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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask who you plan to vote for and why?

118 replies

Eebahgum · 11/05/2014 13:17

Ok, apologies in advance if this becomes a big bun fight but I'm genuinely interested. I have lost faith in all major political parties, read their manifestos and decided they're all as mad as a box of frogs. Don't want to not vote because I believe everyone who can should as recognition for living in a democracy. But who the hell should I vote for?

OP posts:
colleysmill · 11/05/2014 19:17

Where I am it's mep elections only.

Every bit of political "bumf" that's arrived through the door has a bit on why I shouldn't vote ukip ( even the bnp flyer stated that ukip were a racist party)

I want political parties to tell me about their policies and visions, not why I shouldn't vote for another party.

Interestingly a lot of the "pledges" on the leaflets were very similar, just worded differently

silveroldie2 · 11/05/2014 19:25

I will vote Conservative in the next General Election and hope that we get a referendum on Europe asap - I will vote to leave. Haven't decided who I will vote for in the Euro Election.

Panwearsrosa · 11/05/2014 19:29

Imagine IF the Tories won a second term? What we've had so far will seem like a picnic.

SueDNim · 11/05/2014 19:29

I've always voted Lib Dem. I've just done two "who should you vote for" thing. One came out as Labour and the other completely equally split between 4 ways. I like a lot of the Greens' policies, but I'm not very environmentally driven, it's just the other stuff particularly I like. But I am not sure that the rest of the Greens' stuff is completely costed or just utopian.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 11/05/2014 19:41

Just did a who should you vote for and it was a four way split.

Think it will be conservative (never thought I would see the day - normally a lib dem). I have a horrible feeling ukip oap wing of the bnp will do well locally.

DoctorTwo · 11/05/2014 19:44

UKIP candidate even thicker than his constituents.

grovel · 11/05/2014 19:47

Conservative.

Needthesunshine · 11/05/2014 20:02

Labour.

IamRechargingthankYou · 11/05/2014 21:02

Jim Duggan - Peace Party; preferred it when he stood for the People's Peace Party but he/they merged - can't have everything I suppose. But what I do have is a genuine, real live person to vote for - which is more than most on here have.

BMW6 · 11/05/2014 21:10

Conservative this time to continue the reforms.

PlinkyPlonker · 11/05/2014 21:17

I've moved areas and I am a lefty but my vote might have to go to the dark side just to make sure my vote counters a UKIP vote as I think this is quite a conservative area and if I vote for anything close to my natural leanings I might as well be pissing in the wind. I need to look into this more though so thanks for reminding me OP.

OTheHugeManatee · 11/05/2014 21:29

I would accept MrsBlackthorn's points about referenda wholeheartedly were it not for the fact that the EU is in the process of dismantling that very 'system we've spent a thousand years refining'. Which system I think is a pretty amazing achievement and which I don't want to see thrown away over some economic scaremongering by a body that does not itself seem overwhelmingly competent at managing the economic welfare of its member states.

So I will vote for whoever promises (and seems capable of delivering) a referendum on Europe in the parliamentary elections. It's going to be the defining election issue across pretty much all 28 EU nations if you ask me.

BeyondRepair · 11/05/2014 21:47

I would accept MrsBlackthorn's points about referenda wholeheartedly

I don't I think it stands for almost every reason why people are turning to UKIP, because they are being told by people who think they are high minded, that they are stupid and cannot work things out and that they only learn politics from the daily mail.

They cannot be trusted to vote and make big decisions and they must be suppressed.

IscreamUscream · 11/05/2014 21:58

I have never voted before in my life,I am nearly forty.
For the first time I recieved a voting card last week through the front door and it made me cross. I'm totally disillusioned with all of them. Can't we vote to get rid of the lot of them and vote in us on mumsnet instead!!

fifi669 · 11/05/2014 22:28

Conservative.

Iwantmybed · 11/05/2014 22:41

I couldn't find anything on the home websites that echoed how I felt in any of the major parties. I liked the English Democrats though, they didn't appear to be racist or overly twattish like some. I didn't realise how screwed the English were in GB. We're the only country paying prescription charges, that doesn't seem right to me.

Panwearsrosa · 11/05/2014 22:50

yes, devolved powers and separate systems (education, legal, NHS) indicate just how backward the Tories would like to lead England to be. No wonder they resist anything progressive.

Panwearsrosa · 11/05/2014 22:55

and as a for instance, the Justice Sec., Chris Grayling, is intent on denying 'justice' to as many people as he can, and the criterion of whether you can go to court is money. Yes, in the Tory world you have to buy justice.

bauhausfan · 11/05/2014 23:15

Green

Whathaveiforgottentoday · 11/05/2014 23:20

local elections I will vote for residents association as they are pretty strong in this area and do deal with local issues. I'm not sure for European at the moment but not UKIP.

ComposHat · 12/05/2014 00:19

iscream if you've got to the age of 22 and never voted, I'm sorry but you get the government you deserve.

ComposHat · 12/05/2014 00:21

Sorry that should have read, if you've gone through 22 years worth of elections and never once bothered to cast a votr, then you get the government you deserve.

Springheeled · 12/05/2014 07:00

Yikes, I hope the elections this time don't point to a Tory/ukip coalition in 2015. That thought kept me awake last night.

MrsBlackthorn · 12/05/2014 07:56

The good news is, due to our electoral system, UKIP are unlikely to get any seats in Westminster next year. They might also split the right-wing vote, costing some Tories their seats (and to a lesser extent, some Labour seats too). Making another Lib Dem-minority coalition slightly more likely.

The tragic thing is so many people pledging to vote UKIP in the locals and Europeans "as a protest vote". A protest vote is one where your protest party hasn't a hope of getting in. The locals and Euros are the two elections where UKIP do stand a chance of getting in. So that protest vote could end up with you actually getting a UKIP representative on your council or in Europe.

They took a swathe of council seats last year, and have been shown to be every bit as useless as their MEPs - not showing up for votes, leaving the party in a string of embarrassing scandals over racist gaffes, fiddling their expenses, and so on.

As protests go, it's massively self-defeating.

FannyFifer · 12/05/2014 08:07

I will be voting SNP in the European elections, YES in the referendum, then SNP in the general election, hopefully my general election vote won't matter to much as we will have voted for Independence.