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.

"Put the peg on your nose if you must but vote Labour."

This. So this.

I last voted Labour back in the days of Tony Blair. There was a real sense of optimism then and he had some really good people in his Cabinet. I just don't feel this with Starmer. He's vacillating and lacklustre and the only one of his future ministers I can get on board with is Wes Streeting, IF he's allowed to reform the NHS.

Exactly. He has to deal with potentially being Prime Minister and having to deal with international relations. Him calling for a ceasefire would have achieved absolutely nothing. It may have stopped his Jewish wife from having to leave her home but would have done nothing to stop the violence in Gaza.

I feel the same. The tories have decimated my area and I'd never willingly vote for them. I've continued to vote for Labour despite their wishy washy stance on single sex spaces because I believed them to be a better alternative to the conservatives.

However I loathe the fact that this country (and as a taxpayer myself by extension) is complicit in support of a genocide. I firmly believe that no matter how 'complex' the situation is, once you're allowing newborn babies to slowly die alone in Nicu you can no longer claim to be any better than those you're fighting. I haven't seen or heard anything to suggest that Labour would withdraw the UK's support of Isreal so for the first time in my life I won't vote for them.

This.

I won't vote Labour.

I agree about the genocide. I'm not happy about Labours foreign policy all over, where war is concerned.

This!

I don’t feel any excitement. This is very different from 1997. The relief of being free from the Tories will be like having a boil lanced.

No I cant vote Labour. Keir on Gaza has been abhorrent and so has my local MP.

I am feeling highly delighted and full of anticipation to see the tories annihilated as they so richly deserve.

I can't get over their inaction over the genocide in Gaza

You've been following this? Because if you have you wouldn't be spouting RW press words and would know that that isn't the truth.

A) they aren't in power
B) they called for an immediate ceasefire
C) there was a whole furore because of this call for a ceasefire and their amendments being "given priority"

No one knows what a woman is. Or rather they all do but the debate has become so toxic and black and white no one ever really listens or talks. The gender debate and self ID is more than just "know what a woman is" and the recent report has shown how this has become a toxic culture war and all the males in woman's spaces stuff that's happen the past decade and a half have been under the Tory's.

I'm not a hard score Labour voter. I was never a Corbynite.

But there's not a cats chance in hell I'll be voting for the current Tory and so will vote Labour in next GE

I am long term labour voter and member - left party for a bit over antisemitism and thought corbyn was useless in lots of ways - if had different leader might well have not had brexit for instance- rejoined when it was clear Kier was going to deal with the antisemitism properly. I really rate Wes streeting - please with his comments on the Cass report this week and Rachel Reeves - and other shadow cabinet members. It's not a bad team they have built. I do wish Keir was a bit more clear about the direction sometimes - eg green stuff - but altogether I think they are doing what they need to do to win.

Voting for the less shit option wishing that the party I've always voted for was something better than it is. I know lifelong Labour voters who've gone Green.

Agree with this. What's happening in other parts of the world is terrible but I'm sorry, selfish or not, what affects me and my family directly is what's going to swing my vote.

This is an important post for people still saying they can't vote Labour because of Gaza.

For some of us, the Labour party response to the genocide in Gaza is the straw that broke the camel's back. I've already been accepting much about Labour that no longer aligns with my values, because they're better than the Tories and we need to get the Tories out.

It seems I may have come to my hard stop. I'm lucky that my vote won't result in a Tory being elected where I live as Labour always get in. So I'm voting Green, as they are now the closest I can get to 'lefty' values

I don't get not voting or voting for a party on the basis of a conflict 1000s of miles away that our country is not involved in? Utterly bizarre.

It's like saying "I'm not voting Labour/Tory because of their failure to address the rising murder rate in Mexico City."

As a PP said, I can't vote for Labour as it is now with Starmer in charge, because he disciplined his MPs who joined unions on picket lines during the height of the NR strikes. I find that despicable.

That, and Starmer's fudging of women's rights issues. Oh, and that w@nkbadger Wes Streeting wanting to bring in more private companies into the NHS. And the fookin LEZs in London. And the pay per mile proposal by Sadiq Khan (I'm voting Count Binface in the Mayoral Election). I will think of more.

My MP is Labour and only comes sniffing around when she wants my vote. She can foxtrot Oscar.

I should be a moderate Labour voter. I am a union member, I'm working class, I believe in the fairer distribution of wealth and opportunities for all...but no amount of nose-holding is gonna persuade me to put an X next to them.

In the GE I'm voting for the most obscure candidate or spoiling the ballot.

This.
It's a peculiarly selfish notion IMO, clearly from people who are so insulated they haven't been affected by Tory policies.

Why didn't they have as strong feelings for actual ongoing genocides like Syria, Yemen and the Uyghur's in China?

They confidently repeat untrue talking points about a conflict they clearly don't fully understand.

Well done. Another step towards another Tory government.

I can't do it, though. I can't get over their inaction over the genocide in Gaza.

What’s happening in Gaza is horrendous. There are also unbelievable levels of suffering going on in Haiti, Sudan, and China to name but a few. And the UK govt (and prospective Labour govt) is keen to increase trade and links with China despite their horrific treatment of the Uyghurs for example.

Why would Gaza sway your vote but none of these other conflicts or levels of suffering would? Anyway, the UK is now a relatively small player on the world stage and to a large extent UK Labour’s position on Gaza is irrelevant. No one in Tel Aviv is waiting with bated breath for Keir Starmer’s views.