Voting Conservative or Labour?

[StrawPollTime]

So we actually have a date for the General Election!

If you're planning to vote Conservative or planning to vote Labour... then which? Please click to indicate:

YABU = I'm planning to vote Conservative

YANBU = I'm planning to vote Labour

(Sorry, I do know that other parties are available and other voting choices are possible. Obviously lots of people won't be voting either Conservative or Labour. But AIBU only has a 2-way voting option, and I wanted to get a quick snapshot of support for the 2 biggest parties. So this is a poll for people who are planning to vote for one of those two.)

@Hobsonchoice can you explain how the demonisation of the disabled started under New Labour? I'm not being goady, I'm genuinely curious.

Thatcher's Britain wasn't some paradise of decent wages- a lot of people lived in extreme poverty.

Agreed - single parent families had a terrible time. I was at primary school in the 80s and I remember one child whose parent could only afford one set of school uniform and it all had holes in. Other children called her ‘flea bag’ because of it and the cruel way that she was treated has affected her to this day.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, sends his children to private school;

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19251664.scottish-labour-leader-anas-sarwar-admits-hypocrisy-childrens-private-education/

@thelifeofbriancant I'm sorry I can't find the article right now that specifically states demonisation but I'll try to find it tomorrow if anyone's interested

There's this though that gives a good idea. Lone parents were also affected.

Of course that was then and the current Labour party is different (hopefully). I do hope it has a more compassionate approach as imo it's not in any way acceptable to have a society that goes after the most vulnerable and makes already hard lives even more difficult.

http://www.labournet.net/other/0409/disability1.html

Neither tbh. Both fucking awful.

"It’s very left wing on here"

Thank God for that! I've had to come over here from Gransnet (being a bit of an oldie). Over there it's like bloody Conservative Party Head Office. Some of the comments make Reform seem rational! So glad I've found a bit of open debate where it's OK to be left!

Voting independnet I am hoping will stand this GE - he/she must be very honest about their goals.

I may have to wait a million though😂

I’m a little worried, I can’t lie, I think we could see a surprise result.

it will be interesting to see how the polls evolve say in a months time.

I do think there’s every chance they’ll tighten.

But I think Reform will make it very, very hard for the Tories to actually win.

@Lottelenya

"I get that but was the last Labour government chaotic"

Personally I don't think it was and I genuinely think that the intentions of Gordon Brown were honourable.

However what matters is that the majority of voters felt like Labour had trashed the economy and created a debt crisis - which is why they were voted out.

I remember a conversation with a family member at the time of the 2010 who stated they were voting Conservative "because they can't be any worse than the current (Labour) Govt" to which I replied that they could be.

Equally those today stating that they will vote Labour because they can't be any worse than the Tories could equally find out in 2029 that they were wrong.

country as a whole

Me too. I looked at a fail poll and reform was coming out on top, Tory second,labour third. Ipsos shows labour leading by a huge margin, but that is now falling, Tory increasing, Lib Dem the next threat. Reform tiny. Yougov showing people a month ago thought a labour landslide, now less people thinking that and more a labour win. I could go on, they are all showing something different, it clearly depends not just who you ask, but how they feel at the time, and people are changing their minds already

it might only be 6 short weeks, but it’s a long time in politics , and I think it is going to be an interesting few weeks as the electorate decide.

getting rid of loathsome leadsome or gove is not going to do the tories any harm, the opposite likely. And starmer now being forced to come clean that he won’t put any of his pledges in as we can’t afford them,there were never a go, is going to harm them, for the people who didn’t understand that. Why didn’t he tell people that six months ago.

a lot could happen in six weeks and the result is far from certain.

Whoever gets in will have a tough time and be unpopular with the electorate. But it’s madness to vote for more of the same and expect a better result, so I’m voting for whoever is most likely to unseat the current Tory MP in my constituency.

Yes, it's going to be very interesting and the Labour landslide (imo) will not happen.

All being equal I’d vote Lib Dem. But will be voting Labour in this election. Our public services cannot survive another 10 years of Conservatives and I don’t want my family and friends to die because we can’t afford private healthcare. It’s that simple for me.

This isn’t like the 1997 GE. Tony Blair was like the new kid on the block. He seemed like the normal family man next door.
Lots of people saw him as very electable and the Tories were unpopular after 18 years in government.
Who can forget the D:Ream song ‘Things can only get better’?
There was a real sense of optimism across the country when New Labour got in.

The Tories are unpopular now but there are previous Labour voters who are reluctant to vote them back in. And Starmer is seen as untrustworthy to others.

I think Labour will win but this isn’t like 1997.

I don't recall ever seeing so many people being really unsure as to who to vote for before, and really not wanting to vote for Labour, even to get the Tories out (which they do want, but not if it means Labour getting in).

I really do think we'll see an increase in votes for independent candidates across the country. Maybe not enough for a whole swathe of them to become MPs (but wouldn't it be great if it did?), but a significant shift away from the main parties who have all managed to piss large numbers of voters off.

Every party obviously still has its diehards (you see them on here), but there are also a huge amount of posters not wanting to vote for the main parties as well. Interesting times, as they say.

@NoWordForFluffy

"I don't recall ever seeing so many people being really unsure as to who to vote for before, and really not wanting to vote for Labour, even to get the Tories out (which they do want, but not if it means Labour getting in). "

In the likely event that the Tories don't win then their response will be to become much more right wing which will win them more votes at the 2029 election.

In the unlikely event that Labour loses the 2024 election (or more likely the 2029 election) then their response will be to become much more left wing which will win them more votes.

Politics is becoming much more polarised which is not good for democracy.

Becoming more left wing does not win votes for Labour, totally the opposite, in fact. Blair was so successful as he realised this and had a more centrist position.

I actually think totally the opposite to you, in fact. I'm also not sure how it relates to what I said about so many people being uncertain who to vote for!

It’s not if EVERYONE changes their vote.

😂😂It has always been this way. When Labour get elected we will no doubt find out that many of the cabinet do the same thing.