To feel completely disillusioned with the Labour Party?

[user6776]

I've voted Labour since I've been able to vote. Come from a working class family of Labour voters also and I'd never vote Tory, but I'm feeling so disillusioned by Labour at the minute.

Wasn't really a fan of Starmer to begin with, but even less so after his comments about Margaret Thatcher. I really don't want to vote for them at the next GE.

AIBU to just not vote at all?

Depends where OP is in any case - if a safe seat then voting makes fuck all difference due to our shit system.

Oh, I entirely agree that some of it absolutely barking. But I also find myself agreeing with the odd bit or two, eg renationalising the water industry. (Disclaimer: I may be less than impartial on this, having the joy of living in the Southern Water, where they seem to have massive leaks, loads of illegal sewage spills and last year managed to leave thousands without water for days at a time, all the while making £368m profit.

If you want the tories out, depending on where you live, you may not have to vote Labour. The Lib Dems are best placed to beat be tories in about 50 constituencies. The SNP similarly in 10 or so.

I would rather wait until manifestos are released before considering anything.. it's way too early to decide anything now. However there's no way on this planet I'd vote Conservative (not that I ever have) let's not forget that they believe being homeless is a lifestyle choice, and plan to massively cut disability benefits in the coming years.. with a long term view to scrap them entirely!

I want a fair society, where poor and vulnerable people are cared for. This works for everyone, even if you are 'alright Jack' - as we can all fall on hard times. I'm certainly spending a great deal of time worrying about falling on hard times one day, because the safety net is no longer there.

If you are a leftie, this government is surely what you’ve always wanted.

Highest ever taxes
Highest ever public spending
Biggest ever public sector and civil service
Highest ever business taxes, some big businesses paying upto 80% taxes
Record breaking immigration
Record breaking asylum seekers and claims granted

This is socialism. We thought you always wanted socialism.

@lkwhjis if you think this is Socialism you really need to open your eyes. 😂😂

However I realise you're probably just being pedantic.

I would rather wait until manifestos are released before considering anything..

Why ?

Sorry, but if anyone can convince me the current governments policies are in any way related to their manifesto, then they should be selling bridges.

The only manifesto pledge I can recall being honoured in the past 8 years is to hold the Brexit referendum. And if I were seeking re-election I'd be be keeping that very quiet.

The point isnt to vote for someone you think is going to win. It's to vote for someone you want to win

It's a vote for gender woo if you vote Green

OK I will bite.
Hitters positives were dragging the country out of recession after ww1 payback, everyone should know this from key stage 3 history. The vacuum of power left by us meant conditions for authoritarianism were ripe.
Starmer is a neoliberal as thatcher was and all parties since have been both economically and socially Liberal. Old Labour and old tory don't exist anymore as political entities you can vote for.
If you want the closest to consensus social democrat politics after ww2 up to thatchers new right go sdp, they are trying to field lots of mps. Obviously not reform party. Maybe lib dem. Green is the furthest left but remember identity is more important than class politics to the greens so if you want equality they are not the party.

It isn't what KS actually wrote that matters - the problem for me is that he did not have the wisdom to foresee how the media might spin this. If he wants to be PM (and we need to get rid of this government) he needs to develop a bit more in the way of common sense.

@GasDrivenNun I think we have far, far bigger issues than gender woo right now, although I appreciate it is an issue...

Vote for the least worst alternative. All parties have some policies that you won't agree with. Some more than others.

When you are polling at 45% like Labour is currently, then there are no 'swing voters ' left to persuade. The 22% or whatever supporting the Conservatives are unlikely to switch because the Labour leader said something vaguely nice about Thatcher. They are probably considering Reform or something similar instead.

On the other hand you risk alienating many of the people who voted for ' levelling up ' in 2019. The voters Mandelson thought you could ignore because ' they have nowhere else to go'. He was so wrong. This idiocy notwithstanding, Labour will surely win the next election? The danger is they will piss around doing Tory lite for one term and be swept away by another far right demagogue.

Also if every single person actually voted and voted how they wanted it could easily not be tory or Labour win. Even the biggest landslides have less than 1 in 5 eligible voters vote for them due to low turnout and fptp system. Of those who do turnout less than 2 in 5 vote for the winning party. So all votes def do count and can quite easily swing all seats. If all eligible voters voted in most constituencies that is enough to overturn the current mp.

One of the political sites does a really great map, showing what the outcome would be if the latest batch of opinion polls were right. It's quite surprising how many seats once considered safe are actually fairly vulnerable.

I mostly look at the SE, as that's the area I'm most familiar with, and there are a surprising number of seats that were generally regarded as safe Tory seats that could well be at risk, including Jeremy Hunt's, in leafy Godalming, and Chris Philp's in Croydon South (the latter particularly delighted me, because Philp is an idiot, and because I lived in Croydon until I was in my 30s, and the prospect of the Tories losing Croydon South was considered beyond anyone's wildest dreams.) The Tory majority in Guildford was less than 6%, so only needs a 3% swing to the LDs for the LDs to win it.

Even the biggest landslides have less than 1 in 5 eligible voters vote for them due to low turnout and fptp system.

Somewhere on MN there is a post where I went through the last election results and showed that if less than 50,000 people had changed their minds, we'd have had a hung parliament.

Probably best not obsess on that - it's dangerous knowledge.

This website is handy for those considering tactical voting:

Tactical voting guide

Even if Labour gets in not much will change. It's hamstrung by the massive borrowing debt that the Tories have left behind.

So much else is a side issue when you look at economics. It really does affect the rest of policy eg the NHS, taxes, public spending.

Checking tactical.vote, it's unsure about my consituency where Lab and LDs are neck and neck, with the Conservatives hoovering almost 60%.

Did you vote for Blair we all know he was an admirer of Thatcher and even Brown was begrudgingly

I don’t think Starmer is usually particularly good at playing the political game but this time he has even if not done intentionally. To distance himself from the far left is the best thing he can do to win the next election

I’m a centrist and feel like the only person in the world who thinks he’s sensible, professional and better than the other offerings. He’s got my vote, and it will be the first time in my life voting Labour.

I'm with you OP, politically homeless. I hate the idea of spoiling my ballot paper but none of the parties is worth voting for.

All I can hope for is a decent local independent candidate with some principles and a backbone. Otherwise, I just don't know......

I voted Green last local elections and for the first time in my life, and I'm 62, someone I voted for got in. All the other votes were arguably wasted on a safe Tory seat.