I am not voting for Labour or Con…

[EddyF]

What party can I vote for that may have a chance? I do not want to waste a vote but may have to. As a young(ish) Black woman, none of the above present me. I was born here as were my parents. Originally from East Africa. Spent a lot of holidays there as a child but not so much as an adult, otherwise I would seriously think of going back to live there.

I have always voted Labour but they are disappointing. For the first time, I am thinking of not voting but it does not sit right within me.

I might try the Green Party I guess.

OP, I completely understand.

However, personally I think it's important to cast my vote for a non-extremist party, even if they don't have a chance of getting in. Votes are still counted and considered by politicians even if they don't make a difference in the first past the post system. Eg if loads of votes go to Greens that tells the two main parties to pay attention to that demographic. So any vote for a "mainstream" party ie Greens, Lib Dems, is still a vote worth casting. Also I like to vote, as a vote against fringe parties that I don't agree with (ie Reform).

Actually given this year it seems tories will be out, maybe now is a nice opportunity to vote for whoever you like most without having to worry about tactical voting - if that has previously been a consideration for you.

So Labour derailed the PMB that was supposed to happen this morning, concerning women’s sex-based rights. They can’t even discuss I’m the issue because they fully understand they cannot justify their stance on women (having penises, allowing males in women’s spaces etc).

Confirmation if any were needed that Labour are not a party to vote for if one values women’s sex-based rights.

The question is now - who do disenfranchised Labour supporters vote for?

I'm old enough (60's) to remember both the Tory and Labour party spending decent amounts of time in office and each one seems to spend a fair bit of their time looking back and blaming the other for the state of the country.

During COVID I did think it was Starmers time to shine and show me what he was made of and that he could pull together with the Tories and ask how can we as leaders help best to guide the country through such times unknown to us, but he was a useful as a chocolate tea pot.

I'm not even sure now a days you can openly express why you won't be voting for a particular party as your opinion will be seen as some type of 'ist'

This year I too am undecided on who to vote for but for sure I definitely won't be voting Labour.

I agree re covid. There are 3+ million votes up for grabs from those excluded from covid support. Starmer and Reeves couldn't even be bothered to properly research the reasons for why so many were excluded and were completely ineffective in Parliament when attempting to challenge Sunak as to why he excluded so many people. That's 3 million votes that Starmer could have counted on had he bothered to make a good performance which may have led to changes, but no, both he and Reeves made a couple of half hearted challenges which were easily deflected by Sunak and they both retreated with their tails between their legs because they hadn't done the research to kick back against Sunak's lies and half truths. Chocolate fireguard is a very amp description!

Labour aren’t extremist. Why aren’t they in your list?

You know Johnson refused to discuss covid policy with opposition parties? Blame him, not Labour.

What rot. Starmer absolutely challenged Sunak and BJ about all the covid cock-ups they made but it doesn't matter how much they challenge it, the Tories had an 80 seat majority while it was going on and still have a sizeable majority now, so there's nothing Starmer can actually DO. Blaming him for that just shows a lack of understanding of how our system works.

Quite. If ever there was a time to suspend party politics and use all the talent available it was then. But, no - the King of the World knew best.

Wouldn’t be so sure. There are many Labour stalwarts up here in the North who are turning towards Reform. I would say that more Labour supporters are leaning towards Reform than Tory.

@cardibach

"Labour aren’t extremist. Why aren’t they in your list?"

Because OP seems to be turning away from Labour. I was trying to make the point that it is worth voting even if you don't like either of the main parties.

(I might well vote Labour)

Although if you read the breakdown more tories spoke than labour.

Well yes there were more tories present. But that’s not quite the point

What matters was time spent talking bollocks to waste time. And Labour politicians did by far most of the talking in the session.

I don’t need to read the breakdown. I watched the whole debacle.

The Telegraph understands that Ms Badenoch, the equalities minister, had wanted to back large sections of the Bill but was prevented from doing so by Cabinet colleagues.

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, and Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, had raised concerns with the legislation.

Government sources denied claims that some Tory MPs had been urged to keep talking on the earlier private members’ Bill, which was about the import of dogs, cats and ferrets.

That link didn’t work for me Bloss but it did lead to this article

You don’t need the link I quoted what it said. Ms Atkins appears to be quite inconsistent.

Perhaps we can’t rely on information based on ‘.. the [insert ‘news’ source] understands that…’

The best of the Independents I suppose. I'll do my research then make a choice. I refuse to vote Tory or Labour

I think the Torygraph is quite likely to be sympathetic to their cause, don’t you? I could understand your skepticism if it was The Guardian.

I like tbe Greens but will prob vote lib dems to get the Tories out in my area

I agree. I am a British ex pat living in a country where voting is mandatory. At first when I arrived here I thought it was terribly unreasonable to force people to vote but then I found out you don’t actually have to vote, you just need to turn up at the voting station and get your name ticked off. Most people then just go ahead and vote anyway, since they are there. If you don’t turn up you get a small fine.

As a result, voter participation rates in the voting system is very high in this country- around 90% I believe. I live behind a primary school which acts as a voting station and it’s great to see the long lines on election day.
And I think it does keep extremism at bay since the discouraged people are no longer just staying at home but putting in a vote.

@EddyF I am a person of colour too and I think it’s really important for us to vote in these crazy times. I did opt for the Greens in the last few elections but my vote gets redistributed to my second choice if the first party does not get in, which is usually Labor. That does give The Greens a say in the Upper House but I don’t think that would be the case in the UK from what I remember.
Many Labour type parties all over the world have had to move toward the right of centre to get votes. To me this is not ideal but tactically better than ending up with US style populism, which is what the Conservatives seem to be edging towards. If Trump gets in, it will be because many people stayed at home.

They don't have the funds available to properly contest enough seats to get near to power. And, with the SNP vote turning almost exclusively Labour (which is all but inevitable), Reform won't be able to make a significant dent in the chances of Labour getting in. They will, however, take most of the knuckle-dragging vote away from the Conservatives.

Vote Labour. No point in doing anything else in this system. Get this government out!

Let's be honest here, most of the knuckle draggers are in the Labour Party. Rough as bears arses.....

That’s your credibility gone - I don’t believe a word about Labour voters turning to Reform now. Talking of knuckledraggers, even three party Lee wasn’t as extreme as that - he went via the Tories.

But I absolutely don't want a Labour government