Voting to 'Get the Tories Out'

[DewHopper]

Pro Labour posters are all over this platform telling posters to vote for whoever gets the Tories out. It does not seem to matter who it is as long as voting for them gets the Tories out nationally.

It's a worrying voting strategy from my pov but I tend to vote at constituency level. If I had an excellent Tory MP who cared about the things I cared about and served their constituents well, I would vote for them. Similarly Labour ( I would absolutely vote for Rosie Duffield) or Independent.

Do those people who will just vote for anyone as longs as this will oust the Tories - and what could be a very good MP - ever consider the effects of this locally? They may have got the Tories out at a national level but saddled themselves with a useless MP who does nothing for the locality.

Take for example women's rights. I am a gender critical woman and care very deeply about the erosion of women's single sex spaces etc. I am sure that many of the 'Tories out at all costs' people feel the same. The pro Labour people keep telling us that Starmer will be better for women's rights BUT if you vote on a single issue - getting the Tories out - you may well elect a hopeless constituency MP who is TWAW and who will be standing up to every pro woman move that Starmer makes. I worry that there will be a lot of these in the next parliament.

So should we be voting on the single issue - get the Tories out? I don't think so - AIBU?

Just in case anyone else does want to vote to get the tories out. This website is useful. You put in your postcode and it tells you who the best most likely party to keep the tories out is. https://tactical.vote/

The tone is awful in both directions.

There is labelling in both directions.

There is most definitely hectoring in both directions.

We used to have a Tory MP who was actually an excellent constituency MP, but still voted LD (it was always a toss up between the two, Labour come nowhere here) for the sake of getting the Tory govt. out. Didn’t happen last time, but 🤞for the next.

I agree with this. Don't be so short sighted op for a general election.
Of course National policies will have a bigger impact on schools, health and social etc.

Yes it's great my Tory Mp has cleaned up the town centre a bit. Doesn't help the kids in the local schools.

My Mp will fix the pot hole outside the school but not feed the children in it!

A general election is bigger than a local and should be treat as so.

A good local MP’ isn’t what I prioritise when voting. I struggle to see how that would impact on my life in any way. Government policies on a national scale have a much more significant impact

But you are literally voting to put a person in to the HoC where they will absolutely have a say and may make it to the cabinet where they could have a significant impact. Just voting for the non-Tory will not improve the calibre of our MPs will it?

No you misread the earlier post.

And women even talking about sex based rights are told to stop, especially if it’s on a pro Labour thread

I mean how about that on a female dominated forum.

A good local MP’ isn’t what I prioritise when voting. I struggle to see how that would impact on my life in any way. Government policies on a national scale have a much more significant impact.

There is no right or wrong way to decide who to vote for. Base it on what is important for you.

That is how I used to vote. Now I take a different view.

I will vote based on who I believe has the best policies for the country as a whole. The UK needs repairing on a national level, not at a level that just suits me.

A party may have policies that may just be perfect for me, but my whole existence and future is built on soft sand if those policies are not going to work for the country. What I am talking about is not just economic policies, housebuilding or what will give my nearest and dearest money in their pockets and a rosy glow. Given that we are now entering a phase where democracy is under pressure, what is best for the country as a whole is even more important. The world is changing fast now and we are nowhere near ready for the challenges we will face. This goes for most of Western Europe also. Our national debt is a horror show. At the same time we can see that conventional wars are going to be fought regardless of the nuclear deterrent.

The self-serving interests of the Conservative Party are no different to those of the Russian oligarchs spiriting away state money to enrich their own. I cannot see any party that is too far from the centre being in a position to unite the country and successfully lead us to our best future.

It's depressing EasternStandard. And I genuinely don't think that this is quite as much 'both sides' as the poster claims. And on the wild west of Twitter X the vitriol from the Left is really alarming.

It’s a false equivalence. The “Getting the Tories out at all costs” attitude, is often the result of experiencing the consequences of their poor policy making on several issues. Whereas that particular concern about women’s rights is literally just one issue.

I agree with pp that it’s shortsighted to concern yourself with only your local MP.

It’s nowhere near the same. FWR type posters are usually factual and logical and their posts plainly said

The vitriol in return is off the scale. Those invested in gender ideology, typically males, must be delighted with the efforts of shutting it down.

Read up on how parliament works.

A dolt MP really doesn't have any say.

The point is,OP, that there aren't many 'good Tory' MPs left because Boris ousted nearly all of them. And now the clutch of decent ones left are standing down for the next election.

It's absolutely happened in my constituency which recently had a famous by election. Our new Labour MP seems excellent but mainly people were voting to oust the Tories.

Personally, I have always voted on national issues. You say you vote based in the quality of the MP but then name someone you would vote for because of a national issue, which doesn't make much sense.

I will be voting tactically in the next GE to oust the Tories. They’re a shockingly untalented bunch of inept politicians and I fail to see any supply of future cabinet ministers left to reshuffle. Another term with basically no room left for any minister to fail doesn’t bode well to me.

In calmer waters it’s perfectly reasonable (to me) to concentrate a vote on personal and local issues. Given local MP’s are always constrained by a current cabinet and lined up to deal with issues caused at a national level I can’t ignore the consequences of not taking national repercussions into consideration.

politics is long term even though we’re often encouraged to think short term. If I thought a GE could move an entrenched two party system to a more diverse representation in parliament then I’d be all for it but that’s not the reality we live in. The reality is that politics and society are nudged gradually into positions.

I’m not overly moved by the trans issues with any party in power. To me this is a longer and deeper issue than any one party will be able to navigate with a soundbite for an election, local or national. It’s not going to be resolved by electing any one person - local or national - since the policies and discussions surrounding it are complex. Even the most ardent feminist has to recognise that there is a sizeable movement backing the trans movement and any society should be aiming to find the compromises and boundaries in the best interests of all. No one in the debate is outside of society.

And women even talking about sex based rights are told to stop, especially if it’s on a pro Labour thread

The last thread I read had a couple of extremely boring posters just saying
-but what about sex based rights?
-but what about sex-based rights?
-but what about sex-based rights?
-but what about sex-based rights?
-but what about sex-based rights?
-but what about sex-based rights?

I have no desire to stop people talking about sex-based rights, but that is not what happens - you just get weird posters asking the same thing over and over.

I can't remember the names but those boring posters are probably on here now given it is also starting on here! Or maybe they are bots, who knows.

The problem is the voting system. We need PR.

@DewHopper my view is that individual politicians have very little impact when compared to the party political machine. The calibre of the person in the seat makes hardly any difference. Even if they did make it into the Cabinet they still have to make decisions collectively and along party lines. The content of the those policies and the collective intent behind them is what’s important to me. Politics is a dirty business.

lol well here you are talking about it.

If you don’t want to avoid the topic altogether

There’s no point as you are and many do moaning everywhere then quoting posters on the topic

You only have yourself to blame. If you don’t care don’t participate.

Oh I just reread your ‘cutting’ post you’re trying to have a go at me 😂 and too cowardly to do it properly. Anyway you are part of the problem now so here’s your medal 🎉

I always vote tactically because that's how they system in this country works. What you describe (voting out individual TWAW MPs is also tactical, it's just a different tactic). If I was in an area with a conservative MP with very good green credentials and I really didn't like the other likely candidate I might, might vote for them, but ultimately one mp is unlikely to be able to swim against the tide of the leadership whatever that is, and it's even less likely in opposition.

I live in one of the safest Tory seats in the Midlands, and I have the worst of all worlds. A completely useless Tory MP who has zero connection with the area and doesn’t even pretend to give a toss about it. He’s a ‘management consultant’ 🙄from London 🙄🙄 who was obviously earmarked as a potential future cabinet minister & fixed up with a safe seat by head office.

I will definitely vote tactically for whichever candidate is best placed to ‘get the Tories out’, not that it will make any difference…

Completely agree with this. The decent, centrist Tory MPs are fleeing the party like rats from a sinking ship. All that’s left will be Jonathan Gullis types.

Women's rights is a very personal issue to me but I do take your point.

No need to be patronising and I did mention cabinet posts as being most influential. If a 'dolt MP' has no say then why bother voting for anyone at all?

The standard of the 2019 intake in the seats the Tories won by surprise was extremely poor.

We’ll have the similar at next GE, a whole load of Osborne and Butler types flinging abuse at women

So that we can have the party we want in government.

If I understand you, you are trying to persuade people to vote for 'good' Tories (it is a matter of political opinion whether they exist or not!) because that aligns with your personal views on a single issue (in this case women's rights).

But a single MP has been pretty useless/powerless since the formal party system was introduced. That is why the UK system is referred to as an elective dictatorship.

We are voting for the party we want to run the country, because we have a party system.