Not voting- 1 of many reasons

I am going to vote for my Independent candidate.

People suffered and even died for your right to vote, and you're too apathetic to bother? Well, don't complain if the Tories get in again then - just eat your chlorinated chicken, do without your medical supplies, watch the need for food banks grow ... I could go on ad infinitum. If you're in Scotland vote SNP, they do have integrity, as do the Green Party in England.

Corbin & his anti-semitism is such a threat that 83% of Jews are worried & a high proportion are ready to leave this country if he becomes PM, which is basically all he wants. Boris is a confirmed liar - how can anyone trust anything he says. They can't. His greatest desire is to remain as PM.
Jo Swinson appears to be the only leader who wants to put her country before herself, despite continuing death threats against herself & her family. She doesn't even need notes to address an audience. Watch the other two by comparison.

We must all vote, think of the countries where people are dying for that right. Even writing across your ballot paper ;none of the above', at least it is getting your opinion out there, letting the whole damned lot of them know you don't want to vote for them!

Why should people be blackmailed into voting by what happened in the past?

I am all for voting, but the non voter didn't ask people to die for her and while for some people this may be a moral action that is important to them that is their choice.

My argument for voting is that it stops you having any kind right to any say in political matters until the next election after the imminent one. There is always someone you can vote against even if there is no one you can vote for.

I dislike emotional blackmail and anyway poshpaws the non-voter may have views that mean that the last thing she would vote is Labour.

If you're in Scotland vote SNP, they do have integrity

The majority of us here would disagree with you poshpaws

Three Four reasons to vote:
1. As previously stated, people died to give us this right.
2. Not voting changes nothing. It has no impact.
3. If nobody voted, we would have a dictatorship.

4. If you have taken the trouble to read the posts on this thread and maybe even to have posted on it yourself, you are already better informed and better qualified to vote than a large proportion of the electorate who will be voting. At least you will not be one of those who votes for a party leader because they make them laugh or because they look like a cuddly uncle. The country needs your vote!!

So what should anyone do who is too undecided or jaded to vote?
1.Do some research. There is plenty of evidence around to help anyone who is undecided to identify the least bad party leader.
2. Decide on an issue they feel strongly about e.g. NHS, Brexit, climate change and other green issues, taxation, racism etc. and then vote for the party most likely to deliver on that issue.
3. Vote for the party most likely to fight for PR. Proportional Representation would give more impact to individuals' votes.

For the first time in my life I shall not be voting.
I live in France and I voted to remain, as to leave Europe would place me at a massive disadvantage. Therefore I would not vote Conservative. I recently read the biography of Corbyn by Tom Bower and discovered that Corbyn, a Trotskyist to the core, is far worse than I ever imagined. I gave up voting for the Lib Dems years ago when they swallowed the Green alarmist myth despite every scare the Greens have warned about over the last 30+ years proving to be a damp squib.

So for me it's as if I had the choice of voting Fascist or Communist; I have no time for either yet my friends insist I should vote. I ask them which of these two would THEY vote for and I have had no logical response. So let these fools tear our country apart, I shall not be voting for them.

I would always vote and would look at the values of the party rather than the leader.

We have seen under this dreadful government the raise in the number of homeless people, living and dying on the street. Food banks haven become the norm, long, long, waiting lists on the NHS, cutbacks on hip, knee and cataract operations. The poorest paying at least 10% tax with the bedroom tax. Cuts to services that means they either cease to exist or rely on the voluntary sector. Would you give a job to someone who presented this on their CV?

I am a Labour voter but unfortunately I will have to vote Lib Dem as they have more chance in my area of getting rid of the dreadful MP we have.

Not to vote or just spoil your ballot paper is imo not fighting to change and gives you no right to complain. To say there is no one you would vote for is nonsense.

I too agree that voting should be compulsory. I believe it is in Australia.
Voting Labour is not just voting for Mr. Corbyn but the Labour Party as a whole.
My Grandfather was a friend of Kier Hardy one of the founders of the Labour Party. My father helped to form the clerical Branch of NASOPA. The printing Union.
My son has personally met Jeremy Corbyn and says he is a most sincere person. He is definitely not anti Semitic.

I think we are all fed up with the lies that politicians of all parties continually tell and that fact that none of them seem to be interested in serving their country, which surely is their job.

I personally am often hard put to it to know which party to vote for, but not voting doesn't seem to be an option to me.

By voting for someone I feel I have the right to complain if they either do not get into power or do not fulfill their promises.

Admittedly, a slightly negative reason for voting.

Has anyone any bright ideas as to how we can get politicians to realise that we are sick, tired and fed up with their dishonourable behaviour?

If voting became compulsory I would immediately stop voting and if necessary go to prison for it.

Just had a conversation with my sister who is adamant she is not voting because she hates the leaders. I suggested she looked at the manifesto’s write down what she liked about them and then vote for the party with the biggest list. A party is not the leader. There are excellent MP’s in all parties. Policy is what should matter (I agree not all policies are implemented.)

I am in a similar position to a number of people who have been brought up to honour the Vote, due to the death and imprisonment of the women who fought to get this right for us. Mindful also, that there are still women in some parts of the world who still do not have this right. However, I am also stuck for which candidate to Vote for. A labour voter and once a Trade Unionist, I simply don't feel that I can vote for labour this time. It goes against the grain to vote Tory, and the Greens have some policies I simply don't agree with, despite being an ardent conservationist. There are no independent candidates in my area - so maybe the Monster Raving Loony Party (Yes, there is a candidate here) is my only alternative!

Interesting that someone would go to prison for being made to vote, after the hard fight over the years to give the working man and women the vote. Good job not everyone thinks like that.

Being FORCED to vote isnt liberty
Having the choice to is.

By voting for someone I feel I have the right to complain if they either do not get into power or do not fulfill their promises.

Everyone has the right to hold their MP and the gov accountable. You dont need to have voted for them or anyone else

And what if everyone took that stance? I'm on the side of those who have referenced what the suffragettes went through to get us the vote. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't respect that. As someone else said, go and spoil your ballot paper. I think they all have to be counted and looked at.

I agree with notanan.
Being given the right to vote means we can also choose not to, the same as any pro choice issue.

Isn't it sad that perfectly reasonable, caring and intelligent people are facing this dilemma? Wanting to vote, yet truly stumped by the choices.

As others have mentioned, both men and women suffered in order to give us the right to vote, and here we are all these years later, being placed in a dilemma by the power of influences at work within the parties, and international interference in the election process.

I also feel angry about the interference by some religious bodies criticising one candidate and by inference promoting another who, it is claimed, is also a personal friend.

Just had a close encounter with our local (Conservative) MP ...all smiles and laughing ...ah, good morning, May I count on your support at the election ? ….NO you may not, and neither am I sure I will vote !! MY LIFE for the past 21 years has been living in Europe (Spain and then France) I married there, my life has been there BUT with BREXIT the UK government IGNORED British citizens living in the EU but have guaranteed the rights of EU citizens living in Europe, which put the future of Brits living in Europe in some doubt. Some countries are making it difficult for British nationals by not guaranteeing their rights will be adhered to, demanding a certain level of income, etc etc I know it was (before you all shout it out !) my choice to live out of the UK BUT both myself and my late husband had a vote in the UK and paid taxes into the UK as well as the other countries (double taxation agreement)…….and so now we have to return, with, in some cases, nowhere to live and become a further burden on the NHS, but at least Brits returning will be legible for the Winter Fuel Allowance (ha ha) which has now been denied those living in hot' countries for the past few years (well, it was only minus 10 in France in winter !)…..he smiled and clearly had no idea what to say ! I await the next encounter with a different party ! don't expect an answer ….what politician has ever given a straight answer !

What do people on here mean when they say 'vote against' a candidate? Does that mean tactical voting?

I've only the choice of the three main parties plus the SNP, who definitely do not have any more integrity than any other party.

I'll go to the polling station but what I'll do with the ballot paper & pencil, I haven't a clue. Give them to my little granddaughter to scribble on?

Please see attached

Voting for the same parties that have made a mess of this country over the past 40+ years is just blind leading the blind. Plenty of people live in this country with no rights to vote through no fault of their own... Are they any less entitled to moan when the bad times continue? What a silly comment about don't moan if you don't vote! Some people like to think they are better informed when they clearly only have echo chamber mentality, or maybe a vested interest in certain political parties. The UK politicians the length and breadth of the land are at best hapless idiots, and at worst corrupted thoroughly by their agenda, priviledge and greed. I refuse to be browbeaten into legitimizing them by people less well informed about the voting process.

How arrogant to believe that we are less informed on the voting process because of our views.