to Labour......I don't think they should be dismissed so easily. That is one of the reasons the Tories were re-elected last time.

Actually, Wings' analysis shows that's not really true, although it's a claim often made. Whether or not his politics are to your taste, this piece usefully crunches the numbers:

https://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/

'England and the rest of the UK are and always have been perfectly capable of electing a Labour government if they want one, whatever Scotland does.The truth is that Labour doesn’t need Scottish MPs, and an independent Scotland would NOT give the Tories a permanent majority in the remnant UK'

I love the smell of Tory desperation in the morning.
😆😆😆

As I suggested above, if Scotland turns away from the SNP and back to Labour the chances are Labour will win the next election. It will be difficult to achieve without Scotland.

Should Labour win there is going to a very big list of expectations and demands on every front: the NHS; fuel and food prices; inadequate public transport throughout the country; striking doctors, nurses and railway staff; depleted local council budgets; a mental health crisis; issues with illegal immigration and asylum seekers; relationships with the EU; war on the borders of Europe, in the Middle East; other pressing global issues.......as well as the ongoing issues around Gender ideology in our schools, in our institutions and workplaces.

It will be interesting to see what their manifesto priorities are.