To not vote for Labour as a former conservative voter, would you vote for Labour now?

[SonicBroom]

Just that. This thread is for anyone who has voted conservative in the past to ask what you’d do in the future. Please don’t derail with anything else.

I voted conservative most of my life until Boris came along. I voted LD in the last election not just because of Brexit, but because I couldn’t support the way that Boris conducted himself and his party.

But. If there were an election tomorrow I couldn’t bring myself to vote Labour. I can’t put my finger on why. It’s partly because KS just hasn’t cut through, I don’t question his integrity but I can’t quite see him as a statesman? And partly because Angela Raynor makes me worried that the Corbyn politics could rear their head again at any moment. Rightly or wrongly, she comes across to me as being too aggressively against people who have made a success of their lives —there, I said it— !!

So I wondered how many former conservative voters feel the same or not and why… partly as a proxy for how BJ might weather the partygate storm?

YANBU - I don’t want to vote conservative but Labour haven’t convinced me either so I won’t be voting for them

YABU - I don’t want to vote conservative again and I’d vote Labour

It's Rayner

@FatFilledTrottyPuss interesting, do you not think it’s these politicians who are the problem? I still believe there are many good conservative politicians just as there are many good labour ones. Problem is no one ever listens to them

I’ve never voted Conservative so I’m admittedly biased but right now I’d vote for a gecko in a funny hat over the Tories.

Genuine question OP - What do you mean by "people who have made a success of their lives"?

I'm not particularly pro Labour (vote lib dem or Green usually) but Angela Raynor came from a pretty difficult and deprived childhood to become an elected MP on 80 grand a year. She seems to have made a success of her life so can't be too aggressively against this group surely!

@Iamclearlyamug

I’m a homeless voter to be honest. I can’t say I agree with the way the Tories have done things, but since no other party can seem to tell me what the definition of a woman is, they’re too stupid to get my vote either 🤷‍♀️

The Tories are no more able to give you the definition of Woman as any other party. The whole reason the trans debate is happening is because the Conservatives launched a review of the GRA, taking TWAW as their starting point.

Why do people keep forgetting this?

I voted conservative most of my life until Boris came along. I voted LD in the last election not just because of Brexit, but because I couldn’t support the way that Boris conducted himself and his party

Exactly the same. I won't vote Conservative any more, but as Labour and the Lib Dems don't know what a woman is, I won't vote for them either.

So yes, another politically homeless person!

Angela Rayner not Raynor.

Never voted Labour.

I used to vote conservative until the last 6 years or so when I joined the Lib Dems.

I could well vote Labour next general election as my local Lib Dems don't even get their deposit back 🙄 I am not sure I could join Labour though. I disagree with so much of what they are.

I am also a member of the Womens Equality Party which you can join alongside other parties.

Used to be Conservative but have spoilt my ballot paper in recent years because of HS2 and the state of the NHS mainly. Would never vote Labour as I disagree with most things they stand for and they are useless with the economy. I am in a safe blue seat though so my spoilt ballot makes no difference.

What are Conservative values exactly?

Because when you look at the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg, Rishi Sunak etc - I’m not sure how they have the same values as 90% of the rest of us. And, therefore, why anyone would vote Conservative?

I’ve tried to get my head around it - but maybe I thought too much. Ultimately most of us think the best of people, most people around us are sensible human beings who want to have a nice life and support themselves and their families. I think that at the core, most of us are more similar than we think.

But when it comes to politics, we blow up the minor differences and miss the fact that the Conservative party is not interested in a the majority. Have a look at their history and their paymasters to tell you that.

As for this Please do tell us how the ongoing welfare of women will be effectively addressed under a continuation of the Conservative government

I completely agree. The Tories believe in the success of the individual and do not really have any truck for dealing with systemic sexism. So why would anyone think they give a fuck about womens rights.

As a woman I feel like voting for labour would be like a turkey voting for Christmas. I can't trust a party that doesn't understand or chooses to ignore biological reality. I'm politically homeless.

It's a struggle to vote Labour because they don't seem like adults.

It was easy to vote Tory for the first few elections I was eligible for because Blair/Brown were so appalling. I spoilt my ballot in the last general election because I couldn't vote for Johnson and the alternatives were even worse, to be honest I would probably do the same if there was another election soon.

It's not that I wouldn't vote Labour on principle - it's just that I have to vote for who I think would do the best job. Labour are, if anything, even worse than the Tories when it comes to government. And any other party are even more of a joke.

What I will say is, I honestly don't give a fuck about lockdown parties and so on. Every time Starmer or Blackford mention them it just makes me less likely to vote for their parties. Them locking onto the parties as a method of constant attack just underlines that they themselves have no legitimate means of attack. They can't say how they would do things better. It's all just a distraction, but then a lot of people are idiots, so it might work.

I will probably vote independent if we have one at the next election. I can't vote Conservative and Labour, the Greens and the Lib Debs are all anti women so there is no party for me to vote for.

@TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum (great username!!) I think pp perhaps said it better, she really does seem to have chip on her shoulder about anyone who is financially successful. I personally feel that whilst her background can definitely help her do her job better than some, it’s also something that hugely skews her view of the world (understandably) and i can’t see how she could ever look past it. Good example was when she couldn’t stop herself calling Tories “scum”. She comes across as bitter and resentful, that she wants to make people pay for having done well, people may not agree with me but that’s my take on her and it’s a big reason I won’t won’t for labour. Again slightly derailing the thread though!

Always voted Conservative, I WANT to want to vote Labour but I don't......not a bloody clue to be honest

Iggly conservative values should be a small state which does not interfere with people's lives and lets them keep their own hard earned money to spend as they, not the state, see fit. So; trusting people to run their own lives

This is the problem. Dispite Boris displaying blatant corruption, flagrant rules breaches, consistent dishonesty and utter contempt for the country, people refuse to vote Labour for “something they can’t put their finger on”.

It’s really not on to equate consistent, blatant, proven misdealings from one party with a vague unease about the other.

Maybe try to examine the roots of the mistake a bit more throughly. See if it’s really about the current Labour Party. See if it really warrants backing proven liars again.

It could be ingrained habit, it could be prejudice, it could be media bias affecting your views.

@Redhound. So you think conservatism should just be neoliberalism?

I won’t be voting as they are all shit in one way or another

No I couldn't vote labour, I probably won't vote at all

[quote SonicBroom]**@FatFilledTrottyPuss* interesting, do you not think it’s these* politicians who are the problem? I still believe there are many good conservative politicians just as there are many good labour ones. Problem is no one ever listens to them[/quote]
Yes I do agree with you, I’m sure there are plenty of decent politicians in both Labour and Conservative but they’re drowned out by the ones in charge.
I was a member of the Labour Party under Corbyn and I felt such optimism for the future but looking back I think I was swept up in a wave of naivety and false optimism but I honestly would never have imagined the levels of corruption and incompetence (or is it just indifference?) we’ve seen from Boris Johnson and his mates.
I think Kier Starmer would be equally useless but I’m not sure he’d allow his colleagues to make so much money out of it with deals for their friends and families.
That said, with hindsight I think I was kidding myself that I ever knew or understood anything about politics so maybe I shouldn’t even be on your thread

Hopefully the Tories will get a decent leader in before the next GE

I might. But not with Angela Rayner as deputy. Not keen on her ilk.