Tell me who to Vote for as if I'm a Child.

[LemonzandLimez]

Exactly that, with the Election Looming I need to understand Politics more! My Socials are full of Rishi out and Kier in.. Are Labour really going to make a difference? If so, How?

Regarding the utility companies, didn’t that plan get changed because the cost was higher than anticipated and would increase public debt? Didn’t they then look at alternatives that wouldn’t cost so much?

I don’t see what’s wrong with changing a plan if the money isn’t there to fund it rather than just ploughing on regardless of the consequences, like HS2 for example?

I always start by looking at local constituency - who is likely to stand and who were top parties have been in last election how close ie who is it likely to be between and polling.

Then local candidates - including voting history of one in post and any local media coverage or doorstep interactions - and national party manifestos - and then quizzes about how well I match with national party ideas and then think about how likely it is they will prioritize what's important to me.

So it's a mix of national policy, local candidate and local tactical voting.

If you're a mum maybe look at how much they intend to borrow for your kids to pay back over pink politics!

Why should she? You don't even know what's important to her. They're highly unlikely to win a single seat anyway - they'll just affect the balance of votes going to other candidates.

As a woman, and a mother, I’d be happy to pay more tax to ensure we live in a society where women are protected and safe, wouldn’t you?

The Tories have decimated our NHS, squeezed schools of funding, basically stripped all our public services to the bone. They're only bothered about making sure they have enough cash in their own pockets, one example being the cash for PPE scandals. Theirs is the politics of selfishness and greed. Vote Labour, unless you're OK with that.

What do you mean by pink politics though? If you mean equal rights for women, or protecting yeah I would personally be at least potentially interested in funding ( or donating to) that.

Or do you mean Trans Rights / Mermaid/ Ms Blo Job dressed in bondage gear, reading stories to primary kids while pole dancing sorta thing? Because that could conceivably be described as pink and is a different animal altogether

No. There was no particular anticipation of the cost when the policy was first agreed, it was just agreed as a matter of principle. Starmer did give some waffle about how it "wouldn't fit within our fiscal rules", but that was not to say he originally thought it WOULD fit within such rules (which it couldn't have done, because the rules didn't exist when the policy was formulated and he expressed agreement with it).

He attempted to defend the u-turn as "not being ideological", when it is of course the precise opposite. Because he is absolutely wedded to the ideology of neoliberalism, anything that contradicts it (ie most of what has traditionally separated Labour from the Tories, to the extent that anything has) must be rejected outright.

@Gunnersforthecup oh I understand 2 party race! For sure thanks to our terribly biased electoral system which effectively almost makes votes outside of England of negligible worth!

Labours record imo is better than tories and I'm going back several decades in terms of economy and ideology when it comes to things I value like nhs, social care and poverty.

Rishi is a dyed in the wool Tory whatever his supposed background. He's NEVER had to worry where his next meal is coming from or how he'll pay the rent this month.

We need politicians who get stuff like that, but sadly the closest we have is the current Labour Party who to my mind long ago betrayed their working class roots.

I agree keir starmer is annoying in certain ways, his ability to fence sit at times is stupendous! But I'll still take Labour over tory esp right now.

If you can tell me anything that Labour has done that comes close to any of the above then I am all ears and open minded.

Seconded!

From everything the Labour party has done and said over the last several years.

Are you basing that on what they've actually done and said or news reports? Because the news reporting in uk - especially in England is HEAVILY biased toward the tories and ruling class. Even here in Scotland the same story reported in Scot's media can have a very different perspective to English media. You'll notice and even more stark difference if you read reporting on uk politics from outside the uk.

I'm a Scot who was raised in England and now has many family and friends around the world. Talking to them and receiving news articles they send from the countries they now live in can be most illuminating.

They're only bothered about making sure they have enough cash in their own pockets

Has ALWAYS been true though. This was the reason they fell to labour in 1997, corrupt greedy bastards!

Read the manifestos and then decide. A lot of people don’t, vote for a party and are then surprised by the stuff they do.

More of the same shite (Conservative) or slightly different shite (Labour), or wasted vote (anyone else)
That's the choices we have England, Slightly more choices of shite in the other countries of the UK.

I'm looking at the local candidates rather than on a national level as I don't like the idea of any of them being in power tbh.

Where do you think they will do well?

This^
you can look into booklet through your door but it’s just a snapshot. Look at your life and what’s important for you.
Education and NHS are priorities for our family. Rich tories use private medicines and go to private schools. Nothing wrong with using private medicine actually but it means they don’t care about NHS so much. It means they aren’t affected by lack of dentists or lack of support for eating disorders or by problems with GP appointments They just don’t get it, their priorities are different. That’s why these Tories don’t get my vote. I’m voting Labour.

That’s how I’ve explained my views to my child, hope it’s simple enough for you.

I usually know who I want to vote for in a general election as it will be tactical based on my general leanings, but I still always have a look at this website to see where I would want to put the X if we had proportional representation:

voteforpolicies.org.uk/

It isn't operational yet as the manifestos haven't been released but it's always an interesting experiment, particularly if you sit in the middle. If you have some political interest and knowledge you will know which policies belong to the 2 main parties on the headline areas, but even when I had the time to follow politics very closely I couldn't pair them in every area. My percentage fit with each party is always a bit different at each election.

Read the manifestos and see where you align. I also did this quiz which is pretty confusing but does actually place you on a scale depending on your own beliefs.
https://www.politicalcompass.org
Conservatives in my opinion need to regroup, they're not really a worthy party at the moment. It's peaks and troughs, currently as it stands I think labour are the only choice but that is based on my income, social standing etc. It would be different from someone in another position to me

None of the above. The two main parties are two cheeks of the same arse and the minor parties mostly worse.

This is the third thread I've seen where someone says they're backing Tories as they think they'll help us best in war

Another posting saying we could well be in a war in 5 years or so.

Can someone please say if there's actually any basis or evidence to support the possibility of the UK?! Going to war. I don't see it

I am voting Labour. For lots of reasons. But weirdly I feel the conservatives would be most useful in a war, I don't know

No, there isn't. It's being scaremongered at the moment because Tories do have that reputation... but they've massively reduced military spending over the last 14 years, so it's a reputation entirely fabricated by nostalgia.

Personally I'd rather have someone intelligent in power, if we do end up in a war. Rather Starmer then whatever the Tories dredge up as their next leader (given that Sunak is clearly fucking off as soon as he can, whatever happens).