Feeling politically homeless (new thread)

I’ve always voted Labour but unfortunately there seems little hope that they will defeat the Tories in the near future.
It seems logical that as all the left wing parties votes outnumber Tory votes, that a progressive Alliance of Greens, Libdems and Labour should cooperate by not fielding candidates in areas where another minority party has more chance of winning. But tribal loyalties, and petty arguments will probably make that very difficult.
My constituency is a safe Tory seat, but at local council level, we have a Progressive Alliance of Labour, Greens, Libdems and Independent councillors which seems to work very effectively.
Tories are not going to support PR voting, so a Progressive Alliance is the only way we can move forward. Forget the tribal loyalties.

As a 71 year old, I am constantly amazed by people who say “ I never vote!”
I always vote , Local elections it is the Green Party, National it is Labour. However, I live in a Tory stronghold with an MP who is set on filibustering much of the time.
Personally I believe that Labour’s biggest mistake came by electing the wrong Miliband as leader ! I like Ed but David would have been a better choice. I had high hopes for Starmer as he is very intelligent and articulate but held back by the Left of the party. In fighting has to stop if they are to have a chance. However, my dream would be Andy Burnham , straight to the point, gets things moving and supports the people.
I will NEVER vote Tory . They have devastated too many industries, communities and inflicted a lack of hope on many. Big businesses and many media barons rule or dictate .
I have hope in the younger voters . They deserve better than what is on offer at the moment%.

Totally agree. I have always voted Conservative apart from once when I was very angry with them. Now I too feel in a wilderness. They really don't give a damn about older people and I feel as if we are an inconvenience to them despite paying taxes and national insurance contributions all of our working lives. The sooner we are dead the better it suits them. I have no confidence in any of the main parties but I also feel that the vote was so hard fought for that we have a duty to use it. Silver Voices is an organization that fights for our rights. I have recently been listening to what they say quite carefully.

Well, I’m not politically adrift.

If anyone with any sense votes for the Tory party, then they need their heads tested.

Give Keir Starmer a chance, for heavens sake.
He’s got to be better than bumbling Boris.
And surely he couldn’t be any worse at managing the country.

It’s a world wide problem I think. Our politicians here in Australia are totally dire and an embarrassment from all the parties and look at the USA , their’s are dire,too. Where is there anyone decent ? Angela is leaving her post in Germany, she was half decent. Britain seems intent on putting upper class twits into power.

I have been a Conservative voter all of my life (65). But at the last election I couldn’t vote for them and never will again. Labour are definitely not for me, nor Liberals so I will probably vote Green next time.

I have been a Liberal, then Lib Dem member since 1962. I have never been a 'my party, right or wrong' person, and for at least the last 5 - 10 years when my subscription comes up for renewal each year I think many times before I renew it.

I do so because I think we need to keep the existence of a centrist third force alive in this country. Although I have never been tempted to vote Conservative, I have at times thought long and hard about joining Labour, but always held back because I consider it to unstable, constantly yawing to right and left and I find the hard left, even more deeply of puttingbthan the Conservatives.

So like others. I am drifting rudderless, but cannot bring myself to not vote or spoil my vote so end up voting LibDem as the only port in a storm.

Absolutely agree, I could have written this myself! Not sure who to vote for next time.

Yes..was about to join the Greens but they arent targetting the right targets..ER nd Insulate Britain need to be glueing themselves to Mass developers and crony Tory Council and Planning Officers who nod through huge mass developments in eg Kent and Sussex. Especially a develoler called Quinn, and Persimmon, Gladman, Bovis ,Bell etc

Under the current system, the importance of your political allegiance depends where you live.

I am on the left and have never felt that my views are represented by the major parties, except for the period when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. However, I have voted Labour all my life, for want of a better alternative, apart from some tactical voting when I was foolish enough to believe Nick Clegg. (And look what happened! Never doing that again.)

I have voted in General Elections and local elections all my adult life. Apart from anything else, I think of the suffragettes and feel that we owe it to them not to waste our votes. However, it hasn't made the slightest bit of difference. I live in a Tory stronghold. No-one I have voted for has ever won. I could have drawn Donald Duck on my ballot papers and voted for him, for all the difference that my vote has made.

The ability to control our own future. Who did you vote for to lead the EU. Sorry of course we do not have a vote. Any vote for a Euro MEP was wasted, they have no control of the workings of the EU. It is the bureaucrats that are in charge. Can you name the president of the European Parliament ? without looking it up. At least now we can moan like we are on this forum and have a chance to vote for the party that we would like to be in control.

montymops

We are just emerging from the Covid ‘era’ which has been incredibly difficult for all of us - we have seemingly been living on a strange alternative planet! The shock waves are still reverberating.
I’m sure things will improve for all parties and for all of us given time. I’m not a particular fan of Boris - but really don’t know how anyone else could have coped with Covid country any better.

If the political scene had been any better pre-covid, I might agree with you, but it really wasn't.
Labour had already become ineffective due to its in-fighting, and the Conservatives were already doing what they are doing now, only with less of a public spotlight on them.

What Covid has done very well is highlight Boris's pre-existing failings.

You might be surprised to hear this, but I don't actually think that any other party could have dealt with Covid any better either.

Why not?

Because I suspect that if another party had tried to do exactly what the current Government has done, they would not have managed to get the measures through Parliament.
The Tories themselves faced a lot of resistance _from the right wing of their own party_.
Had another party been in power, I believe a far greater number of the Conservative MPswould have adopted that stance, preventing the governing party from passing many of the measures that they themselves have taken.

Only my opinion though, obviously,

I truly, deeply despise the current appalling Tories - and yet, if they win again, I will blame the Labour Left even more than the Tories. Because Labour has a real chance, for the first time in a long time- to beat those destructive, tax evading Tories who are prepared to scupper the country and destroy the NHS and abandon 10s of 1000s of the poorest and most vulnerable in society. And Labour is prepared to throw away that chance at opposing this - by fighting each other rather than the above! And come up with the utter nonsense that Starmer is just as bad as any Tory and has the same aims Oh I so agree! I have a lazy, complacent Tory MP in this safe constituency, we never hear anything of him, he is never involved in any local issues, bone idle too. Thus, our local Labour party is weak, and they field 'no chance' candidates, someone who doesn't have any connections with the area, and often an example of what some on here would call the 'loony left' with bonkers policies which just will not cut it in a strong conservative, rural constituency, so very frustrating.

Absolutely agree with you MAMACAZ, and have felt this way since there were all those childish scenes in the House of Commons over the Brexit agreement. No one of the current crop has emerged who could handle the chaos we are now in and has the ability to lead us out of it.
For a start I hope the Tory Party wake up and get rid of Boris.
I have no political loyalty to any party, but I find myself wanting Tony Blair back together with some of his stalwarts who led us through the financial crisis.

Gosh...no mention of the Monster Raving Loony Party. Maybe they should be given a chance. They fought for many things that more main stream political parties took on as part of their policies...some even becoming law.

As a (non practising) Jewish lass whose pa and his fam landed here in 1935 - vote Hitler, be model member, move up ranks, cheat and abuse your position to help those in need, get really close....... Oops pushed wrong button, silly me, need new candidate........change can only ever be really effective when pushed from inside out.

Gabrielle56

Hmm....dilemma: local elections always vote for labour as they're absolutely brilliant in local issues and we get very good value for council tax etc. Much to my utter shame I did vote for the vampire party last round as the thought of red jezzer and his comrades gave me the heeby jeebies! NEVER AGAIN! I get so frustrated with those who moan constantly then chip up 'i never vote.....' unless a concerted effort is made to mobilise those thickos who fail to make the connection between who's in power and who voted for them- we need to rid ourselves of the Eton gang once and for all and make it really easy for the common person to get into power, kids in tow and charging in their wheelie chariots! We deserve proper understanding and representative politicians in order to really make the changes we need to make. Why this OBSESSION with running the whole country from a crumbling old dump in Westminster!?! Scots have theirs Welsh have theirs, storming too. As there are more northerners than the rest put together!!! where's the Midlands' and northern assemblies eh? Sick of hearing about Frau Sturgeon and her megalomaniacal tunnel vision too! Poor Scots are on their knees and she doesn't give a fig! Well done the Welsh they have a leader they well respect (a steady eddy) as for stormont!?! On strike for 2 years on full pay and a corrupt leader still drawing salary , OMG what a joke!

Nice balanced assessment there.

Buddleja

The Queen keeps us stable and helps us to avoid personality cults.

I think the adoration of the Queen is the definition of a personality cult.

We are just emerging from the Covid ‘era’ which has been incredibly difficult for all of us - we have seemingly been living on a strange alternative planet! The shock waves are still reverberating.
I’m sure things will improve for all parties and for all of us given time. I’m not a particular fan of Boris - but really don’t know how anyone else could have coped with Covid country any better.

We're all doomed.....!!

Hmm....dilemma: local elections always vote for labour as they're absolutely brilliant in local issues and we get very good value for council tax etc. Much to my utter shame I did vote for the vampire party last round as the thought of red jezzer and his comrades gave me the heeby jeebies! NEVER AGAIN! I get so frustrated with those who moan constantly then chip up 'i never vote.....' unless a concerted effort is made to mobilise those thickos who fail to make the connection between who's in power and who voted for them- we need to rid ourselves of the Eton gang once and for all and make it really easy for the common person to get into power, kids in tow and charging in their wheelie chariots! We deserve proper understanding and representative politicians in order to really make the changes we need to make. Why this OBSESSION with running the whole country from a crumbling old dump in Westminster!?! Scots have theirs Welsh have theirs, storming too. As there are more northerners than the rest put together!!! where's the Midlands' and northern assemblies eh? Sick of hearing about Frau Sturgeon and her megalomaniacal tunnel vision too! Poor Scots are on their knees and she doesn't give a fig! Well done the Welsh they have a leader they well respect (a steady eddy) as for stormont!?! On strike for 2 years on full pay and a corrupt leader still drawing salary , OMG what a joke!

The Queen keeps us stable and helps us to avoid personality cults.

Keir Starmer is a brilliant leader and will make a great prime minister. The Labour Party has always faced internal battles but it can rise above them. Maybe you can find a way to support that outcome.

TanaMa

Thank goodness we are not a republic - absolutely not one of the current lot in Government, regardless of their Party colour, would be suitable (in my opinion) to be a 'President' a la Trump!!
The HoL is a joke - taxi in, sign name, taxi home - another £300 in the Bank.

Is the Queen helping things then?

SJV07

It is very easy to critisize, But, at the end of the day, do you want the job?? None of them expected a pandemic, Brexit was on its way, what more or less do you want??

Bring back Maggie Thatcher!

Brexit was on the way because that's what they, and the people who voted for it, wanted.

They don't get to complain about it now.

I'm not sure someone who died a decade ago could help much, but it certainly couldn't be much worse.