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Voting quandry

(809 Posts)
marbles Mon 24-Apr-17 12:42:44

I'm a life-long Labour voter but cannot bear to suppprt Corbyn in the forthcoming election. The party will remain a shambles until it is under proper leadership and he seems to have totally lost the plot. I will not vote Conservative for many reasons and I feel betrayed by Theresa May's u-turn on Brexit, u-turn on not calling an election...there is no trust.

I will not abstain - the vote is a privilege. But for the first time I am seriously at a loss. There is no credible opposition. Locally there are no viable candidates that I feel I can endorse in order to make a point. I need to put my X in the box and it's the first time ever I've thought they are all as bad as each other.

Fitzy54 Fri 05-May-17 10:36:02

I think voting will start to pick up again. But maybe not until they stop asking us to do it so often!

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 10:32:45

The spin this morning is hilarious . McDonald thinks labour did well in one council, they only lost by 5,000 votes

[yawn]

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 10:26:06

The spin this morning is hilarious . McDonald thinks labour did well in one council, they only lost by 5,000 votes

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 10:14:05

I think you could be partly right Fitzy but I think the lower and lower voting - does anyone know what the turnout was for this - is a change in how people see politics in general. How many vote for the "I really have no influence on this' party? Personally I do think you need a party to represent the far right, the far left, middles of all sorts and, when they occur, single issues, but we will never get this under FPTP.

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 10:11:24

Jalima , what Hardie would have thought I haven't the foggiest but I do know what drove him to become the first labour MP because I have letters and journals .

They have been a problem for years, do I give to the party, to Aberystwyth, to Merthyr archives , well not the party now, I think to my grandson so he will know what the founders of the Labour Party fought for.

durhamjen Fri 05-May-17 10:10:18

Did you see the Northumberland count? Tories denied overall control by a single seat in Blyth. Straw poll decided the last seat.

durhamjen Fri 05-May-17 10:07:50

Or sixty pieces of silver, or anything in between, if you paid in a mix of tens and fives.
Or it could be a £2 and a £1 coin.
Except it would be online by card, I would think.

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 10:03:24

And their loss makes you smile Annie?

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 10:02:30

If you know that it can only be from personal experience Roses. I was not threatening, how could I be when I was explaining what I had already done (a threat has to come first or it is a bit pointless) to try and get some clarification!

Oh dear Roses - yet again.

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 10:00:29

Corbyn visited Merthyr and instead of doing the walk he stood on the same balcony where Hardie and my g grandfather stood all those years ago, he tried the second coming performance and failed, he did anger many for promoting himself as the founder of the Labour Party .

Just come to mind, £3 to vote for Corbyn , this £3 equals the thirty pieces of silver

Fitzy54 Fri 05-May-17 09:54:48

To be honest I don't think the country as a whole has moved much at all. If, for example, David Milliband became leader of the LP and he put together a new new Labour (not a typo!) team, I think the votes would come rolling back in. Essentially the same people who put Blair in office for so long.

Jalima1108 Fri 05-May-17 09:49:36

I see you have posted about Merthy Tydfil already anniebach while I was slowly typing my post.

I wonder what Keir Hardie would make of all this?

Jalima1108 Fri 05-May-17 09:47:38

I realise that local election results are not always an indicator of how people will vote in a GE but it must be worrying for Labour to know that even Merthyr Tydfil is no longer a local Labour stronghold.

It's interesting how people perceive these results - some believe that, as UKIP has been decimated and Tories have done well, the country is becoming more rightwing. Others may see this as a reaction to McDonnell, Corbyn and Momentum and that they cannot tolerate this takeover of the Labour Party.

As Independents have done so well, most people could well be thinking the latter.

A GE will be more indicative of the state of the parties as there will not be so many Independent candidates.

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 09:42:48

Labour has lost control of Merthyr council. The birth place of the Labour Party

And of me smile

rosesarered Fri 05-May-17 09:20:33

The Labour supporters on Gransnet ( bar a very few hard left) don't want the party to collapse in a heap ( which it now seems to be doing) due to the Corbyn influence, so nobody can be blamed for feeling depressed and angry that due to the £3 vote any old Trot/Socialist/call them what you will can call the shots.

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 09:15:47

Yes some of the far left did leave and some were expelled. Then the centre and centre left won three elections after the wilderness years . We had great improvements in the NHS, the minimum wage, sure start, tax credits , education improved etc.

Now the far left are taking control and the Labour Party will die and the communist party will be back

rosesarered Fri 05-May-17 09:15:10

GGM2. I doubt very much that GNHQ are interested in any posts that you complain about.Monica has been entirely reasonable in her replies, it is you who have not.Threatening posters with the reporting button when they have said nothing wrong and only said something that you personally do not like, never works.

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 09:12:17

Fitzy those who have been attacking the LP from within will get their wish as it looks as if the LP too may be wiped out in the GE. It may, in the long run, be a good thing but it will give May and her far-right party a huge majority.

I would question that those who are complaining about Corbyn et al supported the party in its earliest form but rather, as you said, in one of its many morphs. It would show a little humility if they recognised that they, at the time, were also trying to change the party and they see that as OK because it was what THEY wanted. It seems some of the up coming generation now want something else - and they are voters too.

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 09:03:08

I have always said I support the Labour Party, I do not support the Corbyn-Momentum party.

Corbyn is a wolf in sheeps clothing.

[yawn]

durhamjen Fri 05-May-17 09:00:21

Some of us left and rejoined because we did not like the bit in the middle, Fitzy.

Fitzy54 Fri 05-May-17 08:59:01

The Labour Party is changing dramatically under Corbyn and McDonnell, hence (or because of?) the influx of new members for whom the party was previously not to their liking. Those people can hardly complain when they find that there is an inevitable loss of votes from those who very much supported the party in its earlier form, and are all now looking for new homes for their vote. It's not rocket science.

Anniebach Fri 05-May-17 08:53:32

I have always said I support the Labour Party, I do not support the Corbyn-Momentum party.

Corbyn is a wolf in sheeps clothing .

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 08:49:04

Wipe-out for UKIP with votes moving to Conservatives. Tells you a lot about how far Cons have moved to the right but perhaps we are seeing a huge movement to the far right in this country sad

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 08:40:00

I have reported your accusations M0nica. Perhaps GN can explain it to you - and me!

GracesGranMK2 Fri 05-May-17 08:33:21

I have no idea M0nica. Twisting was your word; where do you think I have left it out?

The sentence you quote is clearly general but the 'M0nica' shows the post is in answer to you. If you want to believe I was saying your politics are the exact opposite of those of the party AB says she supports there is nothing I can do to stop you but that is clearly not what I said. Deliberate misreading is not helpful but you seem to want to continue to do it.