This country is doomed

[HappyFace2025]

While the vote in Gorton and Denton may be described as a 'protest' vote the strength of both the Greens and Reform performance is something to worry all of us not just Labour.

Aye me too. I'll on the vodka by 6pm if I stay on here :)

Any religious extreme tends to be misogynistic. Look no further than America where pregnant women are dying due to a lack of medical treatment, or being kept on life support while technically dead so that they can grow a baby.

Look at reforms admiration of the regime that allows this to happen.

Claiming misogynists are only of a certain race or religion is to ignore most of the evidence around you.

Here to help:

So firstly "family voting" is not a family turning up to a polling station to vote independently.

Instead under the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 a new offence was inserted (so called family voting offence" into the Representation of the People Act 1983: ‘Influencing voters at polling booths’ (new section 62C). The offence is about (a) being with someone at a polling booth, or (b) being near a booth while another person is voting, with intent to influence how they vote or whether they vote. It is punishable (on summary conviction) by up to 6 months’ imprisonment and/or a fine.

So it's about being accompanied into a polling booth rather than being accompanied into a polling station.

Secondly the statement from Manchester City Council said: "It is extremely disappointing that Democracy Volunteers have waited until after polls have closed to make such claims."

In response Democracy Volunteers said “It is a normal international standard not to issue a comment until after a voting has finished, another accepted aspect of election observation is that you are encouraged to ask questions of staff.
This we did in a number of polling stations when the relevant presiding officer was available. Obviously they can be very busy so we don’t seek to interrupt their work. We posed questions about family voting in several polling stations."

Here is a further explanation on who Democracy Volunteers are and what family voting is:

https://fullfact.org/politics/democracy-volunteers-family-voting/

Thanks for your post @1dayatatime . Most informative.

Thanks but the definition of the offence is

(a) being with someone at a polling booth,
or
(b) being near a booth while another person is voting,
with intent to influence how they vote or whether they vote

Democracy Volunteers may have seen someone near a booth while another person is voting but have no way of knowing whether that person was intending to influence how the other voted.

If there are no repercussions then yes they are pointless. We need to stop pussyfooting around and uphold our laws as should the UN be able to uphold international law.

this is what i'd refer to as a 'low information post'

Agreed but being with someone actually in a polling booth regardless of whether you intend to influence them on their vote is an offence.

If you are near someone in a polling booth then it needs to be proven that you are trying to influence their vote.

I saw it reported that the greens were also campaigning immediately outside polling stations on the day which is also illegal.

I thought they would win by a big margin anyway, but they should not get away with acting illegally if indeed they have

If this "family voting " is true, ie male family members telling the women how to vote doesn't anyone else think we have far deeper issues ?

I cannot fathom telling my two DC.how to vote or trying to!
One has just turned 18 and it's exciting to me that she has this right . I also wouldnt ask.her who she voted for and wouldn't care .

In what way ?

@1dayatatime I read the excuse is language barriers hence why the men can be closer to coherce.

It's not clear what Democracy Volunteers are alleging occurred or whether they actually alerted polling station staff to potential offences. Their report makes no mention of alerting staff.

Don’t you have to have a level of English to get citizenship and therefore the right to vote?

The LibDem main objective when they got into the coalition was tuition fees, they knew this would get them lots of young voters but didn’t stand by anything they’d promised once in the coalition. Even if the Greens were to get into a coalition with one of the larger parties there is nothing to say the things they’re saying they’ll focus on to get votes will be the things they actually focus on if in government. How often do political parties actually follow the things they said in their manifesto once they get into power?

I agree that governments frequently renege on their pre election promises in their manifesto. Nevertheless I wouldn't like to see either the Greens or Reform getting enough MPs to form a coalition with either Labour or Conservatives.

They’re crackers

I’ll just leave this here for all you Greens fans who still think the party is still about environmental causes…

https://x.com/HeidiBachram/status/2027801087877812595?s=20

Which courses are useless - just out of interest?

If you look at my post of 15:34, Democracy Volunteers confirmed that in some instances they made polling station staff aware of their concerns.

For the avoidance of doubt, the leaders of the greens are now protesting IN SUPPORT of a barbaric and radical Islamic regime that forcibly suppresses and kills women for not following strict Islamic rules, and massacres tens of thousands of its own young people for protesting.

Leftist defence incoming in 3…2…1….

Left wing politics dating back to Marx is centred around strong v weak, rich v poor, bourgeois v proletariat. With support always going to weaker side regardless of the right and wrongs. Left wing politics is emotion based rather than logic based or heart over head.

So despite Hamas committing a horrific terrorist attack on Israel, Israel are the bad guys because they are stronger.

Russia and Ukraine is a bit easier and gets alignment from left and right. From the right Russia are the bad guys because they started it and from the left Russia are the bad guys because they are the stronger side.

In the case of the current conflict in Iran, the US are the bad guys because they are the stronger side. The fact that the Islamic regime in Tehran has been killing protesters for protesting is irrelevant to the left.

But surely if the volunteers had just seen families turning up at the station to vote, they wouldn't even have mentioned it? It's not remotely unusual for family members over eighteen to go to the polling station together.