Paul Mason got the call for tactical voting right here:
To stop Farage and Johnson destroying our democracy we need not just an alliance in Parliament: we need to get on the streets... and if it comes to an election - a one-time tactical voting pact for the progressive majority. #StopTheCoup pic.twitter.com/ZdGSNsmNAc
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) August 27, 2019
In a divided Britain, facing Johnson and Farage, those who believe in democracy, in the rule of law, in justice and in equality have to vote tactically.
We are going to have an election. The only question is when.
I have strong opinions on what I want the next government to do. But I am also sure this will be a fight for liberal parliamentary democracy, which is in the greatest danger it has faced for a lifetime.
In that case I have no doubt that it is right to vote tactically.
I will be voting Lib Dem.
I am not a Lib Dem. I have major reservations about the Lib Dems, but only they can unseat the Tories in the seat I live in, which is South East Cambridgeshire. So they will get my vote, even if I am unhappy about having to do this.
I would vote Labour in Norwich South.
And Green in Brighton Pavillion.
And SNP in Edinburgh South West.
And Plaid in Dwyfor Meirionnydd.
I'm not indifferent between these parties: far from it. But I am passionate about democracy. And that means I have no choice but vote against those who want to wreck it. And that is what I will do.
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Which sums up the consequence of an FPTP electoral system.
We don’t (in so many cases) get to vote for what we want, the best we can hope for is to vote against what we know we don’t want.
I do hope the Labour Party, at all levels of its membership and support base has taken this on board. It worries me that the leadership may again hope to win an election by default (as it has done for most of the second half of the 20th century) by its insistence on standing candidates in all seats and splitting the progressive vote. Had they supported the Progressive Alliance proposals for a tactical approach to the 2017 election we would have been spared two years of time wasted in the futility of a Brexit which was going nowhere under May’s shambolic government. It may still have left us in a mess, (Brexit as it has been pitched can offer nothing else) but it would surely not have led to the sort of constitutional chaos we have now. (?)
If the parties could agree a core of policies, then the Candidates could represent their party policies in other areas.
A core would be at least, a referendum on any deal with an option to remain.
A commitment to bring in proportional representation. Start the process of reforming the constitution.
To begin to reverse the policy of austerity.
This would be a minimum list.
I live in a constituency which always votes Tory. It is semi-rural and not well off. Goodness knows why we vote that way. My vote is already to back the most likely challenger. I suspect many of us live in ‘one party states’ so it would not be a great sacrifice to vote for a different party.
That’s a very reasonable set of red lines. I live in Norwich North – marginally Tory over Labour. I’m a Green Party member and of course, naturally I think a Green MP would be the best thing for our city (in the south, Labour’s Clive Lewis has good environmental credentials). However, to unseat a Tory, it is tempting to vote Labour. It will be essential for the Labour leadership to support PR fully for me to vote Labour though. In fact, I would go as far as to say that PR and a repeal of the FTPA so that there could be another GE as soon as PR was established.
Instead, what I worry will happen is usual Labour growling that other parties have split ‘their’ vote! What is it about Labour that assigns them the authority to blame everyone else when they lose elections rather than looking at their own roll in that failure and asking themselves what they could do better to attract Green and LIb Dem (etc.) voters.
Robert Cockroft says:
” What is it about Labour that assigns them the authority to blame everyone else when they lose elections …”
They’ve won too many by default.
They could have had JC in downing St. in 2017 if only……..
[…] have already said I will be voting tactically in any forthcoming general […]
Sound advice given the circumstances.
What we need is a coalition of Labour, Lib Dems, SNP and Greens.
They have not given us this – its not just the Tories who are in disarray.
I will vote Lib Dem in my area too if need be but I do not like them one little bit. My area always returns a Tory but there are a lot of disaffected Tories out here who do not recognise the Johnson Party and my area was pro-Remain.
I lived in East Fife when the long held Tory seat went to Lib Dem Ming Campbell. Was an interesting feeling to vote tactically and win.
Much as I’m cheered by Johnson’s humiliating defeat last night, if there’s an election I will once again be faced with an almost certainly futile attempt to make my vote count through tactical voting due to FPTP. In ~40 years of voting in UK elections my vote has never got me an MP elected that I voted for. In fact, the only election where my vote has counted has been the recent European ones where my vote for the Greens got a Green MEP elected in East of England. And, unless Brexit does get cancelled, that’s a right to vote I’ll lose. Another one of the Brexit lies, that leaving the EU increases democracy. Thanks a lot Leavers.
As Andy notes, we desperately need some kind of Progressive Alliance between the progressive parties to get rid of this extreme right wing government, and prevent another one taking its place. Trouble is, the idiotic tribalism of Labour will probably scupper that.
I suppose I might hope that the Brexit party will compete with the Tories for the anti EU vote, so, for once, the malign effect of FPTP might work in my favour. Probably a faint hope, but maybe Farage’s ego won’t be able to resist taking on the Tories as the party of the ‘true Leavers’.
In my seat (Northwest Norfolk) only one party could possibly defeat Ye Olde Timeserver (aka Sir Henry Bellingham), and that is Labour (in 2017 Jo Rust got 15,000 votes to Bellingham’s 29,000, with everyone else nowhere), so that is where my vote will go, whereas in the recent euro-elections based on the D’Hondt method I had an equally clear cut vote for the Greens (it worked – enough in my region made the same calculation for them to get an MEP there).
Agreed where you are
Yes, it’s as simple as that.
The luxury of real choice doesn’t come into it.
You have to do what needs to be done to stop the Tories’ Brexit.
I once voted for a corrupt right-wing French politician.
The other choice was the National Front candidate.
Simple.
Still have flashbacks though…
Marie Thomas says:
“I once voted for a corrupt right-wing French politician.
The other choice was the National Front candidate.”
Devil….deep blue sea. You couldn’t get a cigarette paper between a lot of them….. 🙁
If you are lucky you have somebody worth voting for….otherwise you’re kind of stuffed.