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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Those whose votes don’t influence their seat...

150 replies

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 30/11/2019 21:32

Do you feel less motivated to vote than you wish you did?

To clarify, I will be voting, there’s no chance I won’t. But I do feel a bit flat about the whole thing. I live in a very (understatement!) safe Tory (though this is irrelevant, there must be super safe Labour or other party seats too) seat and I know my vote will never ever make a difference. I know that before walking in there.

How do you find peace with this?

OP posts:
EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 02/12/2019 09:30

I don’t think you are being unreasonable neither leader of the main partners are worth of being PM

I am voting Green, there are policies of theirs that I strongly disagree with but others I do agree with. I would rather vote for a party than spoil my paper but I have considered this

gamerwidow · 02/12/2019 09:32

I'm also in the bluest of blue seats.
Nearest challenger in 2017 was Labour but they were nowhere close.
Lib dems got about 5% of the vote last time so won't be a swing to them either.
Might vote Green because at least I'm aligned with their policies.

MeeceAndMice · 02/12/2019 09:35

How do I find out whether mine is a safe tory seat or not. Struggling to actually find numbers

ShatnersWig · 02/12/2019 09:40

Meece Generally Wikipedia will tell you the voting history of your constituency so you can see what the percentages have been in at least the last few elections and at least which party has won in all previous elections

MeeceAndMice · 02/12/2019 09:49

Thanks, looks like there's not much chance of labour getting it but can only try

Treaclepie19 · 02/12/2019 10:18

I've just checked back. It's been conservative here for as far back as I can see. By a large majority.

ChilliMum · 02/12/2019 10:25

Absolutely, safe Tory seat and pro brexit area. I will vote though for whoever is most likely to unseat our current useless mp on the off chance that a miracle happens.

derxa · 02/12/2019 10:35

We live in a democracy. Those living in the dreaded Tory seat. Those people are entitled to vote as they see fit. Just as we all do.
DH is voting Lib Dem this time because he detests the current Tory party. I'm undecided.
This is yet another anti Tory thread which convinces no one.

derxa · 02/12/2019 10:39

“The power lies with the people that turn up” Exactly. Every vote is equal even if your candidate does not win.

Alsohuman · 02/12/2019 10:40

Yes @derxa, in theory we do live in a democracy. Except with Fptp we don’t. My vote doesn’t count, it’s a waste of shoe leather walking to the polling station. And it’s not anti Tory, people voting Tory is safe Labour seats are in the same boat.

gamerwidow · 02/12/2019 10:50

Every vote is equal even if your candidate does not win.
If we had proportional representation that would true but we don't so it isn't.

gamerwidow · 02/12/2019 10:52

derxa if you read the thread there are also people who want to vote Tory but are in a safe Labour seat. FPTP is a crap system and doesn't represent the views of the whole electorate very well.

rhubarbcrumbles · 02/12/2019 10:53

We live in a seat where my vote will have very little influence but at least if the incumbent can see how much her majority has dropped then it will show them that they are losing popularity

derxa · 02/12/2019 10:53

Except with Fptp we don’t. I suppose so but the two main parties will never allow it. However we have the example of Scotland. In my youth Scotland voted Labour and the SNP was a rump party. Things can change.

Roussette · 02/12/2019 11:59

But you never ever know. I live in a safe Tory seat and has been for decades BUT I know without a shadow of doubt, there are a lot of disgruntled voters around.

At the recent Hustings, this Tory MP came in for a very very hard time. So much so, he has absented himself from all the upcoming hustings, and is sending a Councillor instead. Coward. He doesn't hold surgeries, he doesn't answer emails. I think people are actually fed up with him, so at worst we might reduce his majority greatly. At best, it could be a result that's on the 6 o'clock news!

Whattodoabout · 02/12/2019 12:03

Many feel politically homeless right now. I don’t have many choices where I live, it’s the three main parties, Brexit party and Yorkshire party. The Yorkshire party have done zilch campaigning in my area so I have no idea what they even stand for, if anything. I’d rather die than vote Tory or Brexit party so I’m stuck with Lib Dem or Labour and I’m not overly keen on either. In plucking for Labour purely because it’s a safe Labour seat and I’d do anything to get the Tories out.

KamikazeIdiot · 02/12/2019 12:13

The Yorkshire party have done zilch campaigning in my area so I have no idea what they even stand for, if anything.

Labour has done no campaigning where I live. Given that the party deselected its candidate 5 weeks before polling day, though, this is perhaps unsurprising. It presents a problem, though: Labour was well ahead of the LibDems in second place at the last general election and it's hard to tell whether strategic voters should be going with Labour or LibDem.

We also have the confusion of a LibDem candidate called Green and a Green candidate called Dean. And an 18-year-old independent candidate who I would love to vote for if I thought she had any chance of taking votes from the exceptionally odious sitting Conservative.

littlepeas · 02/12/2019 12:30

I live in what was once a very safe conservative seat - from Blair onwards it has become virtually even between Labour and Conservative. We had Lab for the Blair years, then back to Con for Cameron and went back to Lab in the last election. We’re a remain area. But we were exclusively Con for all the elections prior to 1997 - so you never know!!

littlepeas · 02/12/2019 12:32

PS - safe to the point we’ve had a PM.

rhubarbcrumbles · 02/12/2019 12:46

Our constituency is such a safe seat that it's always been the same political party, unfortunately the one I am least in favour of.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 02/12/2019 12:56

I live in a safe Tory seat. I previously lived in a safe Tory seat and the house before that was the same. I am frustrated with not being able to find out about the candidates (and I have tried). I don’t know the voting record of the incumbent, there’s been no flyers or leaflets, no one has knocked on the door and canvassed for my vote and there are half a dozen candidates. It’s annoying that we’re always ignored.

I shall vote, but it won’t be for the Tory. He’ll get in though.

copperstrike76 · 02/12/2019 13:05

I live in a safe Tory seat. The sitting MP is Jeremy Hunt. I will never vote Tory, and I will never not vote, but I've always felt that my vote is pointless and doesn't count. It's also always been a case of "anyone but Hunt" as far as I'm concerned; none of the candidates have had all that much appeal to me in all honesty.

But I do feel this year might be different. Our LibDem candidate is already a local councillor, very active in the area and understands and cares about local issues. He lives here properly, unlike Hunt, who just has a house here and is mostly in Westminster (though his website proudly states that his mother lives in the area still!).

The Green Party candidate has stood down to back the LibDem guy, who was very successful in local council elections earlier this year. So for the first time ever I feel like there is someone I can get behind and maybe, maybe he has a chance.

It'll probably be the same old depressing story, but I hold out hope that lots of people like me will vote for this guy even though they don't necessarily support the LibDems nationally. I also think he would make a great MP.

Alsohuman · 02/12/2019 13:50

I think Hunt’s in danger @copperstrike76, the LibDems are showing well there.

Fandoozle1 · 02/12/2019 14:03

My area is a very safe Labour seat (large student population to boot- if you vote anyone other than Labour you are generally considered to be the devil). Our MP is useless, but I will say the local councillor has always been very responsive.
My vote will not make a difference but I will still vote.

crosstalk · 02/12/2019 14:23

I was conflicted about PR. Mostly because in the old days if you voted for a party and not the MP you could get someone parachuted in with no knowledge of local or regional issues (though this happens under the current system, but with PR it would be standard). You'd have larger constituencies. You might also have a much more fractured government process with the majority party not being able to push through reforms. And a lot more deals between minority/major parties which could end with stalemate - like a hung parliament multiplied to every issue. The only party which has long advocated PR are the LibDems but that's in part because after the earlier part of last century its only chance of power was PR (or coalition). I'm now more interested in any party advocating mandatory voting.