It's election day and I still don't know who to vote for

[Comefromaway]

I can't vote for the current Tory racist, xenophobic, power hungry ethos.

I can't vote for Labour's business and economic policies.

I can't vote for the Lib Dem's erosion of women's rights.

I don't really understand all the confusion. No party is perfect. Think about what you care most about and vote for that, forget the side issue policies. If you care about schools, hospitals and social care, don't vote conservative. Ask anyone who works in these public services and they will tell you that.

Ok so I voted

Brexit - Labour
Economy - Conservatives
Education - Lib Dem
Equalities - Conservatives (this really surprised me)
Health/NHS - Labour (this was close, almost chose Lib Dem)
Jobs/Work - Conservatives
Tax - Labour (this was close between them & Conservatives)
I didn't answer welfare but it would have been between Labour & Lib Dem

My priorities are jobs, health, education & living in a tolerant society. Dh is a teacher. He voted Lib Dem.

I just voted tactically in a bid to remove the current MP.

I looked up his voting record in the House of Commons and was amused to see that everyone of his election promises was the opposite of the way he has voted over the last two terms. I do not agree with the majority of his voting decisions, or the way he has run his campaign.

None of the parties particularly appeal, so I lent my vote to the candidate who had the best chance of ousting him.

In your case OP your priorities suggest you should vote labour as the labour candidate in your constituency has the best chance of keeping out the conservative mp. It doesn't mean you fully agree with them though, but that matters less

Depends on your local mp slightly outing but my current mp has been investigated for sexual harassment he got off because....well I dont know why because he admitted what he did 🤷‍♀️ it takes a 13% swing to get him out in our area a few are voting to get him out

Vote tactically for a hung parliament as if you aren't sure then having a party you aren't sure about with a majority isn't going to make the kind of policies you want happen. And if you don't want Brexit it needs to be a hung parliament.

I think I know who you men slippery

Mean

I can't bring myself to vote for any of them.

Lib Dems are out because of their support for the most radical aspects of transgender.

Labour are out because of antisemitism, and although their social and economic policies would personally benefit me (I fall into the group that has lost out heavily in the shift to pension ages and they're promising to pay the money I would have had without the change) the nation can't afford their spending plans and we'd be in economic meltdown before we knew it.

Tories because of austerity, Boris, the NHS, Boris, Universal Credit, Boris, …

So I will go to the polling station. But I plan to put two lines across the whole paper and write 'deliberately spoiled' between them. Yes it's a futile gesture, the constituency will still elect an MP (it'll be Labour, it has been for over 60 years and always by a significant margin) but I'll feel I've said what I think.

If you're not sure who to vote for, perhaps it's best to leave the voting to those that are.
It's not compulsory.

People spoiling your votes - WHY? Women have died for you to be able to express a choice. Spoiling your ballot is the same - in outcome - as not voting at all.

SURELY even though they're all terrible, one party must say some things you broadly agree with?

When your children's teachers change 5 times in one year, or they have a leak in their classroom they can't fix, or you have to wait a year for NHS treatment, or your parents have to sell their house to pay for social care, don't go complaining. If you get mugged by a teenager who was parented poorly because his family was so poor and unsupported - don't go complaining. You did this.

Can someone explain why it’s better to spoil your vote then not vote at all?

People spoiling your votes - WHY? Women have died for you to be able to express a choice. Spoiling your ballot is the same - in outcome - as not voting at all.

The outcome is the same but the principle isn't the same at all, and that's why I will spoil my paper, using the democratic right to vote that women before me have died to achieve. Because not voting can easily suggest you can't be bothered. Spoiling the paper says that you are bothered, but actively sends the message (however futile, as I've said) that you don't think any of them stand for what you believe in. (Or alternatively, stand for things you don't believe in.)

Yes it would be lovely to fix everything that's wrong with the country in the way that Labour want to do. But I don't believe their plans are feasible. I would like a strong stable economy, but not in the way that the Tories approach it.

diddlediddle, your last paragraph is saying that if I don't vote Labour it will (partly) be my fault that all those things go unrectified(*). If I genuinely believed that spending would solve all those issues but with no consequences, I'd vote for Labour like a shot. But I believe that although the short term would seem to be massively beneficial there would be serious economic fallout that at some point in the future would affect everyone living here.

(*) And as I've already made clear, my vote wouldn't make any difference in my constituency. We will return a Labour MP. So I'm hardly going to be personally responsible for leaking roofs and no teachers. Either it would be one more vote for the candidate who will be elected, or it would be a vote for another party that wouldn't make the slightest difference to the result. So I do have the luxury of being able to say how I feel by spoiling my ballot paper.

If yoi dont know who to vote for Please vote to reduce a likely Tory majority.

If you're not sure who that is, visit

www.comparethetacticals.com

Every doctor, nurse, teacher, counsellor, social worker I know is clear the Tories must go.

diddlediddle, your last paragraph is saying that if I don't vote Labour it will (partly) be my fault that all those things go unrectified(). If I genuinely believed that spending would solve all those issues but with no consequences, I'd vote for Labour like a shot. But I believe that although the short term would seem to be massively beneficial there would be serious economic fallout that at some point in the future would affect everyone living here.*

This

I don't agree with spoiled ballot papers.
I didn't want the Tory's in, so voted labour, only to prevent Tory. I don't know if it will work, but at least I tried.
I feel that's enough.

In your situation Pp I’d vote tactically to bring about a hung parliament. So looking at your stats this would mean voting labour.

Op not Pp

"Can someone explain why it’s better to spoil your vote then not vote at all?"
Because they don't get to stop me turning out to cast a ballot by being shite. They get to know I was willing to do that, I just didn't think any of them worthy of my vote. I assume I will be ignored.

"SURELY even though they're all terrible, one party must say some things you broadly agree with? "
No

@diddlediddle but there is no vote that will solve those problems. Labour would make all of the things you’ve mentioned far far worse very quickly. The conservatives would allow them to get worse gradually (as they have done to date). Lib Dem vote would result in a hung parliament getting fuck all done. The only way in which you could say people have done this to themselves is by not getting more involved in politics beyond merely voting.

OP, in the past where I’ve not felt strongly one way or another I’ve just not voted. Alternatively you could vote out of self interest. Are you both working in the public sector or will your jobs be on the line? Do you own a rental property? Are you reliant on any benefits? Etc.

Vote Green

I don't know who to vote for either.
Would probably vote Lib Dem but now we have got this far, i want Brexit over and done with. I don't want Corbyn as PM so don't want to vote Labour. Couldn't vote for Johnson.

It's a safe seat.