Vote for local Tory candidate or spoil vote?

[popsicles2342]

Please can you explain how it works. Looks like the only decent candidate in my area is a Tory. Happens that she's a woman who understands sex-based rights. Labour didn't bother replying and Lib-dem spouted nonsense saying he understood the issue about single sex spaces but also that sex is not binary!

If I vote for the Tory candidate and she wins, will that 1. effectively keep her in (sounds good to me) 2. but also help keep Tories in power (not what I want)

Assuming Labour win, then won't it be ok to at least have a few Tory candidates that fight for sex-based rights? Or does it not work like that? I don't really understand how it all works!

My opinion based on all the polls is that the Conservatives haven't got a hope in hell of staying in power. A Labour government is coming in.
So in your shoes I'd vote for who you want as your constituency MP, the person who you feel would help you if you had a problem and would best represent your interests in parliament.

This is my thinking. I'm resigned to Labour winning - good in order to boot out the Tories - but I don't want them to win too much, due to their problem with women (or disdain should I say)

In your opinion, do the Tories have a good tack record on women's rights? Some could argue that women have suffered disproportionately due to austerity. The Tories introduced Trans ideology into schools and public services.

What has your local Conservative candidate done regarding women's rights? For example, has she been actively campaigning and spoken out on women's rights? How has she changed women's lives for the better? What has she done to effect change?

I agree somewhat. But they've also had 3 women prime ministers.

Not sure, but the Labour and Lib dem ones are complete twats.

The Tories do not have women issues at the forefront.... in your case i would spoil

So you're saying unless the Tory candidate is really worth it, don't risk it and spoil?

May did some good stuff regarding DV. Truss obviously did nothing but tank the economy and scarper. Thatcher? How did Thatcher make lives better for women?

I'm thinking the same way. Usually vote Labour but Tory candidate is definitely GC and the sort to speak out. Plus the others are all flaky on women's rights.
I can't see any way Labour are going to lose this ( despite Keir Starmer's appalling performance on the single sex spaces question on the TV debate last night - the only segregation by biological sex he agreed to was for Rape Crisis Centres. Then he went into his deflection spiel about vulnerable people. What about vulnerable women? He should have the courage of his convictions and tell us what he really intends to do. I'm confident the shadow education secretary gave away Labour's true position. GRC = allowed in women's 'single sex' spaces.)
So yes I intend to vote Tory in the hope of keeping someone in Parliament who will speak up for women.

I'm in precisely the same boat as you. I'm resigned (where once I would have been ecstatic, fuck you Labour for making me feel this way) to Labour taking power and pleased they'll have a chance at sorting some of the messes.

But I don't want them to have so much power that there's no way to mount a significant challenge when they start fucking with women's rights.

My local Labour guy appears to be a smarmy wokey brocialist who has failed to address my questions. No faith at all in him to represent me properly.

So I'm holding my nose and voting Tory.

If I had a 'decent candidate' I'd be voting for them. I had a friend who voted for a party he otherwise didn't support because his MP was an amazing constituency MP who had helped his mother get medical treatment in difficult circumstances. And like you say, it really matters to get good people in Parliament of all political persuasions.

I wouldn't spoil my ballot, I see that as a waste. The Tories haven't shown themselves to be strong on women's rights. They've been in for 14 years and things are pretty abysmal. I would expect more of the same.

I'm not sure if your Tory candidate was an MP. If so, what was their voting record? Have they spoken out on women's rights in parliament? Any local change that has been beneficial to women?

I tend to put a lot of weight on the quality of the individual MP. It's not just important for the visible stuff in the House or in the constituency, it's also important when it comes to the actual work of formulating legislation, committee work and so on. If there are not smart people there, you will get shitty legislation which will cause problems down the road, no matter how well intentioned.

I'm in the same boat and am voting Tory, Labour with a huge majority is the doomsday scenario. Parliament will be flooded with inexperienced power hungry TRAs. My Labour candidate is a Councillor who banned Julie Bindal from speaking at a library venue.

If she was elected it would add to the problems. KS will not be able to control them due to numbers so will carry on capitulating.

NC for this but as NC suggests I'm going from spoiler to Tory in 2024.

I'm in a safe seat - still projected to be safe this time - and I spoiled in 2019. I was horrified at the idea of self-ID. I'm so angry with Labour. They have not done their job as Opposition and Starmer's handling of this question last night (plus their actual written words in the manifesto!) was confirmation enough for me. He either doesn't give a fuck or he's compromised. He cannot, not understand this. He does understand it and he's choosing to fuck us over.

I've got a daughter who will suffer from their plans. How will she compete in her chosen sport? How will she get changed safely and with dignity? She won't with them at the helm. I've even take to writing to my Tory MP over the last few years - mostly out of despair. And he has engaged and shown he's listened. I know he's tried to help push back against it all.

If we cannot claim ourselves as women then all hope is lost. It could take 100 years to get our rights back. If at all. I look at Canada, Germany and the States with absolute horror. I do not want that here for me or my daughter.

We need a functioning opposition, whatever happens. So this time I won't spoil, I will hold my nose and vote Tory.

I'm wondering if a couple of previous posters are my neighbours. I don't want the Conservative party given a mandate to continue as they have been doing and would normally vote Labour, but my local Conservative candidate was an MP in the last government, has a track record of speaking out on women's rights, and is in touch with the local population, whereas the Labour candidate is refusing to answer "what is a woman" emails (no point, toxic etc., apparently) and is otherwise untested as a politician. I expect to vote for the Conservative candidate but hope he'll be on the opposition benches if he gets in.

Agree.

Plus, I wonder whether we need a strong Opposition that is far more likely to vote against the anti-women and anti-safeguarding legislation that Labour will try to bring in. Regardless whether the Tories actually care about this - with enough public support they will automatically take the opposing view to Labour.

I'm spoiling my ballot. I can't vote Labour, can't vote Tory or Green. I hate to feel this way.

Sorry what's DV?

I kinda meant Tories have had 3 women prime ministers and Labour have had none. Labour is the working man's party.

I will be voting Conservative partly because I don't want a huge Labour majority. I considered voting for the LD candidate who appears to be a sex realist (I haven't emailed but snooping on his TwiX he reposts lots of GC stuff - Rosie Duffield, Stella O'Malley, even Glinner) but it is a straight race between Tories and Labour here in a previously safe Tory seat (Crispin Blunt's constituency). Looks like the Tories will hold it but it's close. Luckily the new Con candidate seems like she’d be a good constituency MP. She's local, a mum of three, and a fan of Maya Forstater (also going by her social media). I'm a swing (pan?) voter so I'm open to persuasion but none of them bother canvassing round here 🙄

We definitely do. It's never a bad thing to have a strong Opposition.

My advice to everyone, everywhere is vote for who you want, or spoil if you want!

I don't think voting Tory will send as powerful a message as spoiling though (assuming you write on your paper why you're spoiling, rather than drawing a gigantic penis - which you're entitled to do of course...). Nobody will know your reasons for voting Tory, but they will see your reasons for spoiling.

If you've had enough of the Tory party, please either spoil your vote or cast it for one of the opposition candidates. I worry that with all the talk of a large Labour majority, people will decide not to vote for them and we'll wind up with more of the current rubbish.

My personal view? Never vote on single issues. Vote for whoever represents more of your views than any of the others.

The thing is I don't see this as a single issue. I see it as the biggest issue for women. If it affects men, then something will be done about it. Not necessarily if it only affects women.

I'm voting Conservative for the first time specifically because of their clear manifesto support for the implementation of the Cass Review alongside sex based rights.

Labour have also said they'd support the Cass Review but in a much vaguer way along with banning "conversion" (ie holistic /exploratory) therapy which contradicts what Cass says. This leads me to believe that either they don't understand the issues or are planning to fudge them. Either way I don't trust them to get it right.

Evidence based holistic, non-affirmative care for people with gender dysphoria is the most important issue for me. I understand other people have different priorities and that Labour are likely to win anyway but I don't want to vote for them.