If we ended up with Johnson vs Starmer at the next election, who would the Red Wall Tory voters go for?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Some commentators are saying the Tories could end up with Johnson back as leader and hence PM, in the very near future. If that was the choice at the next general election, whenever it is (it has to happen by December 2024, I believe), would the Red Wall seats that went Tory last time stick with the Tories, or go back to Labour? And if you're one of those voters, what are your reasons?

(Doesn't affect me. I live in an ultra-safe Labour seat in London. More chance of an asteroid hitting than my constituency electing anyone other than Labour in a GE.)

Boris won’t be back. It’ll be hunt going into a general election as pm relatively soon Is my prediction

Would Hunt be able to hang onto the Red Wall seats? Can any Tory do it?

And I think they’ll all go back to Labour

interert rates etc are only going to get worse - any the Tory’s have lost any chance of any narrative that it’s becaue of external pressures getting through

i do think that external pressures are a big factor in interest rates etc - but it’s so complex and hard to understand- and now most people will think when their mortgage goes up - this is because of the tories. And it is an incredibly effective vote loser!

I don't believe the Tories will go anywhere near a GE while they're in this shambles and have a majority

Probably not, it would be turkeys voting for Christmas in the next few months. It's going to be a grim winter for many, sadly.

I think the Red Wall voters will realise that they were sold a pack of lies about levelling up, and they won't vote Tory again for a generation.

Some of my colleagues are red wall voters. They’re bewildered at what the Labour Party has become. They feel it no longer represents them, whilst still claiming to do so. They, like a lot of people now, are politically homeless. They just don’t trust the Labour Party though, they won’t get their votes.

Why is this?

So they want to stick with the Tories. Yep that makes sense 🤭

So who are they going to vote for?

The Tories are toast. And there is worse to come. They won't call a GE. They will spend the next two years shafting us futher. They probably won't have enough seats to form the Opposition after the next GE.

As I said, they’re politically homeless. Nobody has said they want to stick with the tories. They just don’t want Labour.

I’d vote for Johnson.

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Boris Johnson.

They are going to end up with one or the other.

I get really irritated by the arrogance of those claiming to be ‘politically homeless’. No Party will ever represent a person’s view 100%. Look at both and see which is most reflective of your views.

Boris Johnson forever …. Viva lockdown parties

They don’t call boris Teflon for nothing, I have a strong sense we will see him back before long.

As for voting, it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t for many people now. Those who are very focused on women’s rights will not vote for labour as it currently stands. We can’t vote Tory because they have made an absolute mess of the last decade. People are fed up, there’s very little hope or trust in any party at all now.

Im mid 30s, fairly politically savvy and in the past I have never been so totally stumped for answers or a way forward. There’s nothing but desolate wasteland left right and centre. You may as well ask who will be better at leading elf land at the North Pole, the Easter bunny or the tooth fairy?

I was brought up as a Scottish Presbyterian. I'm an atheist now but I feel very Presbyterian when I think about serial adulterer and inveterate liar Johnson. I was ashamed to have someone as lazy, dishonest and incompetent as him representing our country on the international stage. However, judging by the vox pops the TV news programmes do many voters seem to go more on what a good laugh they think he is.

Can I ask why?

I regard myself as politically homeless. The Labour Party doesn't really represent my views.

However, I accept that choices have to be made between imperfect alternatives, and having seen the terrible damage done to this country by the Tories, voting Labour is a no brainer for me. They're the best shot in my constituency at keeping the Tories out, so they will get my vote, no question.

I grew up in a classic Red Wall seat, an ex-mining area which in 2019 returned a Tory MP for the first time in its history. My family still have links with the area, and know plenty of people who voted Leave then Tory for the first time.

Most of them like Boris, and were disgusted by the attempts to overturn the result of the referendum. They also wanted politicians to actually do something about uncontrolled mass immigration. They won’t vote Labour because they believe the party has turned on the working class, and is now for immigrants, posh people from London and students. They might not like the Tories, but they believe Labour despises them and their values.

Do you know why they voted Leave, @IntentionalError? Was it in the hope that migration from the EU would be halted? How do they feel that's working out, given the huge staff shortages in the care sector and the NHS?