Local elections canvassing in England

[againwiththenamechange]

Saw there was a thread for Ireland so maybe we can have one for England as well...

A Green candidates came to the door yesterday asking how I would vote. I said "not sure yet" and she asked what issues were important to me. I said "What is a woman?" and her instant response was a muttered "Oh you're a transphobe then," which I was pretty shocked about.

I asked her if she thought men should be in women's prisons and after some prevaricating about whether they were men she said yes. At which point I told her I couldn't vote for her. She told me I couldn't vote for Labour either (probably true, haven't had the candidate round yet).

Anyone else had a conversation with Greens or Labour?

Will Labour change their tune locally now the Cass report is out?

Haven't had the local candidates around yet, but I did enquire about the view of my Labour candidate at Labour head office and I was told by the person who I was put through to that I didn't know them or understand how it was "a difficult question for them particularly to answer," (basic gist of conversation.) To which I replied yes I don't know, we are all entitled to vote as we wish and I want to make an informed decision and this issue is important to me. I was made to feel that I had no right to even ask this question.

"I'm afraid ('more in sorrow than in anger' tone) that you should reflect on your prejudice."

Isn't that the general tone from the LP machine? it's the response I got when I queried the treatment of Rosie Duffield and Alison Thomson (Brighton councillor who was slapped down; there was a MN thread at the time) from the local LP women's forum spokeswoman.

I talked to a Labour canvasser a couple of weeks ago - before the Cass report unfortunately.

I told her that, as things stand, I'm unlikely to vote for them again and why. She said nothing to change my mind and I sensed she didn't know that much about the issue - e.g. when I talked about the treatment of Rosie Duffield, she looked slightly panic stricken, as if she didn't know who or what I was talking about. However she was respectful, admitted it had been raised on other doorsteps too and promised to feed it back.

Incidentally if I'd been overheard being rude to anyone back in the day when I used to canvass for Labour, my feet wouldn't have touched the floor. You were under strict instructions to be polite and not get into arguments.

I had an email exchange with someone at my local Green Party who I emailed to ask who our Parliamentary candidate is going to be.
I said (truly) that I’ve voted Green in the past but I’m not sure how I’ll vote this time.
He asked what my concerns were - and I told him. I brought up Shahrar Ali & Emma Bateman & Alison Teal etc.
He said he agreed!
I mentioned the Challoners & he’d never heard of them… he knows quite a bit about them now!