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

I have wandered politically for years. I was in a safe red area that went blue at the last election and will go red again when the next vote comes. I have voted Tory when I was younger, couldn’t vote labour so voted Lib Dem or Plaid Cymru. Last time I voted labour despite Corbin who I hated in the hope we’d get a hung Parliament and a second referendum. As it is now, I believe Scotland will leave the union, Ireland will unite and that will leave wales tied to a humiliated England who will vote Tory no matter how horrifically they behave. When the union goes, I will campaign for independence.

Please bear in mind that when you vote Tory now, you aren’t getting the Tory party you are getting the ERG, their aims and agendas are the aims and agendas of the small numbers of wealthy backers who find them. The end of the nhs and the safety net for the poor in the name of a low tax economy that cannot afford to fund the basics.

The current trans debate has come about because of CONSERVATIVE PROPOSALS TO REFORM THE GRA. THEIR STARTING POINT WAS TWAW. Remember Penny Mordant?

There is cross party support and opposition to the Tory government's reforms. The current shit show wrt the definition of woman is down to the Conservatives.

@Earlydancing I agree with you, maybe this is one of the reasons I feel the way I do.

@travellinglighter you’re right about the ERG, they’re a huge problem. I don’t see enough MPs willing to stand up to them either, not even with the kind of majority they have right now. As for independence, I think it’s a failure of this government, not of all governments. Nations should be careful not to make a long term decision on a short term problem (which is what many proponents are trying to make happen!). I say that as a Scot.

[quote SonicBroom]**@Mumofsend* and @SisyphusDad* have you voted conservative in the past too?[/quote]
@SonicBroom

Yes, but not for quite a while.

I am a strange one (!) because I am a conservative who is also a lifelong trade unionist. I can separate the two. I have always been a a union rep and I loathe the way the tories have penalised workers rights. But I also don't agree with the socialist views of the Labour Party.
However. I now find I would not piss on a tory politician if they were on fire.
I may have to vote Labour or maybe LibDem. But I live in a true blue area so there's some thinking for me.

I've never voted Labour or Conservative. Can't see any reason to do so in the near future.

I'd like to vote Green, but they don't acknowledge women's sex based rights.

I may consider the SDP (who knew they even existed anymore), as a sort of LibDem minus the gender woo obession.

Otherwise it's another spoiled ballot paper unfortunately.

Previously I have voted Conservative although I didn't at the last election as I would not vote for Boris Johnson. That said I am in a safe seat so my vote won't have an impact.

I am also politically homeless. None of the other parties support women's rights and don't know what a woman is so I won't vote for them.

I’m a floating voter and decide at each election, I did want Starmer to bring something new but I’ve struggled with some of the policy talk so far

Labour isn’t occupying the same positive space it has in the past for me

For the next election I’ll decide at the time

Interesting question, OP. We've got what, potentially just over 2 years until the next General Election?
I have my doubts that Johnson will be there as leader by that time. I think others are jostling for position already, and are just waiting for the right time.
I think that would make a vast difference, and I can easily see the Tories getting in again, depending on who's at the helm.

I'm a Green/SNP Voter, and have little opinion on Starmer myself. But I find it interesting that he seems to commonly get a "meh" reaction in comments sections for want of a better description. I don't think he's going to get Labour over the line if he's there in a few years.

[quote SonicBroom]@Earlydancing I agree with you, maybe this is one of the reasons I feel the way I do.

@travellinglighter you’re right about the ERG, they’re a huge problem. I don’t see enough MPs willing to stand up to them either, not even with the kind of majority they have right now. As for independence, I think it’s a failure of this government, not of all governments. Nations should be careful not to make a long term decision on a short term problem (which is what many proponents are trying to make happen!). I say that as a Scot.[/quote]
To be honest, if we could wave a magic wand, do away with Brexit then I think the union would still be here in a 100 years. If the union goes then the same non bigoted arguments for Welsh independence that persuaded non bigoted brexiteers exist. The right to make our own laws, the right to make our own destiny. The arguments for staying tied to a diminished England are very poor.

The current trans debate has come about because of CONSERVATIVE PROPOSALS TO REFORM THE GRA. THEIR STARTING POINT WAS TWAW. Remember Penny Mordant?

This is true although I'm not sure if their starting point was actually TWAW and I don't think any of us who have taken an interest will forget Penny Mordant.

I think they realised their failure to consult women's groups in 2015 was a big mistake and they have been trying to distance themselves from a shit show of their own making since. However, unlike Labour, LibDems and Greens they haven't told women they don't want our vote if we're not prepared to chant TWAW and they haven't branded feminist organisations hate groups or called for party members who know biological sex is a fact to be expelled. Neither do they have party members who think it's wrong to say only women have a cervix (KS on Andrew Marr) or anyone who thinks you can grow a cervix if you take the right hormones (David Lammy).

I will grant you these are all crumbs and women have a right to demand more from their political representatives but it's 2022 and this is where we are.

If people on here vote solely based on gender issues, we'll be stuck with Tory governments for decades. Which will be dreadful for women, children, disabled people and immigrants. There are so many other issues which are just as big, if not bigger. Being a single issue voter isn't rational.

I like Kier Starmer but I don’t trust the people who were heavily involved with Corbyn. I would like to see people like Liz Kendall promoted. If you ask me the party were fools getting so swept up in corbyn that they overlooked a modern woman with sensible ideas. It makes me concerned the party is structurally sexist.

I can’t accept removing sex based rights though which is a big issue.

I couldn’t do it to my dd even to go in that direction.

I'll never vote Labour. Angela Rayner, Diane Abbott, Emily Thornberry, Corbyn, Starmer, David Lammy? Nightmare.

Voted Tory all my life until Brexit. Voted LibDem in 2019.
I like Keir Starmer but would still never vote Labour. They just don’t seem capable of running the country- they seem to think men can be women for a start!?
Politically homeless until the Tories sort themselves out.
I do think our local Tory MP seems very good and connected with local issues and people.

So people will still vote Tory as they cannot bear the thought of voting Labour. Great.

I could never EVER vote Labour.

I am a former Labour voter who switched to the Tories because of Corbyn.

I am happy to return to Labour now they have a sensible leader again.

Maybe Labour should listen to the people and realise that the vast majority of us are centrist. I would support a Labour who supported women’s rights and the freedom to privately educate/ use private medicine.
I have never forgiven them for the 2006 dental contract either!
As I say my Tory MP is very good (answers emails, I have seen him standing on the street in my small village talking to constituents, volunteers at the vaccine centres. So I would vote for him.

Your poll makes no sense. You say it is for people who have voted conservative in the past (fine, whatever), but you go on to assume that nobody would vote conservative in the future.

A B B

Anyone but Boris

I've voted Tory (long ago), Labour and Lib Dem in the past. No way I'd vote Tory now, and I refuse to vote for anyone who doesn't know (or rather, pretends not to know) what a woman is. So I guess I'll be spoiling my ballot paper.

I would vote for anyone other than this corrupt government.

@Paranoidandroidmarvin

I would vote for anyone other than this corrupt government.

Do you usually or ever vote Conservative?