I just don't know who to vote for!!!!

[PCCmember]

The election is in less than a week and I keep going round and round in circles not being able to decide who to vote for! I've quite politically engaged and I used to be an active member of a political party, but this time I really can't decide who to vote for. It's such a dismal choice and all parties have pretty negative aspects to their policies that I would find difficult to vote for. However personally I would prefer to vote for a candidate rather than spoil my ballot (totally respect those who chose to do so though!) even if I can only agree with some of their policies. This means choosing the least worst option, but I just can't seem to decide what this should be!

My constitutency is an incredibly safe Labour seat and the sitting MP will be re-elected. The choice facing me is as follows:

Liberal Democrat - This is the party a few years ago I would have described as my political home. However I quit the party over their complete disregard for women's and girl's rights to single-sex spaces. I have done the vote for policies quiz and it is stil the party whose policies I most strongly identify with (50%). I agree with their policies on democracy, economy, education, energy, health and social care, tax, immigration and transport. Given that no party will ever 100% align with my views if I am looking for the closest match, it should be the Lib Dems. But of course I completely disagree with their policies to introduce gender self-ID, end the spousal veto and to recognise non-binary identities in law. My local candidate is a (very) young man who has in the past called on Rosie Duffield to "reflect and say sorry".

Climate Party - A single issue party. I can't find any reference to their views on sex-based rights/gender identity. Can't find much about the local candidate.

Conservative - I don't have a strongly ideological objection to voting Conservative - indeed I have done so in the past. They were my second party (30% agreement) in the vote for policies quiz. However I don't feel that I can vote for this Conservative party due to their some of their policies - particularly immigration (Rwanda policy), the national service policy and the planned cuts to Higher Education (which is the industry which I work in!). However I of course support the policy to amend the Equality Act to make it clear that sex = biological sex. The local candidate has also made it unequivacably clear that he supports women's rights to same sex care, sports and services.

Reform - no thanks.

A completely random independent youtuber who seems to have got people to legally change their name to his so that he can stand in 11 constituencies!

Labour - I haven't been impressed at all by Keir Starmer's responses to the sex/gender issue and the shameful treatment of Rosie Duffield by him and his party. I also have a DD who is about to start secondary school at an Independent school so I just don't feel that I can vote Labour. The sittting MP (who will be re-elected) is a shadow deputy minister and is very much in the same vein as Keir Starmer (he used to be his deputy at one point). He avoids engaging with this issue and when he does he waffles about "safe spaces".

Worker's Party - George Galloway's Party. No thanks.

Green - although I do agree with some of their policies around public transport and PR, the party as a whole is too far left for me and the local candidate is TWAW.

So writing this out has made it clear to me that it's probably got to be either LD or Conservative, but I really can't decide which! If I were a single issue voter the choice would be easy, but other issues such as education, immigration, transport, health etc are all important too and I just can't decide which way I should hold my nose. Anyone else feeling completely unable to decide?

I'm in a similar position but for me the rights of women to single sex spaces is so important I'm voting conservative as none of the other viable parties are going to respect women. I'm fighting to stop the lib Dems getting in, in my area, so it's a straight choice between them.

Tell me more about the random youtuber!

As a feminist it's hard.
For me GC isn't the main issue facing women so I have held my nose and am voting Labour. I have to balance it out told the candidates at the front door I am not voting Labour and why.
For me the absolute terrible court situation for women trying to pursue justice for rape is my no 1 concern, Labour seen the best about this and Tory policies around benefits and lower waged people affect women disproportionately.

As I say if I were a single issue voter, this would be the way in which I should vote particularly as the local candidate is very clear on this issue. However, there's a lot stopping me from voting conservative. I don't want to see the Rwanda policy continue which is both inhumane and a gimicky waste of money. I can't see how I can vote for my dd and her generation to face compulsory national service when their future options are already restricted due to Brexit (fortunately my DD is a dual national, but most of her generation are not) and savage cuts to Higher Education (which is where I work!) measuring its impact in purely economic terms only. I would also like to see a return to the single market and freedom of movement which of course I won't see under the conservatives. But of course, as they won't actually win (and definitely won't win locally) maybe none of this doesn't matter?

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-27/youtuber-niko-got-people-to-change-their-names-to-appear-in-11-constituencies

I am in Ireland and we have transfers so it's different. That being said, we still have more or less safe seats. So what I do sometimes I give my number 1 to someone who is campaigning particularly on issues I care about but who is unlikely to get in, as I feel this sends a message to the larger parties that 1000 no 1 votes went to x candidate so those issues are very important. Basically how Nigel Farage got traction I suppose. But I know my vote gets transferred to my no 2 choice automatically as the no 1 is unlikely to get in, so I still get a vote, and that keeps transferring down if my preterred choice doesn't get in, or if they have a surplus. If I thought another candidate whose views I broadly align with had a better chance if I gave them my no 1 I suppose I'd do that, and I have done in the past.

In your case I might give my vote to the climate change person but I'd also be weighing up the chance of making my constituency one that parties are interested in fighting over, whatever the best way to do that might be. Your vote is unlikely to count but can be used to send a signal.

I don't think I could bring myself to vote for the LD candidate.

Same here, OP. I'm utterly out of ideas this time. None align with my views. I've even done some of the viewpoint survey things others have posted on threads, and I still can't make up my mind!

I completely agree that your electoral system is much fairer than the FPTP post system used in the UK (and maybe I wouldn't have such a dilemma if we had a different voting system), but that is another point in favour of the LDs as the conservatives aren't going to change the voting system. I do agree that it would take a lot of nose holding to vote for the LD candidate, but it also would for the conservative candidate for different reasons!

I am really not sure about the Climate Party. To be honest, I thought they were quite far on the left and so had discounted them and have only recently realised that this isn't so. However, it's a single issue party and although I think it's an important issue, I don't think it's one that I feel exceptionally strongly about to vote for a single issue party (if POW were standing in my constituency, it might be a different answer!)

Unforuntely unless there is some seismic political change on the horizon, my consituency will never be one that the parties are interested in fighting over - it's one of the 30th safest Labour seats in the entire country.

Noone knocks at our front door! I think we might be on some blacklist/no hoper list somewhere due to my previous membership of the Liberal Democrats and my husband used to be a Conservative party member.

I am conflicted too. This issue is important to me but I do not want to vote for the Conservatives or Reform who seem the only parties that are more or less aligned with women’s rights to single sex spaces. Wishing there was a Mumsnet political party!

So we’ve got tory, labour, reform, heritage 😳 green, lib dem, Hampshire independents and an actual independent

i know im not voting tory, reform or heritage, the independents seem very local

so its green, labour or lib dem. Like you i appear to be a natural lib dem but i don't like the same policies that you don’t like (really clumsy phrasing but you get my drift) i would like to vote labour but I’m really torn on the gender issues and the greens seem a little weird but obviously the environment is important

its haaaaaarrrddd 😩

I’m in the same boat OP, I’m a dyed in the wool lefty liberal from a family of dyed in the wool lefty liberals, but this issue is so important to me. I’ve flipped opinion on what will be the least worst option in my head at least a dozen times. I’m in what used to be a safe Tory seat but there’s a definite possibility the Lib Dema could unseat the Torys here. Working on the assumption Labour are going to win anyway I think I’m going to hold my nose and vote Conservative. I can’t tell you how surprised I am that this is the case. But I think it’s important that there is a viable opposition that will fight to protect wonen’s single sex spaces, and the fear of how this will be decimated if there’s a Labour government with a Lib Dem opposition is what has swung it for me.

Very sadly I am in a LibDem very safe seat. The only posters for miles are orange diamonds.

While I feel very strongly that women should vote, voting for anyone else here will not make a noticeable difference.

So I will be at the polling station but will not vote, if you get my drift.

I am quite old, this is the shittiest GE I can remember.

Vote for whichever of LD or con will have the best chance of winning.

That would be conservative, but they're an incredibly long way behind labour with zero chance of overturning the vote especially given the national situation.

The voting process in Ireland sounds brilliant, and as explained by PP gives the opportunity to support a smaller party and show them the numbers interested.

Like others I am in a rock solid Labour seat and usually vote for a small local TU aligned party. But they aren't standing.

Apart from the main parties the 2 smaller parties I am left with as an option are Workers Party of Britain (Galloway) and Workers Revolutionary Party (founded by Gerry Healy) and in both instances have terrible reputation re treatment of women.

So am torn between spoiling my ballot, or just not voting.

The idea of voting for the best of the worst just goes against the point of having the vote.

I really think the ballot paper should include non of the above.

For the serious reason that I think parties need to find out how many people just dont want any of them.

Because of this we are left with a system that was never really representative but one for the male clique who could vote (usually for friends, family or business contacts).

The idea that this translated in to a system where parties represented a far wider remit of people hasn't really worked.

And the more it goes on the more people get disillusioned.

I'm in Northern Ireland so I vote in UK General Elections via the First Past the Post system and then for our devolved administration we use Single Transferable Vote (like in Republic of Ireland) and I prefer STV because I feel I have more of an ability to express how I feel about the various parties and their behaviour. I feel it gives me a bit more of a voice.

Having said that, our political parties over here still ignore us and do frustrating things like collapsing Stormont (NI) or forming coalition governments to allow the party people wanted rid of to stay in power (Fianna Fáil + Fine Gael + Greens coalition in ROI).

But, for this current General Election, as a Lefty, I'm holding my nose and voting for a party that will support the Tories because I would like it if Labour had to contend with a credible opposition over the next 5 years. But OP, I honestly feel your pain on voting in this election

It is difficult! I have always voted labour or green. I know the labour candidate personally and I think he will be a good local MP for local people. As for his party's gender confusion, to the detriment of women... very disappointing to say the least.
L for me

At least if you have Rosie as an MP you will be able to write to her. I am seriously worried that I willl be in a Labour constituency and am already thinking that it may not be safe to write to my MP on these issues because it risks outing me to potentially woke staffers who would report me for wrong think or out me to the a trans rights activists. I work in an utterly captured area and cannot risk my job which I need. I am concerned how much women's voices will be suppressed as a point that has not been touched on is a labour's intention to make hate crimes an aggravated offence so we could face two years in prison

I’m in a similar position to you. Safe Labour seat.

No one I want to vote for. Because it’s such a safe Labour seat I think I will vote Conservative as a protest vote on the issue of our sex based rights. I don’t want to vote Labour and feel I in any way played a part or supported them in the further erosion of our rights.

I would be facing a much more difficult choice if I were in a marginal seat. But I’m not, so there is a certain freedom there!

Hi sorry to jump on.

What happens if the party you want to vote for doesn't have mp in your area.

You can't vote for them. You only have a choice of the ones standing in your constituency as technically you are voting for a person not a party.

I’m also conflicted.

I’m still very angry about Brexit but apart from Reform (no chance) and conservative (no chance) the rest have imo suppressed women’s right to safe spaces for a minority.

I wrote to most of the candidates bar reform asking about Brexit and women’s rights. Not one replied.

We have an independent candidate who I didn’t have an email for. I can’t find anything on his views on women but agree with some of his other policies & so may just vote for him as a protest vote.

@BaronessEllarawrosaurus

So I just don't bother?

The women's rights issue is huge of course but for me it is a single issue and I do believe that labour is the only party that has the strategy, talent and will to make the country better. There is so much that needs fixing, a protest vote feels very indulgent. I also think that once in power and faced with reality, they will be more GC as the tide is definitely turning on that one.