To think that it is difficult not to question the judgement of people who say I could never vote 'x'. (Replace 'x' with any political affiliation)

[Floatingvoternolandinsight]

Unless I have missed something, the main parties have all shown themselves to have questionable integrity and morals.

Yeah, I think you are missing something.

YABU.

I will never vote for a right wing party.

I live in NI and will never vote for the DUP or Sinn Fein as I consider them two sides of the same coin that have done much harm.

I'm sure there is at least one party you would never vote for yourself OP, whether it's Reform, the Greens or the Monster Raving Loony Party.

More succinct

What though?

I should have clarified for the main political parties: Lib Dem, Greens, Labour, Conservatives.

I could never vote Sinn Féin, make of that what you will. And judge away!

although the main parties drift about a lot on policy they’ve each ultimately got a founding or guiding principle. It’s perfectly reasonable to say one party has values that will never align with yours.

The Tories exist to protect unearned income and keep the wealth of the country in the hands of the few. Being in government allows them to control some of the levers that allow that to happen. Why would any wage-earner vote for that? You're voting to work until you drop to keep the likes of Johnson, Rees Mogg and Cameron in top hats and stately homes.

Live in Scotland. I would never vote SNP. But I would happily vote any other party whatsoever if they had the best chance of beating the SNP. I never so much as glance at a manifesto, just look at who the tactical voting analysis. It’s actually quite a relaxing way of voting.

I sort of hear you, OP.

When people say that they could never vote Lib Dem because of tuition fees, for example, I think that’s a bit silly because it implies that you generally agree with their platform but are ruling them out because a former leader reneged on a pledge ~15 years ago.

But if you’re, for example, very left wing in your views, it’s understandable why you might say you’d never vote Tory.

Their base ideologies are very different! Equality of opportunity vs survival of the fittest. Wildly simplifying the basis of the two main parties to illustrate the point of course.

Tories would have to shift a very long way left and idealogically before I'd consider voting for them. In my lifetime both main parties have moved a long way right so it could happen, but seems unlikely.

I'm warming to Count Binface - his mayoral manifesto was inspiring although I'm not sure all his policies were properly costed

This! I'm a scouser, I'd never vote Tory!

Isaiah Berlin's analysis of positive and negative liberty goes a long way in explaining the philosophical differencea between left and right.

Might be worth a read.

Tbh Labour just seems like tory lite. Every policy they have just said that they won't reverse, they won't change, so what's the fucking point. I can't vote for any of the idiotic twats.

I was raised in Scotland in the 80s. I think my parents would sooner vote for the Nazi party than the tories.

I don't believe Labour are anywhere near as left leaning as they used to be (despite James Corbyn). But they're not the tories. And no one else will beat the tories. So Labour it is.

James Corbyn being Jeremy Corbyn's much less famous younger brother?
Apologies, I am immature and slightly pissed, but I couldn't resist.

It's all a farce. Big old show to get people frothed up. Fuck them all.

So not ‘any’. Quite different.

I'd never vote SNP

With you 100%. Anyone but the SNP

You're not the only one who has had a few 😆

When people are saying I could never vote ‘X’ they usually have their reasons, they just don’t want to explain them.
They can mention tuition fees in the context of Lib Dems for simplicity because it’s a fact which really happened. But in reality they would want to say that they could never vote for Lib Dems as they went into bed with f* tories. ( I would) However the argument about tuition fees sounds much more reasonable and calm.

I think, for most people, you're looking at two separate things: what the party in question has done/supported that's inexcusable, and the party itself.

I say I would not vote Conservative because I cannot excuse how they handled leaving the EU. However, it's possible that the Conservatives could decide to run an investigation of their own actions relative to the 2016 referendum and its aftermath and - based on those results - admit and detail their misconduct, and credibly pledge to rejoin the EU at the first available opportunity, providing details in their manifesto about exactly how this would occur. In that case, while I still would not trust them because they have a history of dishonesty and misconduct, I might consider voting for them strategically/tactically if they were the only party pledging to rejoin the EU and I found their promise credible. It seems unlikely, but not impossible.