If you were 'politically homeless' have you now found a home?

[kinkytoes]

I saw an interesting thread on Twitter that said Reform UK is now providing an option for those who previously felt they had nowhere to go.

Does this apply to you? Or have you decided to just 'hold your nose' and vote for someone you'd really rather not (best of a bad bunch)?

I feel politically homeless and have done for many years. For me it has been who I have the least objections to.

Reform is not the answer though.

Christ no. I'd rather not vote than vote reform.

For the misogynistic homophobic racists you mean?

I'm delighted they exist. They will split the Tory vote and give Labour an even stronger chance.

Anyone who trusts Farage after the Brexit Bus debacle needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

I'd replace "politically homeless" for "politically stupid"

Tory and Labour hopeless

Moving to an independent instead .... no chance of winning but I can't vote for this awful bunch.

I would vote reform but no candidate is standing in my area, so green it is!

I would never vote for a right wing populist party. A few months ago I was considering spoiling my ballot paper, but now I have a couple of options.

There’s an independent Labour candidate who know quite well and like, but we have a Party of Women candidate standing now, so will likely vote for her.

I think Reform would be far worse for women than Labour, look at the company Farage keeps, he's been following Trump around like a little lap dog for years! Ann Widdicome who is staunchly 'pro life'. He's made sexist comments of his own RE maternity leave, breastfeeding in public etc etc.

I wasn't going to, but I will probably vote labour as the best of a bad bunch.

I'm genuinely interested to know how someone could back Reform and their policies, but switch to Green and their very different policies if Reform aren't available.

Bizarre! Would go Green but then go for Reform!!!? No logic there at all. Look at the policies! Most Green voters would distance themselves from Farage and co.

No - Reform isn’t getting my vote. I am actually not voting for any of them. Reform shelter the right wing who think the cons are not right wing enough. It’s a bit sad anyone is buying into the rhetoric that Reform is for the politically homeless. The very right wing politically homeless only!

@Zonder because i would literally vote for anyone who isn't Labour, conservative or Lib dem! The independent in our area is just a conservative by another name! I know that green doesn't stand a chance but at least when Labour gets in and things go even more tits up than they are now i can say i never wanted/voted for it! Its like choosing the nicest looking dog shit from a pile of it!

Reform isn't offering anything different AKAIK, it's just a more openly thuggish and jingoistic Tory Party. I can't remember a time when far right voters were homeless and now they have never been less so, with the two main parties fighting for the racist vote.

Anyone to the left of the ever-rightwards-moving centre is politically homeless.

So it's not because you have any particular policies you support, or any particular morals then?

I'm just fascinated that someone could say I can't vote for the shit show or Labour or Tory, then actively vote for Reform. I mean technically it isn't even a democratic political party, it's a business majority owned by Farage, who has catapulted himself into what he considers their best bet seat, booting out the existing reform candidate who is now going to stand as independent against him! This afternoon non democratically announcing himself the new leader.

You couldn't make them up!

Labour all the way ... normally... but i'm very disillusioned about Starmer, there is a total lack of ambition, everything, including things that wouldn't cost, are being dropped or watered down e.g Fire and Rehire - we all remember the PO debacle.

Their NHS plans are poor too.

The removal of the Green deal goes against logic, we need to move away from world prices on energy and we need to de link the extra taxes on Electricity to subsidise gas... but there is nothing.

BUT we cannot go on as we are, the Tories have given us £3 Trillion of debt, yet nothing to show for it, Covid and energy support account for about £650 billion, so where has the rest gone?????

So i'll be voting Labour and praying they do more in Govt than so far promised.

Anyone voting Reform is effectively voting for a National Front party, far right, nationalist & racist party.... who would slash taxes for the hyper wealthy only, wreck relations with Europe and destroy the NHS, in favour of a US style system... so start saving, if thats where your vote is going

What's the rationale behind that, if I may ask? Do you just want to cast a protest vote? I feel that voting for Reform sends a message to the Tories (and Labour) that they aren't right wing enough, thus encouraging them to double down on the policies which are causing poverty and inequality and which thus leads to more protest votes in a death spiral of hatred vicious circle.

@lovelysunshine22 out of curiosity why would Reform have been your preferred choice if they had been on the ballot? I get the protest bit, but why would you choose Reform over Greens if you could have?

Its up to Labour to stand up against Reform, with a series of policu=ies to get back on board the disillusioned.

You cannot blame people who feel left behind for how they vote if Labour cannot win them over.

@Zonder i think that people will get a shock at just how many people vote reform the same as they did with brexit! No one trusts the conservatives any longer and labour are just as bad ( the thought of the odious Angela Raynor being in a position of power is horrible). They have no one else that seems to be listening to their concerns about the massive amounts of immigration and social change so they will vote for the only ones who do seem to be listening ( reform). The conservatives only care about the rich, the Labour party offer nothing but pipe dreams with drippy Kier starmer and the vile Angela. The labour party was once the party of the working class that all stopped with Tony Blair et al and they have become increasingly out of touch with the working class ever since!

No, no further forward. No desire to see the Tories having another term, prefer the local Tory candidate to the parachuted-in Labour one, and the others are all bright eyed souls who'll probably lose their deposits.

As a socialist I'm still politically homeless. Will probably vote Green and accept it's just a statement of principle rather than a meaningful vote.

I don't understand how Reform provide "an option for those who previously felt they had nowhere to go." Surely it's only an option for the minority of those people who happen to be racist idiots? I'd rather kill myself.

In 2010 I was Lib Dem as they really seemed to nail an area of the middle ground I liked. Then they got in bed with DC and reneged on all their promises and that was that.

Since then I have really struggled. I sit centre left, views wise on many things but not all

That said I also live in a Tory stronghold area (lots of old, rich people of which I am neither!!) but according to various places might switch red....so it might be a tactical labour vote for me to try to oust the current MP. He's about as much use as a chocolate teapot and his voting record appalls me. So best of a bad job here. Whilst I might not be a raging Labour supporter, I'm thinking about the bigger picture.

So does being concerned about the huge amounts of immigration and the social changes that come with it make people racist idiots? Or does it make them simply people who are concerned for their childrens future? I would say it's attitudes like yours that push people towards voting for reform because you push them towards people who will listen to their concerns without shutting the conversation down by screaming racism!

I agree with you about Labour, but in a democracy we all have a responsibility to vote in an ethical and properly considered manner. People who use a protest vote to lash out at the existing government without considering the consequences for the country are just as morally culpable as the demagogue who manipulates them. We've seen that already with Brexit.

I wouldn't blame people who abstained, but voting for Fascists? If that's such a good or at least morally neutral choice, why don't you vote for them? And why wouldn't your perfectly good reasons for not voting for Reform be equally apparent to those who do vote Reform?

You can't seriously think Farage and the reform bunch are anything but racist? Their rhetoric and those of their supporters is abhorrent.

Farage is a known liar. He's a professional gobshite who has no policies other than on immigration. Their manifesto is like a pie in the sky wish list which is all uncosted and unachievable.

The shades of 1933 Weimar Germany are starting to be visible. Read up on how the Nazi party came to power.

I'm still politically homeless but suspect come 4 July, I'll go back to my old home because there is nowhere better.