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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really resent living in a safe Tory seat?

152 replies

AngeloMysterioso · 01/06/2017 03:58

My constituency has had the same Tory MP since it's inception 20 years ago- in the 2015 GE he won by a margin of over 8000 votes, 20.9k+ to 12.6k+ votes for the Labour runner up.

I mean I'm going to vote anyway, but part of me is wondering what is the fucking point??

OP posts:
ThumbWitchesAbroad · 01/06/2017 04:01

I understand your frustration, I really do - I used to live in a VERY blue area in the UK, council and MP, and it never made any fucking difference there either - but you at least will know that you put your vote in against him, so you can say "not in my name" whenever he/they fuck up again.

It does suck though. :(

Eminybob · 01/06/2017 04:50

Yep, safe Tory seat here too, full of people like my PIL who habitually vote Tory without actually doing any research or thinking about the consequences.

Last GE I did a vote swap, thinking that maybe I could influence another constituency, but it didn't, so this time I'm just sticking to my principles and voting Labour, in the hope that some of those newly registered voters will do the same.

Lochan · 01/06/2017 05:17

Keep voting. Twice in my life I've lived in very safe constituencies (once Tory, once Labour) and seen them subject to huge upsets.

A safe is only safe as long as they can hang on to their voters.

Dashper · 01/06/2017 05:22

I feel you OP. I'm voting Labour anyway and hoping that at least the Tory MP in the constituency a mile away from us gets removed this GE. He had a hugely reduced majority last time.

thinkiamgoingcrazy · 01/06/2017 05:30

Yes keep voting. You never know. And your vote will be registered as a hopefully large swing even if it doesn't topple your velcro like MP Angry.

I do sympathise though. I live in a 20,000 majority Labour seat which has been a LibDem seat in the past. I think I will vote LibDem as it's safe enough to do so without risking letting the Tories in. Some Tory boys were campaigning outside our train station the other day (Hmm) though, so it's good not to be complacent.

You made me think of my Aunt who also lives in a Tory safe seat, where a lot of local farmers have put up Tory billboards. Apparently both her and her partner had separately been fantasising writing w**r all over them, and only recently realised their identical daydreams ShockGrin.

FPTP needs to go IMO.

thinkiamgoingcrazy · 01/06/2017 05:31

(I am glad my constituency is Labour - I sympathise because I would hate to live in a Tory safe seat).

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 01/06/2017 05:36

I agree that FPTP needs to go, but living in Australia now, the voting forms here are an absolute bastard to fill in!! I think it's a type of proportional representation system here (no doubt someone will know better than I do) but you have to do first, second etc. choices.
Last poll (can't even remember what it was for) there were TWENTY SIX bastards to vote for in order of preference! I'm 100% sure there would be people out there who wouldn't even bother to know which party they all stood for, and just numbered them in the order in which they came (as voting is compulsory here), so I doubt it's a much better system!

Sionella · 01/06/2017 05:38

If we had PR, we'd have had a shitload of UKIP MPs after the last election though... that can't have been a good thing either!!

Intransige · 01/06/2017 05:43

We live in a very safe seat too. I wanted to abstain in protest but I concluded that I have to keep trying, no matter how flawed the system.

SuperBeagle · 01/06/2017 05:43

Thumb It's a real bastard of a system when you know the PM might be ousted overnight and you'll have to fill in the form again in a matter of months. Wink

crazykitten20 · 01/06/2017 05:51

Me too. Voting Lib Dem as it's possible this might unseat the ##arsehole## Tory

crazykitten20 · 01/06/2017 05:51

Ok ....so how do you strike out? I thought I knew but obviously not!!

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 01/06/2017 05:55

20 years? Pah, that's nothing lol
Our constituency has been Tory since the 1940s!!!

BoomBoomsCousin · 01/06/2017 06:12

Vote anyway. It encourages the party you are voting for, helps to save their deposit and every vote against the winner puts pressure on that winner to move more towards the centre. It may not be much now, but if you can narrow that margin, the MP will be unsettled by it, will be less likely to support the more extreme party policies and more likely to try to influence the party towards the centre. That's one of the ways politics works. The FPTP system concentrates power, but it doesn't totally remove the pressure on the winners.

ArgyMargy · 01/06/2017 06:15

Well you never know - I've lived in a true blue constituency for 20 years but proposed boundary changes will get rid of it completely. Although I disagree with the change, it means 1) one less Tory MP and 2) my vote will be more "worth it"!

insancerre · 01/06/2017 06:20

I live in a safe Tory constituency
My mp doesn't at n come from this area
He is accused of getting a dog drunk Hmm

mailfuckoff · 01/06/2017 06:24

I'm in a blue area and it has been forever because of the grammar schools. I hate it. DH and I vote against them every chance we get just to make the point.

MollyHuaCha · 01/06/2017 06:27

OP, my Tory safe seat is even safer than yours... but I'll def vote anyway. There is little point in me voting tactically because the margin is really wide, so I'm going to choose my favourite party - Green.

Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes · 01/06/2017 06:34

Same here, I have lived in safe Tory seats all my life, never had a candidate I've voted for win, it does make me wonder what the point is, but I will always vote.

BarbaraofSeville · 01/06/2017 06:39

Agree that the election system is flawed, but presumably you chose to live where you do and if you are the typical Mumsnetter who can afford to seek out the good areas with the best schools etc to live in they are always going to be disproportionately tory areas, except perhaps gentrified city areas.

You could always move somewhere more working class if you don't agree with the politics of your neighbours.

allegretto · 01/06/2017 06:41

I lived in a safe Tory constituency - hadn't changed for decades - and then they elected a Lib Dem so don't give up hope! The most damaging thing you can do is think your vote doesn't count. Quite often the number of people who don't vote is actually a sizeable majority who could change the result.

alltouchedout · 01/06/2017 06:54

I used to live in one, I feel your pain. Now I live in a safe Labour seat, I suppose there are Tories round here feeling equally as frustrated. I wish we had PR.

Greenandcabbagelooking · 01/06/2017 07:02

The last time my area had a non-Conservative MP was 1924. I don't hold out much hope...

RebelandaStunner · 01/06/2017 07:05

Tory safe seat here. Never been an upset. Labour always second by a huge margin followed closely by Greens.
We haven't even had a Tory leaflet this time.

Theworldisfullofidiots · 01/06/2017 07:07

I live in a safe Tory seat with a useless MP. It makes him lazy.
Did you know the lowest funded areas for education are all Tory. Nothing to do with need. It's all about what your council historically spent on education. My council is Tory too.
Some Tory councils are good I think, just not here.

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