To think voting for the Green Party is a wasted vote?

[Rebecca2014]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30829222

For one thing you will be giving a greater chance of the Tories and UKIP winning the election due to the fact votes are being taken from Labour and the Lib Dems. You are not taking votes from UKIP, you are taking votes from Labour the party more likely to win the election.

Second my family live in Brighton and the Green Party have been awful there, the rubbish collections...the roads, do not talk about what they done for the motorist in that town.

If you are voting for the Greens, why???

LoisWilkerson15

It is odd. I've never been an activist. The closest I came was aged 17 when some mates staged a CND protest in town, and I went to heckle (with their encouragement !).

However, I have always voted. But then I have a family history which isn't British, and comes from a very very dark place in human history. Having ancestors that witnessed the descent into totalitarianism in their country, and were lucky enough to survive it to tell the tale has tempered my views somewhat.

When we studied fascism at school (contemporary world history), it was kinda fun to go back home and hear the bits being missed out .

So I will always vote. Because, frankly, not voting lets dictators in. It's that simple.

You know that canard about the greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist ? In [UK] politics the greates trick politicians pulled is convincing people they want them to vote whilst simultaneously hoping they vote.

Remember, if you don't vote, you're happy the way things are.

MaliceInWinterWonderland78

I was thinking specifically of Germany, to be honest ...

I am considering them.

I did that quiz about who you should vote for, and it turns out I like nearly all their policies.

I do not expect them to get any seats. But I know that all parties look at the spread of votes to decide which of their competitors' policies to steal consider more fully in future.

If the Greens suddenly got a big push in support, there would be more Green policies from the mainstream parties, and therefore more Green laws, which would suit me nicely because I think they're good.

Lurking

Disabled (ish) but for your purposes, no, unemployed (have been), homeless (have been).

The point I was making was not about whether Tories help certain people or not. What I'm saying is that we have to live within our means. We should help vulnerable groups, I absolutely accept that. We should not borrow (outside of a single political cycle) to do it.

All individual votes are as meaningless as each other. If you vote for the party that gets in, you wasted a vote assuming they won by a majority of at least two. If you vote for a party that doesn't get in, it was also 'wasted'. But only if you think the point of voting is that your one personal vote will decide the entire outcome, which it doesn't. The point of voting is not just who wins but showing whoever wins what the public care about and want. I'll vote green every time (unless a uk feminist party appears like in france snd Sweden) even if there isn't a hope in hell for them because it shows the others that people want green policies. And I'd never vote for a party i didn't actually condone just to try to keep another out because i don't want them mistakenly believing i agree with their policies.

I'm absolutely astounded by the support for a Labour government that took us to the brink in the expectation that our children and grandchildren would foot the bill.
But it's been demonstrated time and again, really very clearly, by many folk, including the Bank of England that the crisis was not the fault of the government. Apart from which, George has borrowed more since 2010 than the last Labour government borrowed through the whole of their tenure.

Lurking. That's interesting. A mock vote in sixth form last week (rural area, lots of farmers etc.) produced a Green landslide. Just gone back to look at the figures.
Green 81.
Labour 7.
Conservatives 19.
Ukip 17.
Year 13 only.

P.s. i almost gave up on voting after the failure of the fptp reform but decided to carry on after watching the really powerful swedish 'never forget to vote' video. Don't know how to link on my phone but you canfind it easily on youtube. A green vote is a vote NOT for ukip, and that's never a waste.

ourye safe seats will only remain that way if you let them. Things can change rapidly. How many Scottish Labour MPs with substantial majorities feel safe now? The threat of losing her seat has actually made our local MP bother to engage with the people who elected her, for the first time in four years.

Dawn The crisis (for me at least) is neither here not there, it's all about the intention, or otherwise, of a generation to live within its means. For me, I'd like to see us running a surplus. I acknowledged that he Conseratvies haven't done this, but they at least have it as a strategic aim.

I've done the whole "tactical voting to get, then keep, the tories out" thing for 20 yrs - by voting Lib Dem. That worked well didn't it? . This time I will vote for the party whose policies I agree with - the Green party.

Dawn That poll of sixth form is really interesting. I'm curious about the conservatives being quite popular, they don't seem interested in the youth vote. Maybe I'm wrong on that. i hate them

The only wasted vote is one that isn't cast.

But I know that all parties look at the spread of votes to decide which of their competitors' policies to steal consider more fully in future.

A million times this. Voting for smaller parties still has power - just look at the way some parties are trying to 'win' the UKIP voters over with policies that will appeal to them.

If a sizeable proportion vote Green/LibDem/MonsterRavingLoony, political parties will become interested in those voters and the policies that attract them.

Ideologically, no vote is a wasted one. You are making your voice heard.

Unfortunately, and largely in part to the fact that the UK insists on holding onto FPTP, many votes are wasted in that they are votes that do not translate into representation or any chance of representation. We only have ourselves to blame for that one, though.

Lois Conservatives have always been popular with farmers!

Ah! Of course that explains it Dawn I missed the farmers bit.

Yes the Tory farmer vote, the biggest bunch of hypocrites going. Advocate rampant individualism, the free market and untrammelled capitalism for the rest of us, just so long as the subsidy cheque keeps landing on the doorstep.

The only wasted vote is the one you don't cast. If you don't vote, the politicians don't have to care about you - and they don't.

I've said this before on other threads, but I reckon everyone should take the Vote for Policies quiz before voting. I did and it's changed my vote. Interestingly, the Greens come out very strongly, but nobody votes for them because of this idiotic 'wasted vote' nonsense. Imagine if they did!

Yes the Tory farmer vote, the biggest bunch of hypocrites going. Advocate rampant individualism, the free market and untrammelled capitalism for the rest of us, just so long as the subsidy cheque keeps landing on the doorstep.

So true. A farmer relative of mine bashes benefit claimers up hill and down dale, but is happy to trouser an annual subsidy cheque that is higher than average earnings where he lives.

As to the OP, sometimes people vote in the knowledge that they won't change their constituency outcome (or at least, not this time) but may well affect policies generally or outcomes next time. Green Party membership is booming all of a sudden. If their share of the vote goes up significantly, then even if they don't actually gain another MP, I expect the other parties will rethink their environment policies to try and win those voters over. It's not always about winning, sometimes its about nudging.

There was a time in the not so distant past a vote for the SNP was considered a "wasted" vote and, well...

You've got new generations of voters every year with different political opinions, "safe" seats won't necessarily be safe forever. Political apathy is a lot more concerning.

The Greens are a crypto-Communist party whose policies regarding the EU (they love it), immigration (they want even more of it) and free speech (they want to curb it) are in opposition to the views of the majority of people. This is why you only find these views buried in their manifesto and not on the website which is full of empty platitudes about having a "fair society" and "quality public services".

They have also made a pig's ear of Brighton.

However no vote is a wasted vote. If you have read their manifesto and broadly agree with the principles therein then you should vote for them. That is the only way that different viewpoints can grow and gain traction. Otherwise we will be consigned to a 2 party state where power ping pongs between Labour and Conservatives forever and our political elite, who believe they have a born right to rule, continue to ignore the people.

I work in agriculture (now) and have a decent enough understanding of SFPs, etc. The situation, as it exists in farming today, is not that different from that which exists for individuals.

As it stands, we subsudise farmers to produce cheap milk (4 pints for 1 - retail!!!!!) and we subsidise Company's by paying tax credits to the low paid. The Farmer no more wants to recieve a subsidy, than a working man wants to claim tax credits - it's just about having the balls to step off the merry-go-round.

*companies (not Company's)

But it's been demonstrated time and again, really very clearly, by many folk, including the Bank of England that the crisis was not the fault of the government.

That's true, it's not Labours fault that there was a global crisis.

It was the governments fault that they had already spent everything when the rainy day came though.

Yes I do think its a wasted vote and we have scary scary and un precedent times ahead of us with the IS threat. More people coming back with training on how to attack us.

Which Party is going to be the best at trying to keep us safe?

As well as all other stuff to boot...