The 'who the fuck am I even actually going to vote for?' thread

[BritishHobo]

WHY IS EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ELECTORAL SYSTEM SO ABSOLUTE FUCKING GASH

[buttgammon]

Are we in the same constituency? Fuck ME the temptation to vote for the incredible Plaid candidate over the milquetoast Blairite Labour one is SO tempting.

Wrexham? I live in Ireland now but still have a postal vote there. The only reason I didn't have a vote in the candidate selection is because I let my Labour Party membership elapse when I left the UK; big mistake!

[BritishHobo]

Indeed. Everything I've seen of Harper is that she's an absolute asset to the community. It breaks my heart that we have to shun such a fantastic candidate in order to perpetuate this fucking two-party system.

[sick as a pike]

Previously I've generally lived in places where the incumbent was a Tory, and Lib Dem was the (usually unsuccessful) tactical vote.
But now I'm in Dover constituency, which has, well, Dover in it and Labour not so far behind the Conservatives, so it's proper Labour for me this time.

[buttgammon]

Indeed. Everything I've seen of Harper is that she's an absolute asset to the community. It breaks my heart that we have to shun such a fantastic candidate in order to perpetuate this fucking two-party system.

Completely, it's a tragedy. There are lots of problems with this electoral system, and surely one of them is the amount of wasted talent in smaller parties.

[imitationleather]

I've always lived in safe Labour seats. It's been good to avoid this confusion.

Actually, hang on. What about when I lived in York? Uh, I dunno who was my MP then as I was all about sitting in my room drinking. TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

York was probably Tory. Aside from that, always safe Labour.

[Beagle 2]

Reporting live from York - central is safe Labour (where I live it's wall to wall Guardian readers). Outer it's Tory, Labour not far behind last time but I imagine they'll lose ground this time.

[Paul Calf]

Gonna vote SNP. Feel sorry for all you poor fuckers who don't live in Scotland.

We've already had New Labour.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Scottish Labour are worse.

But that's not the point. I think SNP would be able to cooperate with Labour if Labour win, but importantly offer far better protection if they don't.

[chveik]

Raoul Moat, why?

[NJ Uncut]

Raoul Moat, why?

I reckon my candidate Dale Cregan could've had Raoul

Just saying that most see one peeper as negative but I think Our Dale would lash out with added strength and finality. Gazza might pop in, but you're not Toasty you crying cunt, could he really be useful backup?


... How is this worse than any other political discourse?

[hummingofevil]

Indeed. Everything I've seen of Harper is that she's an absolute asset to the community. It breaks my heart that we have to shun such a fantastic candidate in order to perpetuate this fucking two-party system.

I don't have a vote in Wrexham but it is my hometown and I would be absolutely stunned if it doesn't go Tory this time. My Mum does the count and was amazed it didn't go Tory last time as she felt on balance the boxes she did were heavily Tory. The Tory Sarah Atherton has continued to do what Atkinson did and built up some good will with locals and the ongoing town centre dying issue is still being pinned on years of Labour even though we have a Tory gov (and and independent council - is it still independent - I can't keep up).

If Lucas was still there I could imagine there being enough of a loyal vote to keep him in but literally all my family who at one point all voted Labour are going to vote Tory, Brexit or Plaid. It's fucking grim. I say my working class Tory-hating grandparents would be turning in their graves but they are still alive and will probably vote Farage the daft nonagenarian cunts.

[buttgammon]

I don't have a vote in Wrexham but it is my hometown and I would be absolutely stunned if it doesn't go Tory this time. My Mum does the count and was amazed it didn't go Tory last time as she felt on balance the boxes she did were heavily Tory. The Tory Sarah Atherton has continued to do what Atkinson did and built up some good will with locals and the ongoing town centre dying issue is still being pinned on years of Labour even though we have a Tory gov (and and independent council - is it still independent - I can't keep up).

If Lucas was still there I could imagine there being enough of a loyal vote to keep him in but literally all my family who at one point all voted Labour are going to vote Tory, Brexit or Plaid. It's fucking grim. I say my working class Tory-hating grandparents would be turning in their graves but they are still alive and will probably vote Farage the daft nonagenarian cunts.

I had a bad feeling the Tories were going to win last time, but Ian Lucas put in a really good campaign and as you say, he got votes out of loyalty. With a new (and shit) candidate, that sense of loyalty ebbs away and there's not much left. On the plus side, we don't have to endure the boundary changes that would've surely pushed Labour out, but I'm still pessimistic. It should be pointed out that almost all of my family will be voting Tory, many for the first time ever. I reckon my 91 year old grandmother, who has been voting Labour since Attlee was the leader, is going to vote for the fuckers too. It's not like this is a Wrexham-specific problem either; how many communities that have been destroyed by the Tories are going through the same political change? It's sad, and I really worry about where it's going to end up.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Steaming in here to say the answer to the question is: if your seat is held by a non-Tory, vote for that party. If your seat is held by a Tory, vote for whoever came second last time. It's really that simple.*

* May not be so simple in Scotland

[Cloud]

WHY IS EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ELECTORAL SYSTEM SO ABSOLUTE FUCKING GASH

Fix the system and I'd probably end up a keen Green voter, as long as they didn't go all Lib Dem.  As it is I never vote for them unless it's just the locals as it'd be a waste

[NoSleep]

Sinn Fein are standing aside in the GE and advising people to vote for pro-remain parties:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/04/sinn-fein-stand-aside-remain-candidates-three-constituencies-general-election

[greencalx]

I'm not sure where I stand on these pacts. On the one hand I understand of course the risk of the vote being split; but also reducing voter choice and effectively telling them who to vote for doesn't sit well with me.

[NoSleep]

I wonder if any of those pro-brexit DUP proppers-up of the Tories are marginals; given that NI is overall pro-remain? There's a lot more at stake for NI, re: Brexit.

[Big Mclargehuge]

My MP is Ruth Smeeth. it's been a safe labour seat for decades at this point. but it's been narrowing down against the try competition over the last 2-3 elections and the way she's been behaving hasn't exactly endeared her to the people who would most likely be able to keep her on vote wise.

I'm distinctly holding my nose and voting Labour this time. I strongly dislike her...but the alternatives scarcely bear thinking about. (I usually vote Labour or green and had the tories/brexit not been going on in such an apocalyptic way as they have I'd be voting green as hard and fast as I could against that great pudding.)

Equally my Christmas holidays were set to start on the 16th but I've slyly managed to slip the 13th in over the last week and it's been approved...meaning I now have 2 and a half weeks to go on the piss and be merry if we win and drink myself into a coma in the event of #threadssoon

[jamiefairlie]

Steaming in here to say the answer to the question is: if your seat is held by a non-Tory, vote for that party. If your seat is held by a Tory, vote for whoever came second last time. It's really that simple.*

* May not be so simple in Scotland **

** Yes, yes it is that simple.

[greencalx]

Possibly simpler, given that Lab and SNP are likely to cooperate inside the HoC, even if they are constantly at each others' throats outside it.

[jamiefairlie]

The issue in cross-party preferences in Scotland is that there is a large faction in the leadership of Scottish Labour and Scottish LDs that, in a head-to-head battle, would prefer a Tory win over SNP every time. When it comes down to it, no matter how politically non-ideal, they would rather have a Unionist win over an Independence candidate every time  There's already talk of them both running 'paper' campaigns in seats where it's a Tory/SNP marginal.

[pancreas]

What the fuck

[Pie Pie Eater]

** Yes, yes it is that simple.

Nah it isn't.

Here's a list of SNP held seats with Labour second, plus the SNP lead over Tories.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lbrntkr17js6e69/scotland.png

You can (and should) vote for Labour in pretty much all of these

[Pie Pie Eater]

Not sure why I can't embed that

[Pie Pie Eater]

there is a large faction in the leadership of Scottish Labour that, in a head-to-head battle, would prefer a Tory win over SNP every time.

Pretty sure this isn't true. Depends what you mean by large.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Still don't really trust Scottish Labour despite wanting Corbyn to do well.

Just seems a safer bet going with the SNP, they're going to be far more useful if Labour don't do very well. Eggs and baskets and all that.

[Pie Pie Eater]

But the performance of Scottish Labour is still going to reflect on the perceived success / popularity / legitimacy of the Corbyn project and manifesto. A vote against them is a vote against Corbyn.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Well I only vote for things so that's not a problem.

[Pie Pie Eater]

Well I only vote for things so that's not a problem.

Touché