AIBU to ask you why you vote the way you do?

[TheRealGussieFinkNottle]

Genuinely interested - e.g. if you vote Labour/Conservative/Lib Dem/Green/UKIP, why have you decided to? And if you're a swing voter, why?

(Promise I'm not a journalist. Have been on the site for a while as a regular user, and just really interested in politics and people's political views).

SNP. Fairly obvious reasons. (Why didn't you mention them or Plaid, though you listed smaller parties?)

I vote labour. I have kids with SN who have a requirement to access CAMHS, the cuts to mental health and other services by the Tory party do disadvantage the most vulnerable in society.

My husband and are personally better off under a Tory government as we pay less tax but we have seen , first hand, the impact of the policies on the disabled and find it morally indefensible to continue voting Tory.

I vote Labour, have never voted anything else, I am opposed to most tory ideology and their attitude towards the disabled, the poor, the young and all services.

SNP. Fairly obvious reasons.

Same here.

*(Why didn't you mention them or Plaid, though you listed smaller parties?)

Sorry Hirples. I should've mentioned them - just forgot

Conservative

Each election, I weigh up the policies of the more left leaning parties and vote for the one that fits most with me.
I have voted Labour, Green and in the last election Lib Dem, as a tactical vote to oust the sitting conservative MP, which was successful.
I have always been left leaning as I have spent thirty years in health care. People are more important than money, and tory policies appear to be about looking after the few, not the many.

SNP too. Again obvious reasons

Why start a thread like this, just go back through numerous threads or just read comments BTL in newspapers or Twitter feeds from various people on all sides of the spectrum, or have you been living in a cave all your adult life.

I vote Labour, albeit a little half-heartedly seeing the feeble stance on Brexit, because I'm selfish: I want the people around me to to be healthy and well educated and thereby able to make their contribution to society.

I forgot to say why. I vote because I am female and women died so we could vote. ATM tbh no party fills me with excitement. The only reason I don’t vote labour is because I think Jeremy Corbin is too radical.

Sorry Hirples. I should've mentioned them - just forgot

Yeh that kind of sums up why I vote SNP to.

I don't always vote the same way except I NEVER vote Labour. I was brought up in a hard core left wing house by parents who met by both being in the Communist party. They and their lefty friends were such hypocritical bigots it put me off for life. Then along came Tony Blair .....
I could change my mind but it would take a helluva lot to do that. I find it hard to choose who to vote for in GEs, less so local elections

I vote for our current MP because she fights tooth and nail for her constituents, has consistently got back to us within a day or so of any enquiry, turns up in a crisis and gets her hands dirty, speaks up for local issues and cares about the people she represents in parliament.

tbh I don't always agree with her political party, but I'm glad she's on our side.

I read the manifesto for all parties standing in my area and then weigh up which I find the least offensive.

Unfortunately round here Labour will be the only party anyone votes for. I honestly think you could put a red rosette on a dog turd and it would get elected.

For the last election I voted tory. For us they had the best fitting policies for long term growth and stability. I find Corbyn too left wing and I have very little faith that he could lead the country in the brexit negotiations (I voted stay) there is no other viable alternative.

The lib democracy candidate lived about 90 miles from our area so pointless and jo one else fielded a candidate

I usually vote Labour. "It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." I vote for the party whose policies I feel pass that moral test.

I can’t vote in the UK, I’m American. But I vote Dem at home simply because they’re not actively trying to kill me and people who look like me (women, minorities, etc.).

If I had to vote in the UK, I’d probably go between Lib Dem and Labour. As a foreigner I cannot possibly vote for a party that has purposefully made my life hell just because I fell in love with a Brit and decided to stay in the UK.

I vote Conservative as I like and respect my local MP. He's done a lot of good for my local area. If he left I'm not sure which way I'd vote. To be honest none of the parties really tie in with my personal views.

lisamed that is so refreshing to read. Our constituency has a career politician who doesn't appear to give an actual flying fuck about local issues.

I have voted conservative for the last decade and a half but literally have no idea what I'd do if there was an election tomorrow. No way I'd vote labour under Corbyn who is, I think, probably out of his mind as well as wrong about literally everything. If called upon to make a difficult decision it can helpful to ask oneself what Corbyn would do and then do the opposite (he's like George out of Seinfeld but quite a lot less funny).

I'm a swing voter at the moment as in the last few elections (by which I mean two GE, a Scottish parliament election and council elections, not long-running GEs) I have variously voted in favour of policies, against other policies and tactically to keep a party out. I usually vote labour but in the council elections I ranked SNP top (technically I voted for everyone as I made sure to rank the Tory last place) and in the 2017 GE I voted SNP. I'm actually a Labour member (although probably holding on until the Scottish leadership elections are over then quitting) but the Scottish party is so uninspiring I didn't want to vote for them (and was worried the pro-Union vote would all go Tory, and the Tory candidate for our seat would be an abysmal MP, so didn't want to waste a Labour vote).

People vote in their own interest, anything else is noise and virtue signalling. Election after election tells us this. Humans are inately selfish.

I vote conservative as our local MP is excellent and deserves the vote.

After the damage tax credits did, I can't bring myself to vote for labour and a Conservative was the party that matched the most out of the others.

LisaMed who's your MP, out of interest?

Swing voter. I've voted for everyone apart from UKIP at some point. Will never vote Tory again, and voted Labour in the last general. It depends on my circumstances (pretty desperate at times, disabled &disabled family and not at all well off) and the representative themselves.