if... (UK only)

[oh oooh]

...there was an election tomorrow, how would you vote?

[Deleted]

There needs to be a tactical coalition against the Tories.
I mentioned it before and Toby's shitting his pants at the prospect.

[bungo the mungo]

i always waste my vote by voting 'green'.

[tory]

Nov 9, 2021 18:46:26 GMT @madcyril1 said:

There needs to be a tactical coalition against the Tories.
I mentioned it before and Toby's shitting his pants at the prospect.

I'm not because it will never happen. 

People in the main do not vote tactically. They may in by-elections, but at a general election where the stakes are much higher, people avoid tactical voting because who becomes their MP is actually very important. This is good because it lowers the chances of faddish MPs elected on one-off policies.

The set-up of elections and political parties does not lend itself well to coalitions, which only happen after an election and when the dominant party needs to get over the line to get a working majority.

The utter collapse of the Remain vote before the 2019 election showed how loose coalitions based around opposition to the Tories are very difficult to cohere and make tangible in any real way. Furthermore, I cannot see how Labour would ally itself with the SNP in any meaningful manner. Labour voters who have an interest in the Union staying will not be happy at the party being allied with  a party committed to independence.

[Deleted]

Oh that's a SNiP for labour to manage. All they have to do is categorically promise to give the SNP another referendum in the manifesto. They can plaster it on the side of buses an that. Then just deny it or fudge it. It's the modern political landslide guaranteed tactic.

[DarknessFish]

Probably won't vote, I don't normally, because it's pointless in such a safe seat.

[Deleted]

Nov 9, 2021 20:18:51 GMT DarknessFish said:

Probably won't vote, I don't normally, because it's pointless in such a safe seat.

Then help make it unsafe comrade  um ,fishy.

[DarknessFish]

I'd have to vote Tory! And it would still make no difference. If you vote, it's an endorsement of the system.

[osgood]

Probably subject for a different thread, but is there any debate in the UK about moving to a proportional electoral system? At least for part of the Parliament. I can see some theoretical advantages in UK system, like a tighter link of the MPs to their voters, but in the end party's discipline prevail, or am I wrong?

[tory]

Nov 10, 2021 8:57:31 GMT osgood said:

Probably subject for a different thread, but is there any debate in the UK about moving to a proportional electoral system? At least for part of the Parliament. I can see some theoretical advantages in UK system, like a tighter link of the MPs to their voters, but in the end party's discipline prevail, or am I wrong?

Tony Blair had the chance to move the country to a PR system and he turned it down....because he knew that Labour would probably suffer from it.

There are some advantages to it, but I also feel that the current system is too deeply embedded for any of the main parties to essentially sacrifice their power and introduce it.

PR systems encourage coalitions. They work best with rounds of voting too, as in France, where a number of candidates are usually voted out after the first round.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't theoretically work in the UK, but that neither Labour nor the Tories would ever really support the idea realistically.

[DarknessFish]

I do think it very strange that my grandad was born just after the boer war, and in the entire stretch of time since he was born, only 2 elections weren't won by Labour, the last of which he wasn't old enough to vote in. There hasn't been a non-Labour victory in the entire voting lifetime of anyone I've ever known.

Just doesn't feel like democracy in action.

[Reactionary Rage]

Look at Israel and the problems they have around coalitions.