Anti Brexit - who in the hell do I vote for?

[Efferlunt]

I’m always voted and take it seriously as a civic duty but, for the first time ever, aibu not to bother at the locals this May?

Tories seem intent on a ruinous Brexit that will leave us downing in cheap inports of chlorinated chicken, Labour doing nothing to stop them as they seem to think Brexit is a change to build a socialist paradise. Lib Dems are an irrelevance now as even fewer people vote for them.

Surely I can’t be the only person to feel like this? Where is the stop Brexit party and why is no one demanding one?

I voted tactically for Labour in the general election, because the Labour candidate promised to fight against a damaging hard Brexit - of which there has been little to no evidence to date, and after hearing Emily Thornberry speak a couple of weeks ago, I have given up second guessing Labour's Brexit position. I wouldn't advocate voting blindly in the locals - just that if you are not happy about the way Brexit is going, then look at the Greens, Lib Dems and any Independents and decide which of those candidates would work hardest to support important local issues. As I said, this is the last chance before March 2020 for us to vote, so anti Brexiters need to send a message that can't be misinterpreted.

the problem I have is that I like to support a certain person who is basically a social worker - great at sorting out people's problems with the petty bureaucracy of our LA - but that's seen as support for his party, which I don't.

One of our candidates (a new face) has just put out an election leaflet where she effectively slates all the policies of her own party. If she doorsteps me, WIBU to suggest she switches sides?

In a ward where I don't have any alternatives, I am probably going to use my vote but spoil my ballot paper.

Sorry - I meant March 2019 ... have just given us and extra year as EU citizens! I wish!

If, like me, you're unhappy about Brexit, then please vote, and vote for either Lib Dems, Greens or an Independent

Well, given that the next General Election isn't until 2022 it won't make a blind bit of difference what your local MP's stance on Brexit is.

It'll be done & dusted by then & everyone will be wondering what all the hysteria was about....

Vote for the person most likely to empty your bins....

It's not a given that it will be done and dusted by 2022. We may get a vote on the final deal. Policies of the two main parties may shift away from the cliff edge version of Brexit. There is still a lot of uncertainty and voting for anti Brexit parties in local elections sends a message to other parties. Look what happened with UKIP - other parties were so scared of UKIP stealing their votes we ended up with a shambolic referendum and a Tory party that has shifted massively to the right ... and UKIP only ever had 1 MP.

The time for Brexit ideology is long gone!

You'd like us all to shut up and go away wouldn't you? Well tough luck, You don't get to dictate that.

You'd like us all to shut up and go away wouldn't you? What? That's ridiculous. The time for ideology was before the vote. NOW is the time for getting on with ensuring we get the best we can from it. And that means having to accept it is happening and working out how you can affect what happens from here on in>

Carry on weeping and wailing if you like, but, as far as I can see, that is just another way of refusing to disengage and hold on to the "Well it wasn't what I voted for" card. Which is daft, self defeating!

Well tough luck, You don't get to dictate that. I'm not dictating anything. I thought this was a discussion! It seems I was wrong!

I certainly don’t want anyone to shut up.
I would be very happy with a Second Referendum.

What I don’t want is to add mess at local government level to the one we’re already in.

We all need our pavement fixed and the rubbish bins emptied, Brexit or no Brexit.

There's no weeping, wailing or hysteria coming from the many people I know who aren't happy about the way Brexit is going. It's more a determination to do whatever we can to prevent a damaging Hard Brexit. If we have to Brexit - even though it was an advisory referendum, with a plethora of misinformation and despite the fact that the very people it most affected (EU citizens in the UK, Brits settled abroad, under 18s) were not allowed to vote ... then let's at least stay in the Customs Union to protect businesses and to protect the peace agreement in NI. Clearly I'd rather not Brexit at all, and I'll never be on board with having my rights (and my children's rights) to live, study and work in 27 other countries with ease, stripped from us against our will, so I will continue to present alternative arguments to Brexit in a non-hysterical, non-weepy, non-whiny way.

I am utterly sick of having no representation

I am too

I have spent most of my life voting for stuff that didn’t win/happen. It is really time we had a PR system for voting

User - I suspect your friends aren't going to be using sentences like "drowning in chlorinated chicken" then

Obviously I am pro Brexit, and am looking forward to making a reasonable deal with those 27 states and to makiing new ones with all the Commonwealth countries, that we haven't been able to deal with directly, despite them sorting of 'being us'. And all the other non EU countries in the world. Who knows if either of us has the right or wrong of it. Hopefully we are both right and wrong in equal measure!

If everyone stopped with the daft hyperbole and considered what they could actually do to ensure a less hard Brexit, or a more hard one, or whatever they happen to believe in, then UK politics might actually recover its sensibility. You never know, we might even be able to grow some real politicians for the future, rather than continue with putting up with the current rather beige crop of career politics who don't seem to hold an ideal between them!

I'm still angry with the Libdems about all that AV nonsense. They had a great chance to change the system and blew it. Then did a total volte face on tuition fees. Then had the gall to not believe they would lose most of their MPs because of what they'd done! As if the people who voted for them weren't voting for those policies!!

OP there is a huge and well organised anti Brexit movement - you can find them on Twitter. Search for #fbpe (follow back pro EU) if you are on there. There are also two court cases being prepared that are set to challenge the legality of the way in which article 50 has been triggered, among other things.

The Lib Dems are one of the anti Brexit parties and there are many people who believe that the forthcoming local elections, although unrelated to Brexit, will be seen as a barometer of public opinion on Brexit.

Trying to work out how to cast an anti-Brexit vote in local elections is one of the reasons Brexit and stuff like it happens

I voted leave, However, I do not know who to vote for anymore. I could never vote Tory but NONE of the parties have more than 1 or 2 policies that I can really get on board with (nationally and locally) and they all have policies that I will never support, so what do I do? I didn't vote locally last time and the stupid idiot we had last time got back in. He is ruining our city by focusing on things that only the minority have a problem with, yet ignoring the things that the majority are desperate to change, but the other party representatives don't seem to care.
Nothing ever changes so I do wonder what the point is.

I'm certainly not voting for anyone who is pro-Brexit. I generally find them incapable of cognitive reasoning. They want our country to become poorer - and most of them can't even explain why.

Why would I want them to represent me in anything?

But Curious - we could already trade with all the Commonwealth countries, as part of the world's largest trading block. I'm really not sure we're going to strike up any better trading deals on our own - especially with our current gang of Brexiteers at the negotiating table. Let's see what's on the offer in October and we can all gain a more realistic view of the options available. There is still time to back track if it's not what was voted for ... but I'd like that chance for a vote on the final deal to be an option for us all - and the Tories and Labour are not on board with that right now. Some humiliating defeats in the local elections could change that - which could mean either a more palatable Brexit for both leavers and remainers ... or a no Brexit and a chance to divert energies back to the other pressing issues in this country.

For local elections, I vote for an independent who gets things done, or for whoever actually lives in my ward and is visible locally.

Tbh how much difference does it make who runs the council if there isn’t any money to deliver services?

So local democracy is an irrelevance?!... and local elections should be treated as a referendum of what you think of the ruling party, with councillors being elected or not as an irrelevant by-product? You’re treating our democratic process and the local councillors who serve you with contempt!

So Helmetbymidnight you seem to be in the same boat as the OP - who will you vote for since the two main parties have both pro and anti Brexit politicians?

But Curious - we could already trade with all the Commonwealth countries, as part of the world's largest trading block. Yep! And maybe a more direct agreement would benefit us? We can legally not ask before we leave, and so only have the vaguest of hints to go by!

I'm really not sure we're going to strike up any better trading deals on our own I don't share your pessimism! I think we might be very surprised.

especially with our current gang of Brexiteers at the negotiating table. But share your evaluation of the self absorbed career muppets we currently have in charge, in all parties and in the EU.

There is still time to back track if it's not what was voted for Given that nobody, on either side, had any bloody idea what they were voting for I'm not sure we'd have any better luck in a second vote. The same know nothing, self absorbed stuffed shirts would be the ones giving us that information! But at least we are forewarned and can do our own research this time!

Some humiliating defeats in the local elections could change that - which could mean either a more palatable Brexit for both leavers and remainers ... or a no Brexit and a chance to divert energies back to the other pressing issues in this country I agree. And would hope that everyone votes with a lot of LOCAL knowledge to make sure that happens, whichever side of the Brexit divide they are on.

Which is what I said originally

You’re treating our democratic process and the local councillors who serve you with contempt! Yes, that is much how I view the supposedly tactical votes that seek to bypass local politics.

The only way to make a real long term difference is via a very real and sustained groundswell. And that can only start at local level - no matter how anybody seeks to re-shape the voting system!

Voting with Brexit in mind in local elections isn't a waste of a vote. A meaningful vote is never wasted.

I'm historically a Labour voter but will not vote for them, in any capacity, while Corbyn is leader, so I'll be voting Lib Dem or Green. We've had a Labour councillor since time immemorial but at least I'll be able to email them and my MP and tell them that a) I know local Labour do a lot on the ground here but b) I didn't vote for them and why.

They came round and spoke to DP recently. His views and intentions are pretty much the same as mine. When he told the woman he wouldn't vote Labour while Corbyn was leader, her response was 'But the Labour Party voted for Corbyn'. Which is precisely the kind of tin-eared, bloody-minded single mindedness that has turned me and DP both against Labour.

Seems like we agree in some areas, Curious. I'm afraid I can't share your optimism for the future trading deals though. What do we actually manufacture in this country that does not rely on component parts from other countries? From my understanding, our main export is financial services, and leaving the EU is going to have a negative effect on that. And trading goods with countries further away will naturally incur greater transportation costs, so these deals will never truly be able to replace seamless trading with our nearest neighbours (who also happen to be fairly wealthy). Countries like China used to see the UK as the gateway to Europe - soon we'll be the gateway to nowhere. I hope I'm wrong and that if we do end up Brexiting, it'll somehow work out, but I have looked into all the issues in great detail and the only tangible 'benefit' I can see so far is the demise of UKIP ... as I really don't give a stuff about blue passports and bent bananas.