Not voting- 1 of many reasons

If you have to wait 5 years for another election can somebody remind me just how many elections we've had in the past 5 years? [I've lost count....]

Look at your local candidates. look at what they have done in the past in the constituency, see if that helps decide. Forget the party leaders they can change, look at the important issues and the morality.
You must use your vote, many women fought for this right.

Just don’t complain about who gets in

Two points have been raised
1/ Yes, Labour did have strikes the 1970s fighting for worker's right and yes JC was a member. However, it was MT that broke the unions and destroyed the miners. Forty years on we are still there, but now we have no contracts, long hours, people relying on food banks, NHS in crisis and list goes on. See a pattern here? All of which can be laid at the Tory door.
2/ Brexit was brought about the Tories who ever since we entry to the EU wanted to get us out. They never ever promote the EU but spent all their energy bad mouthing it.

Do we want this mess to continue? Is it really better the devil you know? Or should we be taking inspiration from the young voters who are seeking a better life for everyone. We can learn from our past and with hindsight understand what really matters to all of us. In these uncertain times there is only one thing we can be sure of, because of past experiences, is that the only thing the Tory party is interested in is how the few can get richer at the expense of the many.

JenniferEccles - to which extreme Left policies do you refer? Looking after the vulnerable? Surely that's a good Christian policy (and every other world religion)

Everyone intending to vote for BJ should be aware that the poor will pay the price.

JenniferEccles Yes I remember the 70s and the havoc caused by the strikes, Particularly as the rota power cuts were in force in January 1973 when my 2ndDD was born.

However, I also remember the aftermath when Margaret Thatcher declared all out war on the miners and all the local pits were closed, leaving around half the families in the village without a breadwinner - not just the miners but all the well paid Pit engineers, Managers, Safety Officers, etc. No foodbanks in those days, so there were soup kitchens and collections of Christmas Presents for the children. Local shops & the barbers closed for lack of paying customers. With a huge drop in incoming business rates, Council finances took a hit and services had to be cut back. It took years for the local area to recover, with the biggest local employer gone a high level of unemployment persisted until recently. There were evictions, boarded up houses and suicides, drunkenness, crime escalated. A whole generation of children were brought up in households entirely reliant on benefits.

So NO, JE from where I was standing things did NOT improve when Maggie came to power.

I think we should try to vote for the future of the country, and what we would like to see long term. I agree that both so called leaders are not being honest. I will vote BJ only because I would not like to see this country lose all its freedom, and the super rich ( who are already lined up to do it) leave the country or cut employment if they are forced to pay employees more and give a 4 day week. It’s always the poor that pay the price in the end.

Alima I am really shocked by what you are saying. Having taught in different schools with RAF children, Army kids and my closest link has been with Navy families, I am so aware of how the cuts have affected UK Forces e.g. the Army is three-quarters the size it was fifteen years ago, with current discussions that it's about to lose another 20%. Like everything else in the public sector, it's been cut, cut, cut. Similarly Forces Pensions have had their issues.

Women endured prison and and some died to give women the right to vote. I would never not vote because of this. We owe these women a lot...

Things improved massively once Margaret Thatcher got in

Not in Barnsley they didn't. People starved. I saw it.

A lot about politics is frustrating but it’s important to use your vote. If you don’t vote then I don’t think you have any rights to complain later.

yes I have a good labour candidate - jewish, radical, pro-remain. But I agree with notana we also have the right not to vote. That too can be a protest. Supposing spoilt votes outnumbered all other votes? So, if you really don't have someone to back, go to the polling booth and write 'None of the above'. Spoilt votes are counted. And can be your honest solution.

AT my age I learned long ago to ignore manifestos and promises as they are rarely fulfilled. I still vote though, even though I no longer believe in the integrity, ability and purpose of most MPS.

I've long thought the whole system should be changed to something like the following

ALL MPS
•Should be at least 25 years old
•Should have no criminal record and produce references from non party members regarding their character, honesty and reliability.
•Should pass stringent tests in English Language, Reading Comprehension, Basic Mathematics, British History, 20th Century World History, and Logic and Reasoning ability
haracter, honesty and reliability
•Should be psychiatrically assessed to ensure they are of sound mind
•Would--be Ministers must pass further tests to show a sound grasp of their area of responsibility
•All MPs’ expenses should be checked and audited by an independent body.
•MPs should clock in and out of parliamentary sessions.
•Each MP’s salary should be calculated according to percentage of attendances per year.
•Should not have second jobs.
•The number of MPs should be slimmed from 660 to 500 or less
Trouble is, I've no idea how this ever could become the rule, as the present shower would have to vote it in - unlikely!

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Yes, I will spoil my ballot paper, and proudly, because: 1. People did not get us the vote so that it could be divided between the established two parties and the controlled opposition parties to provide a charade. 2. In the 2015 General Election, the UK total of 'rejected' or 'spoilt' votes was almost 100k. (97,870 to be exact.) That is a huge number. It's equivalent to the votes for 3 or 4 MPs, given that most MPs are elected on 18k to 28k votes. Spoil your ballot paper and really send a message The 1st past the post electoral system means we will get the sucky part or the suckier party anyway. Spoiling the ballot is a call for real honest MPs. Anything else is mathematically impossible the way they have it set up.

We're not used to honest politicians. In the thirty years I have followed Jeremy Corbyn I have never known him to lie and he can't be bought by anyone. He has my vote.

I always vote. One, suffragettes died to get women the vote, and two, how can you moan if you don't bother to vote. Not to vote is not an option for me

My father always told me people died so I could vote! Very true.
I never not vote for this very reason.
But who on earth is the right party to have my much valued vote.
As for as I'm concerned they are all liar's! Promising SO much then giving nothing! I believe they are out for feathering their own nests!!

Yes, @AllTheLs there is a huge difference between not voting and spoiling your ballot paper with "NONE OF THE ABOVE" - The spoilt ballot paper will be counted as A voter may deliberately spoil a vote, for example as a protest vote to show disapproval of the candidates standing whilst still taking part in the electoral process.

I will be voting, though I agree, it's not straightforward this time round. However, not to vote is just not an option as far as I'm concerned. The thing is, you are hardly in a position to moan about the state of affairs, if they are not to your liking, if you didn't bother to vote yourself.

Thank you for making my voice stronger. Sad that you want to be silent.

I hardly feel voting is a priviledge - due to the thawting of Brexit it has been revealed what our politicians truly think of voters. - They have ignored the votes of 17.4 million voters so why bother letting the masses vote over anything anyway really? I wish I, too, could have blind faith in any of the greedy, useless, idiots - after over 5 decades of voting it took the referendum to ram it home how little a part we do actually play in this charade.

I would never not vote - I feel I can't complain if I don't make the effort to choose!

Isn't spoiling the ballot paper the same as not voting?

If you care about the NHS then don’t believe Johnson’s lies

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-nhs-trade-deal-trump-corbyn-brexit-general-election-manifesto-a9219566.html