If you're an undecided voter, what are the issues that are stopping you from deciding?

[tomatoesatbreakfast]

As an 'undecided voter', I was watching the Sky News interviews last night and felt myself warming more toward KS. When he started talking honestly about the possible impact on his kids...he suddenly seemed really human, a dad who wanted to pursue this opportunity but wanted to protect his children from the worst of it. However, I'm still undecided.

My politics are usually centre/middle and over the years I've voted Tory and Labour...basically whichever party I felt most aligned with my values.

All I know for sure is that I don't want more of the same and while I am definitely warming to Labour (as well as my local candidate who seems nice) I'm not keen on some others within the party.

I worry that by voting in the seemingly nice people, that it's a door opened to something I can't get on board with. You could equally say the same of the Tories though!!

So I'm wondering if there's any other 'undecided voters' out there (from any side of politics) and what are the issues/policies that are preventing you from being able to make a decision?

In relation to toilets. She didn't actually talk about other spaces. I think a lot of people are not concerned about toilets but would be bothered about sport or prisons.
I'm pretty annoyed by it too but let's not overstate what she said.

Well exactly cassie

i really really want to vote Labour

im a natural lib dem and have voted libdem and green in the last 3 elections, i have no intention of voting tory, reform (or heritage 😳)

i am not voting lib dem this time mainly because of the spousal veto, making non binary a legal identity and i am really not keen on the drugs thing though could be persuaded (maybe)

but labour are not being clear….at all, they say bio and legal females and don’t say what they mean with single sex spaces…and honestly that bit is easy, just say what you mean for fucks sake. Its one fucking sentance! And now they want to get rid of the spousal veto and the house of lords and the private schools bit

this isn’t easy

and actually while i think about it some posters have a go at single issue voters but I think in some cases its absolutely fine, and isn’t voting to get the tories out (which i am fully in support of before anyone fancies a pop) a single issue. It may reverberate and affect many many policies but lots of posters are telling people just to vote to get the tories out

Yeah it bloody impossible really. I'm very pissed off with what Phillipson said; equally I don't think the country can do another 5 years of Tories and I still like what Labour say about VAWG. So I'll be voting Labour and if they get in in my area, writing to my new MP about it.

I said on another thread that in seats like mine (currently safe blue for yonks) Labour will know they need to keep voters on side so might be more motivated to pay attention.

I'm historically lib dem too but left over the self ID nonsense- only joined Labpur after they put women at the centre of loads of policies at conference. I really hope they don't let me down on this!!

So do i cassie, so do i!

i have never felt guilty over my vote before…but i think this absolutely has the potential to make me feel very very bad over my choice

Are you inclined to trust them regarding other spaces when they're clearly being slippery re toilets? I'm not.

And toilets do matter by the way. They might not to you, or to me, or to any other individual but they matter a great deal to a lot of women and we need to stand together on this, not pick and choose which bits are important to us individually. Toilets may be the thin end of the wedge.

I'm more inclined to trust them than the current butch of proven liars and law breakers, yes.

https://www.cityam.com/ifs-labour-and-conservative-manifestos-singularly-fail-to-address-fiscal-challenges/

I'd vote for anyone who could actually answer a straight question and not say 'I will answer your question, but first I need to tell you why the Tories are hopeless'. I mean, you might get away with that once in an interview but not for every question.

I don’t want labour to take any more hard earned money off me when I’m struggling to pay my mortgage and childcare, and to keep paying out so much in universal credit and PIP to others. Also don’t agree with removing VAT from private school fees what a dreadful idea that will only impact less wealthy parents in that group.

But I won’t be voting Tory as I’m sick of the rich getting tax breaks and them ruining our NHS.

You didn’t see Sunak on TV last night then?

Labour’s main growth plan to create 600,000 jobs and fund their spending pledges from Green energy, pursuing net zero and decarbonisation is currently fantasy. Even if the wind is blowing in the right direction we still have no viable means of storing enough of the energy for it to be secure ,reliable and affordable. Paul Nowak in the video cites Biden increasing public spending to create more jobs but the numbers have been very small compared to the amount of money spent. Also the US economy’s growth has been due to the fact they have invested in technology which have secured their own energy sources in oil and gas extraction. This has been a priority for the US ever since 9/11 to be self sufficient in energy.

Renewable energy sources are no answer at all until intermittency has been solved. It hasn't yet - and the solution may be a long time coming (because people have been looking for energy efficient storage at scale for a long time now - and not finding it).
Even nuclear reactors are not a perfect answer because of the expense of construction and the time lag between conception and function - but also because they cannot simply be turned on and off (up and down a bit, yes, drastically, no). So it is likely still to be down to fossil fuels to cover large spikes in energy usage.

No one has grasped the nettle of net zero - which implies a massive upgrade both in generation and in the grid to support it (which is simply not up to it currently). It isn't just productivity that is at stake - it's keeping the lights on as interminable net zero policies put more and more pressure on the grid.
I don't think that any policy maker has a grip on this at all. Because, if they had, they'd be panicking.

We need to continue to develop green technology and energy sources but not rush it in before it’s secure, reliable and affordable. We should phase it in alongside current oil and gas if we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot. I recently had to spend £20,000 to replace my perfectly good diesel car because it was not ULEZ compliant. This has wiped out all of my savings but with unsocial hours shift work, children who do sporting activities and elderly infirm parents to ferry around to hospital appointment etc there really wasn’t much choice. One thing all governments need are more scientists as MPs, advisors and SPADS because the current lack of understanding of basic science in energy creation and storage and also medicine during the Covid era is just plain embarrassing and leads to policies is at best Expensive and unworkable and at worst dangerous and harmful.

I agree, the idea that everyone is going to be able to charge their 'electric car' from the grid is laughable. And I wonder, given that Formula 1 is heading for 100% biofuels in a year or two, how far we'll get with electrification before we realise it's a white elephant. But never mind I'm sure all those cables and charges won't have a carbon footprint (never mind the actual cars which seem to be worse overall - just not in the country of use)

All i know is that the UK cannot afford another 5 years of a Tory party more interested in fighting themselves and playing "whose the leader" while the UK sinks further into its deathbed.

Sunak as the Tories always do is asking people not to turn this election into a referendum on them, his only argument is we must keep Labour out, he has nothing positive to say.

However, this election should be a referendum on the Tories and their record in office, and whether we want another 5 years of them in power

If you need a reminder of UK under the last 14 years of Tory rule it has been an unmitigated disaster , lurching from one failed leader to another and staggering from scandal to scandal whilst our NHS, schools, policing to control crime & public services have been decimated.

Rishi wants you to
Forget the lies
Forget austerity
Forget Boris
Forget the lawbreaking
Forget energy bills
Forget the ‘betting’
Forget Brexit failure
Forget Liz Truss
Forget NHS
Forget filthy rivers
Forget crumbling schools
Forget 14 years of failure

I also saw another quote that summed things up nicely "If you want a snapshot of the Tories 2024, consider this - after a decade of cutting the real term standard of living for the majority, increasing borrowing to c. £2.8 trn, and enriching their mates by billions, we have a country that is, literally, swimming in s**t.

@paolo2145

"Sunak as the Tories always do is asking people not to turn this election into a referendum on them, his only argument is we must keep Labour out, he has nothing positive to say"

But equally Labour's only argument in this election is that the Tories have screwed up the last 14 years (which is correct and as you point out) and that they are not the Tories.

Labour equally have nothing positive to say. In order to get my vote I expect more than "we are not the Conservatives".

I remember the 2010 election when Conservatives were elected by voters on the basis that "they couldn't be any worse than the previous Labour government", how wrong they were then and I see the same thing happening now.

I'm in a constituency where there is less than 1% between Lib Dems and the sitting Tory MP. I have always voted LD but their manifesto is awful for women. They basically don't accept the existence of sex. What a shitshow.

I've nearly always voted for them but now they're so bad I'd rather my constituency stayed blue.

I can understand why a lot of voters are still undecided but even though i know political loyalty is a big thing I cannot really get my head around people wanting another 5 years of this Tory Govt.

They have been awful and reduced the UK to a laughing stock, we have lost our credibility on international stage by their petty anti EU behaviour pandering to the right wing. Spent virtually entire time in constant selfish civil war playing "whose turn to be leader". Their whole time in power has been mired in sleaze & corruption and the UK's NHS & public services have collapsed.

Our waters are filled with sewage, streets falling apart, record crime & poverty. I may not know 100% what i will get under Labour or even a coalition Govt but i do know what i am getting under Tories and that is 5 more years of lies, corruption, infighting and the UK being run into ground.

Abusive relationships with gaslighting liars are notoriously hard to escape from.

https://www.partyofwomen.org/

What does anyone know about this party? Never heard of them until my colleague turned up with a flyer. There's a candidate near us.

This totally

And what do you do if they are all going in the opposite direction to where you want to travel?

You choose the one going closest is what it says, so that scenario won’t arise. I can’t see any situation where every party is going in the opposite direction from your wishes, given they are all going in different ones.

But not on the same issues.

The position I am in is that the Tories are going closest to where I want to go on gender issues (but not necessarily women's rights in general), whereas Labour are going closest to where I want to go in other policy areas but firmly heading to somewhere I absolutely do not want to go on gender issues and that is a red line for me.