To think I can vote for who I fucking well like, and my DM has no right to try and tell me otherwise?

[Runny]

So today I announced my intention to vote Labour and to cut a very long story short DM has gone apeshit with me. Apparently us 'youngsters' have never lived under a proper Labour government, because Tony Blair wasn't a proper Labour PM so doesn't count, but Jeremy Corbyn is a 'communist' and if he gets in next week 'I'll never know hardship like it because I wasn't around in the 70's when there was no electricity and everyone was on strike and there was rubbish and dead bodies piled up in the street'.

That was the basic jist of her rant, it really did sound like that and she is genuniely both offended and horrified that I would dare to support Labour. Ive thought long and hard about who to vote for, and the Labour Party have always been the party I've best identified with. So it's a no brainer really.

I should say she has issues around control, and has always had a problem with me expressing an opinion, unless it's the same as her own so I shouldn't be surprised really. I've sat on the fence for years but wasn't expecting this, I have to say I'm feeling secretly quite pleased with myself for being honestl

I haven't dared tell her that DB is voting Labour as well. She'll probably combust. The best thing is last week she had a rant when my DF told her that the very first time he voted his parents joked they'd chuck him out unless he voted Labour, he didn't and they didn't chuck him out but she went mad saying parents nad no right to tell their kids who to vote for!

She's out of order. Isn't she?

Oh, I mind the 1970s three day week, power cuts, miners strikes, sitting in cold classrooms in our coats.
Ted Heath Tory govt

I'm crossing everything for a hung parliament
And then extra crossing everything all over again that JC and NS and TF have the balls to refuse a coalition

the Belgian model is the one to go for

YANBU!

It's totally normal IMO to tell close family who you are voting for, and your DM should respect your opinion.

She sounds like one of the loons on here who can't accept anyone having a different opinion to them.

Ratspeaker I was also going to post that I thought it was Ted Heath who was PM when we had the power cuts and massive strikes.

Oh my days, of course you can vote for who you like. FWIW I'm voting the same way as you, and as for my father who was very much around for the seventies (and never once mentioned the piles of corpses that a couple of pp have confirmed were present?), well he's voting the same way too. So apparently not every living soul has the same memory of that era, the same way as not every living soul has the same memory of the recent Tory years - because from where I've been standing literally nothing could be worse.

So just ignore her. Emotions run high around elections; it's best not to get sucked in, especially among family. Argue it all you like with people with whom it won't get personal, but don't sweat it with your loved ones, and don't let them sweat it with you (although they may try!).

I have never discussed who I am voting for with anyone except DH. Didn't know it was mandatory to have a family debate about it.

I think the unburied bodies were from about 1963 (?) when the winter was so harsh that the ground in most of the country was too frozen to dig. There was a Tory government but even I can bring myself to blame them for the weather and I'm a bit to the left of Corbyn.

It's been a while since I had a talking, breathing parent but I think it's quite normal in a lot of families to talk about politics. You might be there for a visit and see or hear a news bulletin, someone says 'Did you hear what that bampot xyz was saying on Thursday?' and lo and behold you're all discussing politics. Sadly, it also seems common for parents to tell their independent and adult offspring what to think.

And wasn't it ted heath's government that had us on the 3 day week? I don't think he was a communist, folks.

Of course your DM is utterly out of order. Is she old enough to remember what life was like before the NHS? I bet not. My DF, who does remember that and the 1970s is very pro-Jeremy Corbyn and keeps trying gently to persuade his family to agree with him. What makes her think she's so unbelievably wise that her children must follow her opinions in everything? It's a political opinion, nothing more, nothing less. It's not as if the status quo is a good example of anything.

During the winter of discontent power cuts etc lots of local council workers were on strike & funerals were help up due to no grave diggers.
No bodies were piled up on the street, if memory serves me correctly it was Ted Heath who was PM it was also a Tory government when interest rates were 15% & black Wednesday was a Tory chancellor.

Ted Heath did impose the three day week, it was caused by economic mismanagement, not his (non existent) leftist leanings.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week

And you can say what you like about strikes and industrial unrest but while the unions were strong and active, there were no tax credits or working folks having to claim housing benefit because employers were forced to pay a living wage.

You can, and absolutely should, vote for whoever you like :). Politics is so polarising, and people's views are so tied up with their values and individual life experiences that they get very defensive and irrational, I think. You aren't in the wrong; use your vote to stand up for your values and life experiences, not your mum's.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent
FGS James Callaghan was in power. I lived through it.

Labour in the 70s was a very different beast to Labour now - back then it was so union dominated - a lot of the MPs had come up through the unions, the unions had the block votes at party conferences etc. And the unions themselves were very different beasts to unions now. It was a whole different world. People who were raising families in that period - my PILs, say - have very vivid memories of the awfulness of the time; it must have been very hard. But it's not the same as Labour now.

@silently I would love to know when tax credits/Hb became so prevalent for working people( not being disrespectful to anyone in receipt of benefits btw) instead of employers paying wages that families can live on, JC has been the only politician I have heard even mention this.

"I think the unburied bodies were from about 1963 (?) when the winter was so harsh that the ground in most of the country was too frozen to dig"

But I think posters in this thread mean the occurrence in 1978/9 ('the winter of discontent' under Callaghan) and it arose from relentless strikes, plus economic chaos (UK had to be bailed out by IMF in the Wilson years).

Same line my parents use. I was educated under the Tories and it's fucking grim now. People have died, that's worse than the dead not being buried.

Of course it's the same old Labour.

Terrifying thought really.

Especially with Corbyn, Abbott and co running the show.

Heaven help us all.

You can vote for whoever you please, and I'm glad you're voting Labour, but your DM has the right to her own opinions, wrong as she may be! With only a few days to go of course people will be shouting about it.

Tax Credits were introduced by Tony Blair to counteract the massive rise in children in poverty caused by the previous Tory governments destroying the Unions and the manufacturing industries.

The Winter of Discontent was less about economic mismanagement and more about world trade conditions, unlike Heath's Three Day Week.

There was no need for housing benefit in the 70s because there was ample, affordable council housing.

Although really, arguing about whether Heath or Callahan was most incompetent is a bit redundant, as the UK's last two governments, neither of which were Labour, have left the UK with more debt than even the post war government. Additionally, the pound is about 25% weaker than it was under the last labour government.

The Tories push this idea that they are the only party that can be trusted with the economy and it really is the biggest load of bullshit.