In the coming general election will you base your vote on …

[Katharinablumwasinnocent]

State of the country, economic performance, moral rectitude of the government or lack of..
So if you are unhappy with the way the country has been governed, general conduct of the Conservatives, you’ll presumably not vote for them. They’ve had 13 years to improve things. 13 years to level up (Not just Johnson’s plan but Northern Powerhouse before that etc too) and very little has been achieved.
Or
Tradition, how you’ve always voted. Don’t trust the other side however bad your ‘team’ are. Even though your team may have been corrupt, deceptive, inept (Truss, Johnson) or wish washy, indecisive, uncharismatic (Corbyn, Starmer) you’ll still vote for the same party.
I’m interested in tribal politics. The next GE will be fascinating to see if the Red wall continues to crumble and the Home Counties drop their loyalty to the Conservatives….. What does it take to change your allegiance ?

I'll tell you what I won't base it on. Hair. Ability to be entertaining. Dress sense. Accent. Personal wealth. Physical appearance. Possession of a donkey sanctuary. Sandwich preference. Ability to walk on a beach without slipping. Bad luck with stage backdrop. Sexual orientation. Voice. Sense of humour. To start with...

My vote will primarily be in terms of economics and which will be best for my family economically.
Our local Tory MP is absolutely brilliant, though it pains me to say it (I was a member of the Green Party for years). But she is great on local matters - very quick to respond to queries, very visible in the constituency, gets a breadth of opinion before making decisions.
Our local labour candidate last time was horrendous and extremely rude, God knows how he was picked, and I have no recollection of the LibDem person. I had a bit of a fall out with the Green candidate (hence me ending my membership) but I would no longer vote for them anyway.

Nobody has mentioned the rampant corruption and asset stripping?

Future history students will be writing essays on why the public stood by and literally watched it happening.

Not being Scottish I haven't had the opportunity to vote SNP, but otherwise I could have written this. Spot on.

I would actually vote for a one nation Tory party with less emphasis on the culture war crap and ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ mantra but that Conservative Party is long gone sadly.

What would that party stand for?

I'm also a floating voter. Agree with what you say about what conservatives have done to the country.

Tactical vote to get the Tories out which means LD in my area.

I have a daughter and a vagina so this would make it very difficult to vote Labour, despite the fact that the Tory government have shown themselves to be lacking.

Whoever suits my own agenda the best.

@madamreign https://unherd.com/2022/11/where-are-the-one-nation-tories/

the party that aknowledges I am a woman with protected sex-based rights for me and that men can never be women.

Same

@AIstolemylunch which party has enabled men to be in female prisons ?

I guess which party says they do it but does the opposite ?

I judge on actions, not words,

Results not rhetoric.

For example: After 13 years if the Tories cared about protecting the children in Britain we wouldn't have crumbling schools and record child poverty, and they wouldn't need a young footballer to shame them into feeding children in poverty, we wouldn't have do many children living in substandard housing or living in unsafe situations because the child protection system is so overstretched and under funded. Children in care and in asylum centres would be adequately protected and looked after. Children wouldn't be homeless and children's education would be prioritised. Children wouldn't be waiting years for mental health help, or waiting for cancer treatment.

When told that there was a critical threat to children's lives from crumbling concrete in schools back in 2018 the Tories would have done what was necessary. (They were told 300-400 schools a year needed to be rebuilt. In five years they have completed 4.)

I vote for what's best for my country and that is currently to get the Tories out of power before they bankrupt us.

So in my constituency I will vote for whoever can win who is not a Tory.

(I live in what a few years ago would have been considered a Tory safe seat, which has been gerrymandered to make it even more so.)

Is that what it's about though?

You.

Isn't it about what's best for our country?

It is easy to say that if you have the luxury of a good local state school and if you have a NT child. My local state school isn't great and has lots of problems with bullying and I fear my ASD child would really struggle there. It doesn't feel like a great choice. If I am priced out of the private sector I will probably have to give up my (NHS) job to homeschool my child.

Tactically to get out my useless Tory mp

Is there one of those?

In Finland they're all good state schools because they don't have a private sector.

When the rich send their kids to state schools the schools have to be good.

Which benefits all children.

I'd prefer that I think.

Rather than 90% of children being second class citizens in crumbling schools.

Same.

I will read manifestos as usual and find the best environmental policy.

I will then check to see if there is any absolute nonsense in there and pick accordingly.

They have private schools in Finland you just don't pay for the education part of the schooling, you pay for all of the extras, nice buildings, extra curricular, smaller classes etc.