Standing as an independent candidate

[Shedbuilder]

In case any woman in Crispin Blunt's constituency is thinking of standing against him at the next election, or any woman anywhere is wondering about standing in a council or assembly or parliamentary election as a way of highlighting the concerns that we discuss on here, the Fawcett Society is offering a free online training event on 26 November:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/standing-as-an-independent-tickets-104190145530

As a former Labour voter who won't vote for them again until they drop the ideology politics, I'm apolitically homeless. Maybe if enough women were to stand for election it would make a massive point to Labour. The Lib Dems are too batshit to bother about.

Not sure if I'll be at work that evening but if not think I'll give this a whirl. I'm too sweary to be an MP but still think it'll be interesting. Cheers for the link.

It will be hell, obviously, but if Labour sees a significant number of women deciding to vote for an Independent Women's Voices candidate and loses as a result, it might teach them a lesson they badly need to learn. I would be sorry to let the Tories in, but if it means women's rights are protected, so be it.

I don't imagine any of the women would win and become MPs, it's about stealing votes from Labour and making a point that women won't put up with Labour's misogyny.

I love that idea, Independent Women's Voice candidate. Just getting out there, to hustings with a feminist manifesto (can you hear us West Yorkshire Police!...& whole criminal justice system as it goes) Hell yeah!

It may be something we end up needing to do — particularly in Wales and Scotland, which pride themselves on always being woker than England. It's a bit like offering yourself up as a human sacrifice but it could be effective.

The next Scottish Parliament elections are next May, much closer than the next general election, so it would be very tempting to put up spoiler candidates against any of the SNP’s wokey faction who manage to get selected.

However, constituency contests do not really have a high profile due to the semi-PR system used in Scotland. Unfortunately what would probably happen, supposing you managed to cost a wokey the seat, is that the same person would get in on the list anyway, and you'd destroy the already fairly slim chance of a gender critical party such as ISP getting a list seat.

Thank you, Black Forest, I hadn't realised. Perhaps it might be a worthwhile tactic in Wales? I lived there in the early noughties and know several former Labour women there who have left the party. I should probably message them and see what they think.