I don't know who to vote for ...

[JFDIYOLO]

Totally politically homeless.

I believe the threats to the environment are a real danger to the next generation but I can't vote Green. Had a 'discussion' on my own doorstep with the Green candidate who looked at me pityingly when I stated my opinion on transwomen in women's prisons, crooning 'but they're not male people ...' like a hypnotist.

I believe in workers' rights and protecting the NHS, but I can't vote Labour because of its mysogyny.

I believe in protecting women and children's rights from the transcult. The Tories are the only ones who appear to be talking sense on that but ... obviously not.

I believe in supporting the arts, education, pro-Europe etc etc etc.

But who the hell can I VOTE for??

You need to work out what matters most.

If it's trans people and GC feminist stuff then you go with that.

Reform seem able to say what you'd like to hear but unless you're in Clacton or possibly a couple of other seats you won't get an MP from it.

Who is most likely to win in your constituency?

there doesn't seem to be a right answer, but you maybe need to think about what's more important and vote based on that

Vote for the least worst option. The party you vote for doesn't have to match your beliefs perfectly, just indicate the general direction you want the country to go in.

If you want the perfect party to vote for, stand yourself.

No party is going to completely match what you want in it's manifesto. That's life and true in any election.

You have to decide, on balance, who aligns most closely with what you think is a priority. And then campaign on the rest, if it's important enough to you.

An election is not a single once every 5 years opportunity to fix everything.

As a GC feminist I found it really hard to vote for labour but given that they are 10,000 times better than the Tories on everything else relating to women I am writing to my Labour MP to tell them I'm not voting for them, and turn the canvaseers on the door the same and why and then voting for them. There's no way the Tories can get back in and destroy so many lives. They don't give a fuck about us as women otherwise they would have sorted this out years ago. The fact they are using it as a political tool has pissed me off more than labour things so has pissed me off more than Labour being so useless about it.

Sorry that last line should have said "The fact they are using it as a political tool has pissed me off more than labour being so useless".

You will not find a party that you agree with on everything. It's about deciding on what matters to you most. For me, that means not voting on any one single issue but looking at what I think will have the greatest net benefit to society overall. It is an imperfect compromise at best, but I feel that it is the best possible use of my vote.

Reform UK, the Social Democrat Party and British Workers Party all know what a woman is.

That gives you a good spread right wing, centrist and left wing.

unfortunately I missed her name, but she's on TV a lot presenting/interviewing/debriefing on politics and she said. Unless you're in the leaders constituencies you can't vote for them, so vote for who serves your constituent best,

it's one approach.

tactical voting seems very risky this time around & I don't feel it will achieve much.

I'm going to vote, I can't not, but FMD I'm sure I don't know how yet and nothing any of them say in the next few days will help because I don't believe a word out of their lying mouths!

...and either they don't understand the consequences to much of what they're saying IR they do & just don't care. I'm tired of them thinking we're believing the 💩 they're coming out with.

I'm in the same boat as you OP. Realistically my MP can only be Tory or Lib Dem.

I have absolute red line issues that I cannot in good conscience vote against. Unfortunately both the Tories and the Lib Dems are on the wrong side of at least one of those red lines. In fact there's not a single candidate standing that I can vote for.

I'm now at the point where I'm considering spoiling my ballot. I don't know what else to do.

@Shortfatsuit

would you mind saying which party that might be?!?!

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut

that's the case here too!

I do a couple of online quizzes like isidewith and see where my values align and fo from there.

For me, it will be Labour.

Not because I am particularly inspired by them in any way, but because I would prefer a more left leaning government than the government that we currently have and the very good Labour candidate in my constituency will be infinitely better than our rubbish Tory MP. It's a two horse race where we live, and my priority is to get the Tory out. I would just as readily vote Green or Libdem if they had the better chance of kicking the Tory MP out.

I am not terribly happy with the current Labour Party. They seem to lack vision and courage. I hate their muddled stance on gender issues and am disappointed by their response to the situation in Gaza. I am not very excited at all about the prospect of a Labour government. But I'll take it because I believe that it is the only viable alternative to the Tories and imo, they are infinitely worse.

Well women have been well and truly screwed under austerity OP. Look at maternity care to start with. Reform will make life a hell of a lot worse due to massive cuts and the others buy into trans woo.

@Shortfatsuit that's also me exactly.

@JFDIYOLO

I'd look at it from a local constituency level. It's as important imo as national party level. Having a good local MP (even if a party you wouldn't usually like) is sometimes underrated. Someone who's there for their constituents, listens to their local concerns, and is approachable and available to help with individual problems.

Obviously sounds like your local Green candidate isn't for you but have you checked out your other candidates?

If none are any good, I agree with other posters.to try to choose which issues are most important to you and voting on that basis for the least bad option.

Last resort you can spoil your ballot. Some posters on other threads don't like that option but I think it's better than not voting at all (although I believe the freedom not to vote is as important as the freedom to vote. And on a similar note, freedom to spoil ballot is also an important freedom of choice).

If you do spoil your vote, make sure you make it clear it's intentionally spoilt. Sometimes votes appear to be spoilt but it's uncertain and count staff will try to work out if the voter actually meant to vote for a particular candidate. Write something like "I'm intentionally spoiling my ballot. None of the above". If you want to add reasons why, specific issues of concern to you, do that after writing the first bit.

Thankyou very much for the isidewith recommendation. I've done the marathon questionnaire now and the results make very interesting reading. It does feel like a modified American questionnaire, with the arming teachers but, etc, but apart from that it is pretty comprehensive.

It tells you each party's stance on a wide variety of issues and gives you a run down of where you stand politically based on your answers. Recommended.

These were some of my outcomes. Despite their problematic stance on the trans topic for me, it's going to have to be Labour, for the rest of it, then keep going on the rights of women, children & teens.

My other preferences it identified based on my answers - going down the list.

I don't think Labour are any more misogynistic than any other party
Vote Labour there really is no other choice

I'm always saying to my adult child to never let "perfect " be an enemy to "better than". I'm a member of a political party but I've yet to agree with every single thing others in the party say.

however, I've always thought the party I support was better than any of the alternatives on offer.

In the same way I also believe that the doctrine of pure but impotent, is not a worthwhile position to take.

Where you live, there will be one or two candidates who have a realistic chance of winning. Pick one of those and ignore all the others.

It's the same for almost everyone.

None of us have someone to vote for with whom we perfectly agree.

Look up who can win in your constituency.

Pick one of them.

So at least you have voted effectively and influenced the result.

OR

Do one of the online quizzes that tell you who you're most aligned with such as Vote For Policies.

So at least you can choose the party who most represent your views.

Robert Watson-Watt of radar fame used 'second best tomorrow' in a similar sense.

You can have something then that will do most of what you want but perfecting it might take months.

I'm voting tactically. We live in a Tory stronghold and only one party ever comes close to getting them out so I'm voting for them.