To admit I didn't vote in the Brexit Referendum?

[WeAreTheCrystalGems]

I'm one of the 28% who didn't vote. Anyone else?

@Justheretogiveaviewfrommyworld I have consistently not belittled or dismissed you. The points you make are valid. The area you live in has been neglected and ignored you are right to feel dismissed and disenfranchised. Several layers of government have let down areas like yours.

You are in many ways entirely correct.

You implied that EU funds have been used a scapegoat, something to toss your way. Again, you are correct politicians have pointed to the EU as a source of funding or a reason for inaction.

Again, you are correct.

The one point we disagree on is that you think leaving the EU will improve your situation. You suggested using that we could use leave to force the PM to consider the situation in deprived areas.

I'm not sure about a lot of things but I am bloody sure the Tories are not going to turn round and start investing in poor, working class areas for any reason at all. Leaving will make the situation significantly worse.

Well whats the point in voting anyway? We dont get a say after that so whether we would of left or stayed in the EU, the government get to make the rest of the shitty decisions after that, this country has gone to shit because nobody has the actual balls to run it.... the newest thing is more council tax payments to pay for the police? Why WTF do the police do anyway? I know 4 police officers in the village I live that sniff cocaine most nights... but then bust drug dealers during the day obvs not there own though, most corrupt payed gang in the UK

Curious to know, if the vote had gone the other way with a majority remain, would non voters still be being chastised?

YABU.

Why would you start a forum on this. Are you sorry? Are you feeling foolish now?

I’m not sorry. And I don’t feel foolish. I reserve that judgement for those who are throwing insults around. I’m glad I didn’t vote. Like I said upthread I didn’t know enough about what was going on and didn’t have the time to research it properly. Even now I’m a bit ‘meh’ about it all as it’s got ridiculous with all the untruths and scaremongering being thrown around.

If it was a compulsory vote I more than likely would have done one of those ‘who should I vote for?’ poll things, which would obviously be skewed in favour of whoever made it so who knows.

@Laudaroc I'm sorry to hear that

Not knowing wasn't the only reason I didn't vote. I could have done further research. But I didn't believe anything I read or heard. I had no faith or trust in the people on either side and still don't.

However, I could have spoiled my ballot paper so I'll take that. Just as in the next GE I'll write NONE OF THE ABOVE.

@SilverBirchTree I started a thread on this - in all honesty - because I was pissed off at the grief a poster was given when they started a thread on why she voted leave yesterday. She was abused so badly that the thread was pulled. I wondered if the same amount of venom would be directed at a person who could easily have voted but who didn't. It would appear not.

No, I'm not sorry. Why would I feel foolish?

@Lockheart spoiling your ballot sounds like a grand political gesture in theory. In practice I'm extremely sceptical about it.

People who are politically engaged enough to want to make a big noise about spoiling ballots, are also politically engaged enough to know that there is always a least-worst choice. A good example of this is the "neither nor" movement at the last French election, in which left wingers pretended that they couldn't choose between a banker and a fascist. These people are now wearing their yellow vests and marching alongside the extreme right (when they are not trashing public property). So much for grand political gestures eh?

OTOH people who are not politically engaged and who genuinely can't decide probably should just stay at home if that's what they prefer to do. At least it's honest.

Spoiled ballots only really carry meaning where voting is obligatory, and even then it doesn't always convey the meaning people think it does. Personally I think spoiling your ballot is an empty gesture that says "no candidate is good enough for ME" - even though invariably, between two imperfect candidates there is always one who is worse.

She was abused so badly that the thread was pulled.
That was one of the most unpleasant threads I’ve ever seen on mumsnet. It should’ve been pulled much earlier.

@Misitgri Depends on where you live, surely? Only one party ever gets in where I live, and I don't care for the other one.

@dapplegrey Agreed, it was really unpleasant.

I didn't vote as i was at the hospice.
My brother died that evening of the 23rd June 2016 aged 49
We both would have voted remain.

I'm so sorry laudaroc.

Behind the 28% who didn't vote there are probably many stories of personal hardship and tragedy, not to mention people whose working lives or caring responsibilities make voting hard.

Only one party ever gets in where I live, and I don't care for the other one.

No other party will ever get in if people don't vote. Spoiling your ballot is no different to not voting. In fact, since turnout is always measured and discussed, there's an argument that not turning out is more politically charged than spoiling your ballot.

To be honest I prefer people who didn't vote because they didn't understand to people who voted leave as some perverse protest vote against the govt

What would of happened though if everyone who didn't vote (me included) had spoiled they're ballot? Would it have made a difference either way?

I won't vote for the other party. That leaves any random independent candidates. What's the point?

I don't see what the problem is with questioning the motives behind someone's vote in the referendum.

The previous thread, and its OP, demonstrated that lots of people were voting for their own particular version of leave or for their own particular outcomes, not what was on the ballot, and in general the issues that are raised are nothing to do with the EU.

I'm sorry but its not mean or nasty to analyse these reasons and find that they weren't valid and were ill thought out.

there's an argument that not turning out is more politically charged than spoiling your ballot.

Its a fools argument because at least by spoiling the ballot you have made comment on the political parties and not that you you CBA.

It should also be noted that the parliamentary commission has approved a non of the above section yet no party is allowing it to be put on ballots.

*BorisBogtrotter(

I'm sorry but its not mean or nasty to analyse these reasons and find that they weren't valid and were ill thought out.

And that can be done without the name calling and abuse.

"And that can be done without the name calling and abuse."

I thin k leave voters are a little sensitive here and highly hypocritical in fact their own side throws abusive terms around all the time, and posters backing leave post goady things, without censure.

I see far many more leave posters complaining about being called thick, than I see remain posters doing it. I also see far many more "you lost" posts, or ones mentioning "remoaners" etc.

Well, if this thread has done nothing else for me, it's made me see why it's so important to try to understand the issues and to vote.

I’m not politically minded or knowledgeable (my degrees are in the sciences) and so based my decision to not vote on the probability of lies from each camp

Your scientific education failed if you couldn't use it to identify other more reliable sources of information, sources that would be less prone to hyperbole and bluster and more aware of facts and likely outcomes, sources that if they were in a "camp" at all could give good reasons why - rather than just having to rely on politicians and newspaper opinion pieces from either "camp". Critical thinking is supposed to be a transferable skill.

It would be a shame if we have failed to produce graduates who are capable of researching and deciding for themselves about hard problems. Just throw up their hands and let other people - people who don't know any more about it than they do! - decide for them.

BorisBogtrotter

You can't justify the abuse being thrown at leavers by saying they do it to.

and "you lost" and "remoaner" is no where near the level of abuse that is given to leavers.

And the thread mentioned was doing what remainers have wanted leavers to do for ages and post why they voted the way that they did and it still turned in to a pile on to the OP and was reminiscent of why there was such a big push for Brexit to have its own space.

Nah, leavers are massively over sensitive.

Voting to leave the EU to give Westminster a bloody nose, or as a protest vote was stupid. Its a reason, but not a justifiable one.

In fact it actually supports the remainers when they say that people voted out for reasons that were nothing to do with the EU and that people didn't have the right information.

" A pile on on the OP" please" The OP in that thread got called thick by one poster and you all act affronted, yet she voted mendaciously to make others poorer so they would notice her plight, which isn't going to happen.

The thing she voted for was in her head, not on the ballot, and therefore isn't a justifiable reason for voting leave.

Isn't that why Brexit happened? Remainers couldn't be bothered and leavers turned out in droves?

@AmaryllisNightAndDay my scientific education means I work with facts, and theories that can proven/disproven. How was I supposed to prove either way what would be the right decision when even the politicians who are getting paid for this don’t know their arses from their elbows?
And I refuse to be held accountable for what anyone else did with their limited knowledge - On both sides of the argument.