Lifelong Labour voters: how are you feeling?

[VerlynWebbe]

I ask because DH and I were discussing this last night.
He is of the opinion that he'll do anything that gets the Tories out, even if he has to hold his nose a bit.
I can't do it, though. I can't get over their inaction over the genocide in Gaza. Like, I can't imagine walking into a polling booth and setting aside that massive abdication of morals.
But I know things are fucked in Britain as well.
I really find it upsetting and wondered if anyone else feels the same.

Real Politik. Do you want more of the Conservatives? Choices. Yes, Vote Conservative. No, vote another party or don't vote.

If you don't vote then you risk a party getting in/ encouraging, you don't like eg Reform.

If you don't vote you are abdicating responsibility.

It's similar to the conundrum faced by the French in the Presidential election - a choice between the fascist Marine Le Pen and the right-winger Macron. Do you refuse to vote because you don't like either or do you vote for the lesser evil ie Macron to ensure that Le Pen is defeated?

The left in France in the main put a peg on their nose and voted Macron therefore. The risk of getting Le Pen was just too awful.

Here the risk of getting the Tories (or encouraging Reform) is just too awful. Put the peg on your nose if you must but vote Labour. Then campaign for them to improve the policies you dislike. Governments can change policies when they are proved to be unpopular.

There's no point in voting LibDem as when push comes to shove they will side with the Tories and abandon any/all their 'policies'. They have form.

I really feel for you. I'm lucky that I'm in a strong Labour area and no risk of the Tories getting in. Which means I don't have your dilemma and I'll be voting Green. I don't know what I would do in your position.

Lifelong Labour voter here. I don't think Labour will change anything. They'll be a superficially nicer version of the Tory party but with added misogyny, self-ID and hate crime laws. They are not increasing welfare spending, keeping the two child cap and the Labour Welsh Assembly doesn't do any better at managing the NHS than England and in some ways it's worse.

Same with local authorities - Birmingham went bankrupt under Labour partly because of their legal fees to fight equal pay claims from women. I live under a London local authority that went from Tory to Labour in 2022 - nothing has changed except we now have a Pride and some very badly executed parking restrictions. The GLA under Labour has seen rising crime and violence, increaseD homelessness, bad housing development and poorly thought through environmental policies.

I'm not voting. If you want change you have to volunteer and lobby and campaign on an individual level. Voting isn't going to change anything much.

I couldn’t agree more.

Reading this post gave me flashbacks to conversations in which I was trying to persuade leftie Labour members who hated Blair to set aside their particular ideological hobby horses (Palestine was a big one, even then) & see the bigger picture, ie beating the Tories. Also trying to get people to understand that, under FPTP, if the constituency battle is between Labour & the Tories, a vote for ANY candidate other than Labour was a vote for the Tories.

Heartbroken and scared for the future.

I feel the same as you. I'll vote green

I'll be voting Labour. The Tories have had 2 terms in office ...12 years ...and have used that time to totally decimate public services. Less real money for Education and every branch of the NHS. Not enough doctors and other NHS workers trained. A shortage of places .They would rather buy in qualified people from poorer countries than go to the expense of training more of our own young people. The problem is that people are impatient
Labour can't turn all this around in one term in office and when people realize this they are likely to be voted out the following time around..
If they can hold things together and refrain from squabbling amongst themselves, they are looking more electable, despite world problems, than they've looked for a long time.

Meant Tories have had 3 terms in Office
Clumsy fingers. 😁

Yes but the LP needs better arguments than votes for us or the other lot will get in. Starmer needs to buck his ideas up. He's too right leaning unfortunately, and it's costing votes. Others in the party are not.

Feeling stoic but local issues perplex. Here the Lib Dems and Labour have a cycling lobby that I - a pedestrian and cyclist - find impalatable that’s making the city a bed place to live. But I can’t vote Conservative

I try to think of voting like buses - no party will get me directly to the destination I want, but I'll vote for the one who is heading in the general direction I'd like (the country) to go.

I'm voting Green
The more people see their popularity grow, the more votes there will be for them going forward

I read this on Facebook and thought it was spot on.

A vote isn't a valentine, you're not declaring your love for a candidate.
A vote is a chess move, for the world you want to live in.

I’ll vote Labour. There’s no real pull factor (I also wish they were offering something bolder) but the push factor (Tories out) is very strong. Even if the size of the pie is no different, I am confident that the way Labour distribute the pie will be more aligned with what I believe is right.

Im feeling great - delighted by the current polling. Feeling positive for the 1st time in many years.

You vote for the Party that you feel will take the Country in the direction you want it to go. It's not a declaration of love.

Palestine and the conflict over there is a complicated, multi-faceted issue that will not be solved by the LOTO in the UK issuing statements that hit buzzwords determined to be correct by a certain segment of the population.

Vote for who you want, but it does show how insulated some people are from the huge damage the Tories have done to feel that not voting for the one Party that has the best chance to remove them in order to make a point about another Country's conflict thousands of miles away...is a choice.

I'm old enough to remember the negativity from the ultra left in 1997 - that Labour "were just the same as the Tories". Some people just want to constantly be in opposition.

I will vote SNP as in my constituency that is who will dislodge the incumbent Tory. If I lived in a constituency where Labour stood a chance I would vote Labour in a heartbeat.

To be dithering about this doesn’t make any sense to me.

It’s basically saying you are happy for things to continue to get worse because they won’t become perfect overnight.

But that’s ok because you didn’t personally get your hands dirty, even though it’s complicit in perpetuating Tory misrule. At best it’s detached from reality, at worst it’s a kind of solipsism.

Labour are not perfect. But they are better.

I'll be voting Labour as I have every election since I was old enough to vote.

I don't have the high hopes I've had in the past but right now I'd prefer anyone but the conservatives who have run the country into the ground.

I'm so disillusioned though, I can't see the country ever getting better or remotely being anything like the place it once was.

Same @BiggerBoat1 Tactical Lib Dem vote to GTTO. If labour had a chance here I would vote for them.

You aren't looking at the recent history... had Starmer called for a one sided ceasefire, stop arms sales etc the press would have turned on him with accusations of anti semitism, this could then lead to Labour losing the next GE, ensuring another 5 years of the Conservatives, is that what you want?

On Gaza/Israel he is walking a tightrope and of course has zero influence on the Israelis or Hamas - only the USA has that.

I'll also be interested to see their manifesto, then decide. For example, If they are talking aggressively about Europe and leaving us isolated, like the Tories, I may vote green instead.

Well said.

TBF atm they are quite positive about closer ties to the EU, its not ideal but its better than the open hostility we have from the Tories towards the EU.

However, unless Europe, collectively, arms Ukraine (can no longer rely on the USA) then UK/EU relations will be the least of our worries & atm EU/UK are doing SFA, the last batch of UK air defence was 200 missiles - 1 days worth.
The EU have blocked, again, releasing more weapons to Ukraine.

Are we all fucking mad? if Russia wins in Ukraine (highly likely now) he will take back the Baltic states and NATO, without US help, will do nothing to stop him and Putin knows it.

I want Labour to be far stronger on this.

Love that!

All of them are kowtowing as an election is round the corner. I am taking very little notice of what is being said to win voters as it doesn’t mean anything. They are all fannying around sitting in the fence and I don’t believe it will last post election.

I am, for the first time in a decade, feeling hopeful in the British public to oust this repulsive, self serving shitshow of a government. My dream is to never have a Tory government again in my lifetime.

I think of it every time someone says they can't vote Labour because of one issue, however big that issue may seem. The alternative is leaving us with the current government and that is not a move towards the world I want to live in!