Political parties, voting - least worst option?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I'm not going to vote for any party that can't recognise the importance of sex-based rights for women and doesn't grasp basic principles of safeguarding children and other vulnerable groups.

Currently that seems to rule out:
Labour
LibDems
Greens
Women's Equality Party

I don't live in Scotland but if I did the SNP would also be off the table.

I'd rather gnaw my own arm off than vote Tory. If we had a competent, strong, uncorrupt government with a genuine One Nation approach who were also openly defending women's rights in a sane and nuanced way that balanced them with the rights of other groups, maybe it would give me pause, but we don't, and don't seem ever likely to either.

Now as it happens, my vote is an irrelevance in our first past the post system, because I live in a London borough with a Labour council and hardly any councillors from other parties, and our MP is Labour with an enormous majority. Last General Election I voted for the Green candidate because she was openly GC and seemed like a good person - and also I knew she wouldn't be elected so I wasn't doing anything to give the Greens more political power. At local elections I look for an independent candidate who seems sane.

What do others do? Spoil the ballot paper? Abstain? Pick the least worst candidate on the grounds that somebody has to do the job?

All so depressing.

I'm afraid the ship for changing parties in from the inside has not just sailed but sunk. It hasn't worked. Not to mention many of the parties most anti-woman have been placating angry women for decades with promises that if they'll just be good girls and vote for them, they may one day possibly get around to listening to them. It's like waiting for Godot.

I'm a floating voter with no tribal loyalties. It's reached the point where I will vote solely to keep the most insane and dangerous for women candidate out of power, regardless of who/what that means voting for. I will gladly take utterly incompetent over insane and dangerous. I live in hope that eventually Labour will follow the SNP over the cliff to lala land, and that those remaining with common sense like Cherry will form a centrist left party with a grip on reality that is not rampantly gynephobic and understands words like inclusion. And regulatory capture. And public duty. And sense of responsibility.

Monster Raving Loony Party : Now led by a chap called Alan Hope : utter sexist wazzock

Somebody up thread mentioned Caroline Noakes as a decent Tory

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

And Boris Johnson's attitude to women (shag 'em and leave 'em) should be enough to warn off any feminist

I just think it's ridiculous to say that Tories want women tied to the kitchen sink. It just doesn't make sense. How do you explain Thatcher? Misogyny is really not the sole property of conservatives.

As soon as Labour convinces me that they want to protect both women's rights and trans rights, they can have my vote back but I'm not a sucker.

Daca
a) Who were the other female members of Thatcher's Cabinet
b) she left power in 1992

Labour have never had a female PM. And although the Tories weren't nice to Theresa May (which would answer the post-1992 question), she was their leader.

I haven't said that Thatcher was a feminist in any meaningful sense but she was a woman who had a lot of power and respect. That contradicts the claim that the Tories want women "chained to the kitchen sink". They are clearly happy to put some women in charge.

It's quite absurd to me that I'm defending the Tories but all other parties have simply lost the plot. We can argue which party has been worse for women when it comes to specific policies but to abolish women as a political class is fundamental. If we give this up, we're finished.

The Conservative Party was founded in 1834; their predecessors, the Tories, were founded in 1678.

The Liberals, who merged with the Liberal Democrats, were founded in 1859; their predecessors, the Whigs, were also founded in 1678.

Labour were founded in 1900.

There have been 28 Conservative Prime Ministers to Labour's 5: more, if you count the Tory Prime Ministers.

It's hardly surprising that there have been more Conservative female Prime Ministers. The surprise should be that there have been only two in all those years if the Conservatives are truly a Party for women.

Respectfully, should we really expect any political party to field female politicians before woman suffrage? Women were only allowed to stand as candidates in British general elections from 1918!

I'm happy to acknowledge that the Conservatives have not been a pro-woman party in terms of their policies but when it comes to having female leaders, they have done better than Labour. That's all.

l like the idea of spoiling my vote and writing on it exactly why,

It would be great if someone could come up with a great sentence for us all to write as a powerful statement of solidarity.

If we're going down that route, Labour have elected considerably more women MPs since 1918 and have also had two female leaders.
Labour has had twice as many female MPs in the elections this century and, currently, half its MPs are female to the Conservatives' quarter.

You mentioned policies; I agree, and point to attitudes - from Cameron's "Calm down, dear" to Nicholas Soames barking at a female MP and on to Chope's throwing out the upskirting bill. They currently have an alleged rapist sitting on their benches, have they not? What did they do about him, from the time he was reported?

My point is to disprove the often trumpeted claim that the Conservative Party is the party for women when they patently are not.

Tanith, doesn't that make it even more surprising that Labour has never had a permanent female leader? The Conservatives have managed it twice from a smaller pool of candidates. When May was elected, the last two candidates were both female. It's not as if Labour has had any lack of suitable people to consider.

It's perfectly obvious the Tories are not the party of women, but Labour's credentials there are looking very tarnished.

What Gasp0de said.

Agree with GaspOde AND Tanith.

Neither Cons or Labour are coming up smelling of roses here.

Labour are not claiming they are the only party for Women, though.

For what it's worth, I do agree entirely with Gasp0de - I'd stretch it further and say none of the parties are coming up smelling of roses.
However, one of them is claiming to be the only party for women when their actions show very clearly they are anything but!

I’m in the same boat.

www.libdems.org.uk/1141917/future_women_mp_s_weekend_2021

"The weekend is an intensive training weekend for aspiring female MPs; designed to equip you with the knowledge you need as a candidate."

Please note that this event to open to anyone who self-identifies as female.

Yeah well, the Lib Dems are a lost cause.

It’s the patronising bs that I find so enraging, ‘we support women’ (please read the small print).

I am a middle aged, married mum
I am an immigrant to the UK
I am pro science
I understand chromosome biology
I support international collaboration and trade
I support free markets and transparency

who the hell do I vote for ?

tumbleweed

Without the gender self-ID issue I’d say you’re classic Lib Dem but ... there is that issue. Check out your actual candidates and talk to them IRL.

@dayoftheclownfish

Without the gender self-ID issue I’d say you’re classic Lib Dem but ... there is that issue. Check out your actual candidates and talk to them IRL.

I was indeed I did not change they did

I used to like the Lib Dems, too, but the gender self-ID issue has prompted me to look into their policies on prostitution and surrogacy, and now I would never vote for them in a million years. It's a party for males, specifically males who like to use women in whatever way they please.

i do get fed up with the tories-are-all-evil trope
left is the only option for good people blah blah blood on your hands if you dare even consider the right!
tribalism is hugley problematic- we know this with gender ideology- with current university cultures, media luvvies, bbc, publishing houses etc etc
yet i see it here, time and again
the tories are a legitimate party containing at least some grown-ups who are even capable of cross-party working
i will almost certainly vote for them if they are the only party clear on self ID
it's not all goodies one side/baddies on the other

Another data point re the Lib Dem’s:

mobile.twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1358334486681956353

The party that expelled Heseltine and Soames is never worth my vote.
The party of Austerity will not get my vote.
The Party that caused Brexit will never get my vote.