General election

[Martin Kernick]

In the Blair days of new labour, I would have agreed with you. But the Tories have moved so far over to the right these days that the Home Secretary can be overtly racist without raising an eyebrow. Yes, labour have moved a lot to the middle, but the Tories have swung to the far-right to grab the UKIP vote and placate their backbenchers.

Labour nowadays are even to the right of Blair. I'm a socialist. Labour are the enemies of socialism. They're doing everything they can to expel socialists. They offer a hobson's choice between blue Tories and red Tories - and they want you to vote for them simply because they pose as the least bad option. From my point of view, Labour are more of a danger to socialism than the Tories because they stand in the way of socialsim more than the Tories.

And there is every reason to believe that voting for a more left wing party is not a wasted vote. Look at UKIP, all they did was threaten to take votes off the Tories and so the Tories had to move to the right to counter that. Similarly, if you vote Green you apply a leftward pressure to British politics. If you refuse to fall for Labour's ploy of getting left wing voters to vote for them simply because they pretend to be the least worse option, you have more effect on British politics than if you acqueisce and vote against your own interests. Furthermore you put pressure on the system to change the voting system. PR will not come about until Labour is made to realise that FPTP isn't in its interests - like has happened in Scotland.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

None of the above. Where are the SNP and Plaid? Or even the NI parties.

Read the OP again it clearly states -

If they called a general election who would you vote for?
(based on graph below)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

But you do know that if you vote Con, things will certainly not improve

Amen to that.

 

[LeeH]

In the Blair days of new labour, I would have agreed with you. But the Tories have moved so far over to the right these days that the Home Secretary can be overtly racist without raising an eyebrow. Yes, labour have moved a lot to the middle, but the Tories have swung to the far-right to grab the UKIP vote and placate their backbenchers.

Why is everything that isn’t left, now far right?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Why is everything that isn’t left, now far right?

Indeed. It's so sad that UKIP and the Tories have normalised fascism so that far-right behaviour is now the new normal (ie, everything that's not left-wing).

 

[obscure]

Most likely Labour but I like many people live in a safe seat (Conservative in my case) so to a certain extent it doesn’t matter who I vote for the chances of it going to anyone other than the Conservatives are slim to none.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Most likely Labour but I like many people live in a safe seat (Conservative in my case) so to a certain extent it doesn’t matter who I vote for the chances of it going to anyone other than the Conservatives are slim to none.

I don't know where you live but the lib dems and Labour recently overturned big tory majorities, so it's not beyond the realm....

 

[pilgrimhudd]

However having said that, I would prefer more choice. In my constituency in Cornwall it's currently Conservative but will almost definitely flip to Labour and I would vote Labour to make that happen. In an ideal world I would probably vote Lib Dem but that would be pointless for me here.

 

[Pavros]

I would rather ruin my ballot paper by writing exactly what I think about the current Tory party, Boris and Brexit.
That would make me feel better than voting for any of the options that would appear on the ballot.

 

[Bjorn Toulouse]

Just a small note on PR. Its not all its cracked up to be. Up here we have a small number of greens effectively dictating policy because the SNP need them for a majority. The big problem in UK politics was Brexit and the weakness of David Cameron. Its a pity England never gave Gordon Brown a chance, we would be in a better place.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Up here we have a small number of greens effectively dictating policy because the SNP need them for a majority.

Presumably they can't just 'dictate' policy, but I can understand how they can greatly influence policy because the SNP needs them for a majority. So effectively you have the SNP in charge, but influenced by the greens. But isn't that kind of the whole point of PR? That the lesser parties get a say? Without PR, it would just be the SNP in isolation generating policies (like the Tories nationally)?

 

[Bjorn Toulouse]

Na, the way its working up here is the tail wagging the dog. Thankfully with the change of leadership the packaging return scheme that would have wiped out 100s of small producers has been scrapped. Its not just that,

 

[eyuptm]

Just a small note on PR. Its not all its cracked up to be. Up here we have a small number of greens effectively dictating policy because the SNP need them for a majority. The big problem in UK politics was Brexit and the weakness of David Cameron. Its a pity England never gave Gordon Brown a chance, we would be in a better place.

Shame that John Smith died when he did.... Obvs, for him too...!!!

 

[klaus]

A lot of the UKIPers moved over to the Conservatives who under Johnson let them take over "moderate" associations, in the populist style they learned from Steve Bannon et.al. SB and BJ were close friends, not to mention a certain president.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Shame that John Smith died when he did.... Obvs, for him too...!!!

I believe he would have been a great leader -