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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

197 replies

Efferlunt · 09/04/2018 05:26

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?

OP posts:
Amomentofbeauty · 09/04/2018 13:29

Sorry, @frankchickens, you are correct, I should have added 'before the leave date'.

I did vote Remain and tactically in the last election, thanks. Not that it matters because we are basically ignored. My local MP is one of the worst Brexits going. I have nothing but contempt for him. He represents nothing for me. Nothing at all.

Amomentofbeauty · 09/04/2018 13:32

Possibly, possibly not. The Conservatives look set to lose pretty much all of the local London Councils. They will find out how toxic Brexit is for the younger voter, I hope. It's all I can do because no one is listening. I pretty much hate what this country has become.

Biber · 09/04/2018 13:35

This pro EU party will be standing in many areas www.facebook.com/RenewBritain/

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/04/2018 13:45

That's exactly what I'm talking about. What? That you have made your statement, told us what you think and we persist, in the face of your well reasoned opinion, to disagree with you!

frankchickens · 09/04/2018 13:45

Even if one of the pro-EU parties wins every single seat in some local elections (which won’t happen) - does anyone seriously believe it would stop Brexit?

frankchickens · 09/04/2018 13:47

The Conservatives look set to lose pretty much all of the local London Councils to be replaced by whom? Mostly Labour presumably.

user1471448556 · 09/04/2018 13:51

Better Labour than Tories at the moment. Corbyn is promising a 'jobs first' Brexit ... a Brexit where no single job is lost as a result. Once he engages his brain, he'll realise that means a soft Brexit ... or perhaps even no Brexit.

frankchickens · 09/04/2018 13:53

a Brexit where no single job is lost as a result. Once he engages his brain, he'll realise that means a soft

Fuck me that is a spectularly daft promise! Has he been listening to Trump?

middleagedad · 09/04/2018 13:55

I've always voted for one of the big two or with purely local apolitical residents groups up to now. But seeing both the major parties are hell bent on steering us into leaving the EU thereby causing totally unnecessary harm to our country's economic and political strength, with nothing to gain other than the ability for a few multi-millionaires to hide their assets abroad I'll be sending a message by voting for a pro-Europe party. Obviously that limits my choices and I'm aware that I may be overlooking good local candidates, but showing opposition to this nonsense is more important than any temporary local issues.

frankchickens · 09/04/2018 13:55

Btw Just so you can save time typing insults, I have never voted Tory and don’t plan to start any tine soon

user1471448556 · 09/04/2018 13:56

Who knows! A 'jobs first Brexit' is a weird one - I personally know a couple of people who have already lost their jobs as a direct result of Brexit.

frankchickens · 09/04/2018 13:58

Maybe Tooting or wherever can rejoin the EU

Helmetbymidnight · 09/04/2018 14:15

That's exactly what I'm talking about. What? That you have made your statement, told us what you think and we persist, in the face of your well reasoned opinion, to disagree with you!

Eh? I don't mind your disagreement, why would I?

I just don't want anyone who is a Brexitteer in charge of anything around me - the utter crap they come out with does my head in - it's hardly controversial that I would use my vote to try and avoid it.

OptomistNic · 09/04/2018 14:27

These local elections are SO important.

Those of us worried about the impending Brexit disaster, must signal to our MPs that we are very concerned about the cliff-edge Brexit that the government (so far backed by Labour) are pursuing.

So it's Green or Lib Dems all the way.

I also get that feeling of being on a train heading for a bad destination - one that I fear will make us all poorer (not just economically) and I am very sad that my children's right to live, work, study and travel freely in 27 nations is being taken away. I think that LE2018 is possibly our last chance at the ballot box to signal how we feel.

chocolateworshipper · 09/04/2018 14:30

In my opinion, not voting would be insulting to all of the women who sacrificed so much to get us the right to vote (apologies if I have made a wrong assumption that you are female). I agree with those who have said you should vote for the party who will deliver on the local policies that you consider to be the most important.

scaryteacher · 09/04/2018 14:37

OptomisticNic You do know that you don't elect MPs at local elections? For local elections you need to look at who will keep your rubbish collections going; ensure the pot holes are fixed; who has the local knowledge necessary to achieve things for your small area.

I'm a leaver and what you describe about being on a train headed for a bad destination is how I feel about being in the EU. I thinbk you'll find that your kids can live, work, study and travel in the EU post Brexit. There are loads of non EU citizens who do all those things now.

I would also point out that whilst you have the 'right' to do those things on paper now; in practice it can be a bit different, EU member state citizen or not.

OptomistNic · 09/04/2018 14:50

Of course I know that! The point is to send a message to the major political parties (ie MPs). A number of us voted Labour in GE2017 to send a message to Mrs May and the Tories that her form of Brexit had no mandate. It was clear. Her majority was significantly reduced. Some twisted that to suggest that people had voted largely for pro-Brexit parties (Tories and Labour). Well, not this time!

Vote for whichever anti-Brexit candidate does the things you talk about or are important to you. In any case, if we leave the EU, potholes and rubbish collections will be the least of our worries.

BackforGood · 09/04/2018 14:51

Absolutely ChocolateWorshipper

OptomistNic · 09/04/2018 14:57

Yes ChocolateWorshipper - couldn't agree more.

ChrisInTheNorth · 09/04/2018 15:03

Dear Mumsnet

I hope you don't mind me joining your group, just to make a response to this question. I will be upfront, I am a Lib Dem candidate in these elections, and I am happy for you to evaluate my comments with this knowledge. I am also very strongly anti-Brexit, and very worried as to how leaving the EU will have on this country.

But this is not a post about the reasons for this fear - I'll post again if requested. If you supported and still support 'Leave' I think you will be disappointed with what you get, but this post isn't primarily directed at you.

If you are against Brexit, but think its a fait accompli. It isn't. The EU is leaving the door ajar for a reversal of policy. This won't come about unless the government sees there has been a significant change in public opinion. The local election results are one way this could be shown. If I'm elected to my local council I won't be in a position to stop Brexit. But the votes I receive will be part of the 'message to the government'

If you think local elections should be about local issues and not sending messages to the government, I can see and sympathise with exactly where you are coming from. , but if you think there is a dilemma between voting for an anti-Brexit party AND for local issues, Lib Dems actually run some pretty effective councils, so there is no need for this to be a problem!

If you would like to vote for an anti-Brexit party but are worried, as the original poster is, that 'Lib Dems are an irrelevance because even fewer people vote for them.', I ask you, how many people who have to support my party before you would vote for them? If you would genuinely like the party to be doing better, then yours could be one the votes that gets other people to see the Lib Dems as going concern, a feasible option.

And remember, it depends where you live. I live in a council ward that has elected mostly Lib Dems for years. The party are already a going concern here.

Its your vote of course, but if Brexit is your biggest concern, then a vote for the Lib Dems, or the Greens, could be positive in a number of ways. A vote for the big two parties will say you are happy with the way things are going. Its not the whole answer to reversing Brexit. For that get yourself out on a March! Write letters to the BBC or your local paper.

Thanks for reading this far!

Biber · 09/04/2018 15:04

Even if one of the pro-EU parties wins every single seat in some local elections (which won’t happen) - does anyone seriously believe it would stop Brexit?

Brexit is not a done deal. A50 is reversible and EU negotiators have made it clear that we would be welcome back. A lot of damage has been done already, and the social divide in the country needs very strong attention.

There are very serious wrongs in this country but brexit will not fix them.

The people of this country have been lied to and manipulated. The BBC is full of how Cambridge Analytica influenced the Trump vote. We hear much less about their involvement with the 2016 referendum. Their world wide activities are big news in other countries. Watch this from Canada

Anti Brexit - who in the hell do I vote for?
Anti Brexit - who in the hell do I vote for?
Hoppinggreen · 09/04/2018 15:07

I’m very anti Brexit and self ID so that counts out just about all the parties so normally I wouldn’t be voting at my local elections
However, I know our local Lib candidate and he has done a lot in our area and is a great bloke so I guess I will vote for him

specialsubject · 09/04/2018 15:07

not voting for a party because 'no-one else does' is sheep-like behaviour. If they match what you want, vote for them.

I think your choice is Libdem. Although it is local elections so try and find a councillor who will actually do something, unlike the lazy bastard I've got.

BackforGood · 09/04/2018 15:31

I get annoyed with people who don't vote from the "we are so fortunate to all have the right to vote" pov, but do people also realise that if all the registered voters actually voted in elections, it could make a HUGE difference.
Some interesting pictures here if you like diagrams

user1471448556 · 09/04/2018 15:34

Definitely important to remember that Art 50 is reversible, so if the deal looks bad we need a chance to vote on that deal in full knowledge of what it will actually mean.
And about working, studying and living in the other 27 countries - agreed that it won't be impossible, but it will be a hell of a lot harder. If you want to live and work in those countries, you'll need a fixed job already lined up, you'll need a Visa, and private healthcare ... so your employer would have to desperately want you, over and above an Irish person for example - who wouldn't create much, if any paperwork. If you want to study, you'll have to pay the highest tuition fees as a non EU person. And if you aren't in these positions, you probably can still work/live/study abroad if you have pots and pots of cash ... like Nigel Lawson, for example, who loves spending his retirement in France but is keen to deny that opportunity to us Plebs. That's why I find it especially galling when Brexiters say, 'If you love the EU so much, why don't you sod off there?' - ,my response: Well, I'd love the chance to live in Germany again or to retire in Spain, but your vote has made it damn sight harder for me and other remainers to do so.