I want to use my vote

[Pinkyyy]

Hoping some of you may have some good advice on how to get my head around who to vote for. I've tried and tried to understand politics but I just can't seem to get it. I think I prefer conservative but I'm not even sure what I'm basing that on.

There are so many different names of people who I've heard, like Corbin, Boris etc but I genuinely don't know what they stand for. Am I right in thinking I either need to choose labour or conservative?

Maybe I'm a little too late and am a helpless case. My family were never interested and have never bothered to vote but I really feel like I should use mine as every vote counts.

@Pinkyyy Sure, here you go: voteforpolicies.org.uk/

I just did it this morning, I did it before the last election too. I like that it's impartial, there's no spin on anything and it gives you some good guidance on where you sit.

Do you feel that it's important to keep women's sports, women's prisons, women's changing rooms, women's refuges and women's hospital wards single-sex? If you are having a mammogram or a cervical smear, do you think women should continue to have the right to insist on those very intimate procedures being carried out by a female health practitioner?

This is something that I feel VERY strongly about, so thank you for that. I very much want to keep women's only spaces as exactly that.

Thank you for that link, will take the quiz now.

There’s 2 parties with Self id in the manifesto.

Tories ain’t one.

OP you will find that you arent a perfect fit for any party (a bit like marriage ) which is why people often change which party they vote for.

To be clear no parties are planning on selling off the NHS.

This. One of the main 'anti tory' line sis that they will sell of the NHS. The Tory manifesto strongly denies this.

The also pledge to:
-Recruit 50,000 extra nurses and 6,000 extra doctors for GP surgeries.
-Hold 50 million extra GP appointments a year.
-Allocate £34 billion in extra funding a year for the NHS by 2024.
-Devise a cross-party agreement to solve the social care crisis.
-Create 40 new hospitals.
-Establish free hospital parking for selected patients and staff.

Regarding the NHS, Labour pledge to:
-Increase spending across the health sector by an average increase of 4.3 percent per year.
-Establish a moratorium on bed cuts.
-Spend £1.6bn a year for mental health care.
-Allocate an extra £1bn for public health, including 4,500 more health visitors and school nurses.
-Create a state-controlled generic drug company to produce own drugs if private versions prove to be too expensive for the NHS.
-Offer free personal care for the elderly.
-Offer free annual NHS dental check-ups.
-Offer free hospital parking for patients, staff and visitors

However, where both parties plan to get the money for this, is very different, ie increasing taxes for higher earners, increasing corporation tax etc etc

Conservatives have been in power for nine years - nine long years to have invested in the NHS and yet here we are.

The quiz says I'm majority conservative, that was really helpful actually and I feel much more confident about using my vote. All of this information is really helpful, thank you everyone!

I’ve never been into politics and have never felt strongly about any political party..... until recently. Look at each party and find what suits you. Everyone is focusing on Brexit but for me, the NHS and Education are what is important and will affect my family the most and based on that I cannot vote for Conservatives. I’ve seen the effects of this government and it’s worrying as a parent and educator.
It’s also worth remembering that people died for our right to vote so please use your vote.

Pinkyyy, no one party is a perfect electoral fit so, as others have said, decide what is most important to you and then find the nearest match. That's all you can really do, as a voter.

This is one of the hardest elections for people making up their minds so I salute you for asking the questions and taking the time to explore your options before voting.

Good luck on Thursday.

OP Its definitely never too late and I wish more people had your attitude to try and learn to vote according to their beliefs.

I would second other PP using the tool / quiz.

My only advice is to use common sense about some of this. Emotive voting can be a bit silly. For example (purely my personal beliefs) I would love to see peoples minimum wage increased but I also know that it would shut half the care companies in Britain and cause an adult social care crisis that the suggested increase in funding from labour would not cover.

We have all had it hard in the austerity years so now suddenly promising to throw money in silly amounts at public services is not realistic and will save up yet more issues for our children.

I guess what I'm saying is look at the promises they are making but consider of you genuinely think the money is there.

The fact you ar looking to increase your knowledge already says you are switched on and can make sensible decisions.

Finally hold to your beliefs. There are an awful lot of people claiming there is a right answer and I think particularly in this election there isn't a perfect one. No vote will come without a downside and that's just the way it us so try not to be swayed by other voters opinion. Do what you believe is the best option. During an election people will demonize one party or another and it is rarely so fixed or right or wrong.

Labour: Jeremy Corbin
Will NOT privatise the NHS.
Will bring other service back under public control (I. E. Transport)
Have a strong climate policy
Will allow a new referendum on Brexit. This means they will give a choice between a known leave deal or remain. Basically an informed choice where we actually know the remaining cost and what Brexit will mean on an individual basis.
Will continue to support workers rights and unions/pensions etc.
Will continue to support the more vulnerable in our society.

Conservative: Boris Johnson
Will push through Brexit with either the existing (weak) deal or no deal.
This will leave the door open for US trade.
Which will include privatising NHS ie. you having to pay to access any medical care.
Are largely ignoring climate issues.
Will protect money for the upper echelons of society (which costs the average Joe lots and lots of money).

Voting other parties at this stage would be pretty ineffectual and akin to throwing your vote.

As for pp point about how important it is for you to keep women spaces for women, is that more important to you than being able to access health care.
Yes having a guareenteed right to a female practitioner for a smear test is great (although the NHS gives you the right to decline any practitioner for any reason so you could just decline male or self Id practitioner until you have one you are happy with. I have exercised this right)
But speaking as someone who has just had to walk out of my smear test where she immediately told me she knew there was a problem and then having to pay almost £40 for it and look forward to paying £100s, maybe £1000s if it does turn out to be cancer, for further investigations, I would absolutely say that having free access ti health care wins hands down!

I have been denied the right to vote by underhanded means (delayed posting out postal vote until to late to recieve it) so please do use your vote (preferably for Labour but that is ultimately your choice)

Also please remember that although Conservatives don't allow for self identification they are lead by a know sexist who does not promote women's rights in any way!

Witsendagain At a guess, I'm going to assume you are a Labour voter....
Your post is very biased.

And I'm sure they went through the list and decided to not send specifically you the postal vote on purpose...
Also, you can take your postal vote to a polling station on Thursday to make it count.

What does Jonathon Ashworth himself think of Corbyn? 🤔

If you value national security, you would do very well to take Heed of Jonathons own thoughts on the matter.

A small snippet...

“Guido has obtained an extraordinary recording of Jonathan Ashworth, the serving Shadow Health Minister, giving a candid appraisal of Corbyn and the Labour Party’s chances in this election. He is asked by a friend “If he got in would he be as bad as I suspect?”

“I don’t know, on the security stuff; I worked in No.10, I think the machine will pretty quickly move to safeguard security (I mean the civil service machine). But it’s not going to happen! I can’t see it happening!”

😳

I have worked in the NHS for 32 years. Vote for whoever will be most likely to beat the Tories in your area. Please.

The conservatives are full of people who have written books and are involved in companies which want to privatise the NHS. Anybody comparing this labour party to Blair's is an idiot or lying.

Epic I've been following this story all morning. Ashworth is now digging himself a hole live right now on the Politics Live

It's a shocker.

“Epic I've been following this story all morning. Ashworth is now digging himself a hole live right now on the Politics Live confused”

I know, loving that he is claiming ‘Bantz’...
😂😂😂 what a joke!

The problem with that list of Tory NHS pledges is that half of them have already been shown to be lies they’ve already backtracked on.

The 50,000 extra staff aren’t extra, the extra funding isn’t extra funding and the 40 extra hospitals are at best 6.

If you value the NHS the single worst thing you can do for it now is vote Conservative. They’re running it into the ground and don’t have a workable plan.

I’m not convinced voting by manifesto policy on this election is going to be at all useful tbh. It’s a very strange election.

1/10

@LochJessMonster not from another country you can't! 🙄 I also never claimed that it was done on purpose but I do reserve the right to be angry that I (having followed all the rules and requirements for voting abroad) will not get a chance to vote for my and my child's future.

I would have been voting Labour in this election but no I am not generally a Labour supporter. However, for all the reasons already outlined I believe that Labour is our countries best bet. I honestly can't see any benefits to having the conservatives in power.
Others have written biased posts for Torries, but you are not pointing that out. I wonder what that says about which way you will be voting?

@Shinyletsbebadguys thank you, your post is really helpful. It's really hard to find a way in to politics when it's all alien to you. Everyone has been so great on this thread and has given me lots to think/read about. Thank you everyone.

@poltergust what's the "1/10" all about?

Pinkky....are you for real?

Also look up who tends to win and come second in your constituency....lots of seats are Labour/Tory but others swing between Labour/Lib Dem or Tory/Lib Dem (or SNP, Plaid Cymru etc if you are in Scotland/Wales/NI).

If you can't decide who you think would be best for the country overall you could also think about who you think would be a good 'local' MP e.g. answer their emails, campaign on local issues etc.