Local elections and GC feminism thread

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Hi, just thought I'd start a thread as have seen threads recently about campaigning but not about the actual elections.

I live in a Tory-controlled area which has recently been in the news for bad mismanagement and Lab and LDs snapping at their heels here in different council seats. I don't necessarily want the Tories in but also worried now about the impact on local women's services if anyone else gets in - we currently have good council-run leisure facilities with clearly sex-segregated changing and a local SARC that is female-only.

I am worried these things will be lost.

How is everyone feeling/ voting as we move into Thurs?

On my ballot paper will be 2 tories, 2 LDs and 1 green. I can't vote for any of them, so spoiled ballot is my plan.

I emailed all the local candidates about local women's rights issues.

Most ignored me.

Got a short, snotty non-reply from Labour.

Nice reply from a Tory but... I just can't.

Got a positive friendly reply from a local independent and looked at his other policies and they seem good so that's one vote.

So the second is either Green or Lib Dem.

I've spoilt mine and sent it back already.

@SapphosRock that is good.

Tbh I spoiled my ballot last election but.... in spite of how utterly foreign it feels.... I might vote Tory.

I have started to feel like spoiling my ballot isn't enough of a statement, you know?

Greens are much worse on this issue than any other party.

I think because it was a postal vote (I'm disabled) it feels like more of a statement. It's got to be sent out, collected from the postbox, sorted, opened and finally counted.

I'm in an all Labour ward currently. And I'm a member of the Labour Party.

I've just voted Conservative.

It will have (maybe, maybe not who knows these days) absolutely no bearing on the final result. But I refuse to vote Labour at the moment. And as the Labour councillors here have made my life so so much more difficult as a disabled person trying to get round my own town im doubly pissed at them.

It felt very strange to put my X next to anything but Labour. But I haven't been struck down yet. (Postal vote I voted last week).

I'm so hoping Labour come to their senses and get rid of Kier before the general election otherwise I will vote Conservative then as well.

I'm in a very safe Labour area. It's been a Labour area for as long as I've been alive. I'm not voting, there's no point. I'd never vote Tory (I'm a scouser it'd be like reading the Sun) and there's no point voting for anyone else anyway.

I'll be spoiling my ballot for the second time. I'm sad about this - had always voted for the least worst, but now feel i can't actively vote against my interests. Wrote to Labour councillor who said TWAW. Twat.

I don't know what to vote. I just saw we have a heritage party candidate but on reading their manifesto I can't vote for them because they believe marriage and family units should be a man and a woman and make no mention of same sex couples. I'm in a tory stronghold so maybe spoilt ballot is the best option but it really pains me to do it. Are there no really rich mumsnetters that could fund a new party - I'd be very willing to stand for office.

Fortunately my incumbent is a GC independent who is well regarded in the ward for championing local issues in an apolitical way.

They will get my vote.

My local labour candidate is gloriously GC and I will vote for her. She has little chance of winning unfortunately as we have some weird UK independent/ex-UKIP group that keeps getting elected in my ward.

I’m unsure. My local council is split with no party holding a majority. Local services and facilities are all single sex, but they may not be in the Lib Dem’s get in.

I’m tempted by Labour or Indy. Nobody has been canvassing apart from the independent candidates who are most worried about new housing developments and infrastructure.

They muttered the kind and respevtfu platitudes when asked.

I can't vote Tory because look at the past how many years of fucking up our country.
I can't vote Labour because of their inability to define what a woman.
Ed Davey stood on my doorstep and waffled about feelings when I asked him the definition of woman so that's the LDs out.
An independent leaflet came through my door this week and I took the opportunity to contact him. He couldn't say what a woman is either but he did do better than Labour and the LDs. He didn't do well enough to get my vote and listening to his interviews he seems a climate denier who wants to abolish the clean air charge under review locally. He did say he would prioritise the protection and rights and privacy of females but we all know females covers a lot of ground these days. So he's not getting my vote either.

I will be spoiling my vote until there's someone I can vote for. It sits uneasily but I can't vote for someone who can't represent me because they can't define me.

Im voting Tory,they are standing up for women, and single sex spaces and sports .they need our votes to see that it is a policy worth pursuing. And the other parties need to see that women’s votes are important and women’s rights are important.

I spoiled my paper. There’s no one I can vote for.

I’ve decided. I’m spoiling.

But how? I want them to know why.

Was thinking of writing “Lifelong Labour / Lib Dem voter but neither party is able to define what a woman is”.

The independent candidate replied further to conflate trans and intersex but he is trying as was able to state biology for women and men. Still spoiling.

I'm voting independent.

For the obvious reasons re Tories, Labour, Lib Dem, but also because they were the only one who has bothered to canvass and are focused on some important local issues

We have Labour, LibDem and Conservative, a Green, an Independent and a TUC Socialist candidate. The Indy has not sent any literature for some reason. I can't vote Tory again, for I don't trust the current lot with the NHS or social legislation, and the rest are afaik TWAW - assuming the TUC candidate is too, since no evidence contrary. Spoiling ballot.

Also electing a mayor - which post I disagree with. Turns out one candidate intends to abolish the post, so might vote for her, though she's ex-Labour (all Labour candidates where I am have been selected by the NEC - a whiff of corruption in the local selection process possibly, but not sure as no-one is saying, only 'problems').

This is my response from labour cllr.

Thoughts?

—----
I support the rights of trans people to change their gender- as has been an established legal right for a long time. However it is important that this is not used by anyone who is attempting to use the rules to pose a harm to women. The current legal framework allows for exemptions to protect the safety of those spaces and has been used in prisons for example. There are assessments made of the gender identity of individuals and more importantly any risk that they pose to others. It is a sad fact that there are dangerous and abusive people of all genders and sex and more needs to be done to protect women from that violence and to prosecute offenders more effectively.

One challenge with insisting that spaces are purely “sex based” is that this can actually be incredibly difficult to enforce and would potentially have very negative unintended consequences for all women. For example, would we expect people to show a birth certificate showing their sex/ gender at birth in order to be able to access a refuge or a toilet? Or would we want it to be policed based on sight with women who appear less stereotypically “feminine” having to show their documentation? It does open up a lot of difficult issues in practice.

There is also the situation of trans men who are assigned gender female at birth but live as men and who appear as men and have male hormones. To insist on a purely sex based distinction would mean that they would be forced to use female spaces too.

I do understand the concerns and the need to make sure that spaces are safe – violence against women and girls is a huge issue and one that the Council has made a big priority and invested extra resources into promoting with many new initiatives such as a night time charter for protecting women and girls and engagement with the white ribbon campaign.

I hope this is helpful although I understand you may not agree with all of it.

Best wishes

(redacted)

I’ve got one each of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory, a LGBTQA+ Green and a trade unionist and socialist coalition candidate.

Can’t find out anything about the TUSC candidate, so it’s going to have to be a spoiled ballot.

I’m voting conservative. I want to send a message

I'll be spoiling my vote. One each of tory, libden, labour and green. None of them represent my views.

At least two of my friends and I suspect DH will also spoil their votes.