To wonder which way the vote will go?

[ManchesterBeatrice]

There'll be a general election this year and there's been such a lot of chat everywhere about the Torys losing.

I'd love to think this will be the case, but was thinking where will the votes go! I've always voted labour, and will again, but is there a chance the Torys might get back in?

Maybe there's a big set of silent voters who'll vote them back!

Is the consensus here that they will lose? And if so, to labour?

Seems like the voters of this country are between a rock and a hard place then 😆

Conservatives won't get back in. I have heard multiple people who voted for them (when Boris was PM) who said hell will freeze over before they will vote for them again.

Jeremy Corbyn is the reason Conservatives are still in. (IMO.)

For me, it's between LibDems and Labour. Still need to think hard about which one to go for. I am not voting Conservative, but will not be attacking those who do. (Even though I don't understand why anyone would now!!!) 😬

As for suggesting an age limit, LOL, I bet the people suggesting this (and saying 75,) will be saying something different when they're say, 70-ish?!

Also, some people live to 85, 90, 95, and older. How RUDE to say people over 75 should not have a say. And I am only middle aged, so have no skin in the game!

These threads always bring out rancid ageism towards older people.

@Ineedaweewee cute dig at me despite not understanding the circumstances.

At the end of the day, when my parents bought their houses, house prices were 2x the average salary. Houses are now, on average, 8.8x the average salary.

My mum used to brag she would survive on £30 a week after paying her mortgage. This £30 would cover all electricity, utilities, food, socialising and spending. That simply is not possible now. The housing market and economy are so much different. I'm sorry but "working their arses off" was very different then to what it is now. It was still possible for families to survive on 1 wage, or to survive on a pretty crappy wage in places like London. Wages have stagnated since then and people my age can barely get by on two wages.

I'm going with Electoral Calculus, who have called 8 out of the last 9 elections correctly, including 2019.

They're not saying the Tories are likely to win, and the polls haven't changed for a year.

People are rightly furious about the way Boris and his team of tipsy incompetents damaged and impoverished Britain. But, the Boris era is over, and Rishi is actually a very principled and competent man who is trying hard to sort out Boris’ mess. I also love that Rishi is Hindu, goodness knows we need a leader who believes in karma!

Sunak was Chancellor under Johnson, he was one of those "incompetents". The mess he is failing to clean up isn't Johnson's alone, Sunak is very much culpable. He lied for Johnson, he backed him to the hilt while it suited him to do so and only dropped him when he was no longer useful to him.

There is nothing "principled" about Sunak, a man who is on record boasting about deliberately taking funding from socioeconomically deprived communities and funnelling it into already affluent areas. Nor is he competent, he told the covi inquiry "I don't recall" so many times the words lost all meaning and he can't find his own WhatsApp messages. Either he genuinely has the memory of a goldfish or he was being deliberately evasive to cover his own arse. Not to mention that his callous immigration policy is based on lies in addition to being eye-wateringly costly and impractical.

As for believing in karma, I wonder how you reconcile that ideal with him giving Suella Braverman her job back days after she breached the ministerial code. Karma indeed.

The polls paint a bleak picture for the Conservatives and an optimistic picture for Labour. This site is updated every month based on a poll of polls and gives the national picture on the home page: https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html. If you're interested enough, you can put in your postcode and look at the prediction for your constituency. Just today, John Curtice, a highly revered political scientist, has said there is a 99% chance of a Labour government after the forthcoming election.

Keir Starmer has routed the left, changed his mind on some policies and ditched others. There's certainly no sparkle or stardust but there is competence. Rachel Reeves' Mais lecture, available on YouTube, is evidence. It is coherent, well researched and visionary in parts.

Of course, there's time for things to change but with Labour 20%+ ahead of the Conservatives for more than 12 months, probably not enough time for the Conservatives to win. On their right, Reform is closing the gap, taking votes principally in the so-called red wall. No doubt Nigel Farage is biding his time, choosing his moment to campaign for Reform as its leader and inflict maximum damage on the Conservatives.

I have found that it is (was) difficult to have sensible conversations about politics on social media as the extremes at both ends of the spectrum can be quite vile, and if someone puts forward a view they don't agree with, then they all pile on.

In the past I have seen it happen a lot when it was left supporters having a go at someone who expressed a Tory viewpoint. Not just on here, but forums generally.

The problem with that is that people with a right bias tend to keep their opinions to themselves and those on the left end up in an echo chamber and think because the only viewpoint they hear is their own, that they are in the majority. Which is why Brexit and the last general election came as such a shock to some.

Probably reform. I mean they want to keep toilets single sex so that’s one party with one good idea 😂😂

couldn’t vote labour.

You just come across as a hypocrite. Using the expression’boomers’ is what has really pissed me off ! Am glad your parents are helping you but at least show a bit of appreciation and like I said,where is your crystal ball to read how this country will be when your children are in their 20s?

Sadly I think Labour will win but am hoping for a hung parliament or anything that will prevent them putting VAT on school fees (but I don't really want to vote Tory, arggh).

I'm sorry but "working their arses off" was very different then

Was it? ‘Lunch is for wimps’ though🤨

The 80’s were horrible. Worked until you dropped.

As for Reform UK:

@Ineedaweewee I appreciate it. They recognise that they were in a very different situation to the one I am in. Maybe you shouldn't be such a snowflake. Boomer is simply a shortened version of baby boomer. Aka the generation who were a part of the baby boom, because they were born after the world wars.

But it tended to be one person who worked. Or a single person could sustain rent/a mortgage and be fine. That's just simply not the case now.

Labour won't "help" me either. To be honest I'd probably be financially better off under the Tories. But I will vote to get the Tories out because doing so is in the interests of the poorest and most vulnerable in society. We all have to make choices. Just don't be fooled into thinking that not bothering to vote is a passive choice, it plays into the Tories hands.

Even in 2019, the majority of people of working age that voted, voted Labour.

The Tories are only using the row over gender recognition to sow divisions between the Labour party and female voters. They don't care about women. Tory austerity has disproportionately affected women, especially women on low incomes and those with disabilities. If you want to carry on punishing this section of society then crack on, but don't pretend you're voting for them for feminist reasons.

No it wasn’t. No one l knew could afford to buy a house on their own. I bought with an ex bf.

I’d love to see this 80‘s idyl. Crap wages, shocking conditions, massive youth unemployment.

Brexit was a shock, true. Even Farage thought Leave had lost initially.

But all the polls predicted Torys would win in 2019. The size of the win was quite a shock.

Acting like you had it hard because you screwed the economy for your kids isn't admirable

I think Labour will get in. Not sure who I'll vote for. They are all appalling.

@Ineedaweewee older people were the Brexit voters. That's been well documented.

Sorry?

Ypu know fuck all. You weren’t there. I’ve supported my dc through uni, l think they are being proper shafted.

How ignorant is it possible to be?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow and there you go, getting defensive because you can't stand to hear the truth

Brexit was a vote of education levels. I did some work with my local university on this.

Older people were less university educated.