Is anyone else feeling politically homeless?

[Scotrail12]

I think it's time for a totally new party. What side should they be on? I'd ideally like something more centrist.

 

[Horizon22]

I think it's time for a totally new party. What side should they be on? I'd ideally like something more centrist.

That happened; it was Change UK (or whichever of the 4 names they had) and they got demolished in the European elections (the Lib Dems hoovered up that sort of vote) and disbanded.

Don't forget the electoral system in this country makes it very very hard to make any meaningful progress and build an infrastructure for a new party. UKIP had a maximum of 2/650 MPs, Brexit Party never had any. Lib Dems have 2% of MPs on ~10% of the vote.

 

[jtuk]

Is anyone else feeling like they’ve nowhere to go politically?

I despise the whole political party system. If there's not an independent on the ballot, I'll spoil it. Only time I've voted for a party in the last decade was UKIP in 2015 as I simply didn't trust Cameron to actually give us a vote on leaving the EU.

Ban political parties and much of the problem is solved. In somewhere like where I live, where Fred West could win on a Tory ticket, at least you could then get different strains of the same general political persuasion to choose from, rather than knowing the useless, replies to all letters with copypasta idiot, will win regardless.

 

[sheff1]

I would really like a politician to stand up and challenge these statements, but as there aren't any at the moment I will be voting for Mr Farage.

Seriously thinking of doing the same. Not something I would have remotely considered 12 months ago.

 

[Spamcan81]

Disaffected TORY here. Once they were determined to drag us out of the EU they lost my vote and nothing they have done since has changed my mind. At the last election I voted LibDem as no party led by Corbyn will ever get my vote. If there was an election tomorrow I'd probably vote Labour but without any deal of conviction but I'd be happy to do it to get the Tories out.. One thing I'm certain of though, that spiv Farage will never be the answer to any of the country's problems.

 

[HSTEd]

Civil liberties no longer exist, and with everyone doubling down on Thatcherism and the diversion of resources to the Baby Boomers, I honestly wonder what the point of engaging with the political process even is.

We are even on the verge of allowing the state to compel medical procedures for "the greater good".
Your body is now property of the state.

 

[hst43102]

I'm one of the younger members of this forum, and I got my first vote at an election last year. I voted Conservative, and fully expected to for the rest of my life - I guess I'm just inclined to the right of the political spectrum. However, I'm certainly not going to vote for this clown that is in number 10 at the moment, as he has been shown to be totally incapable and a blundering fool.
I would now vote for ANY party that is in favour of more personal freedoms (i.e. personal choice to wear masks, vaccines, LOCAL lockdowns not nationwide, anything anti-authoritarian) but unfortunately the only option seems to be Farage's party. I dread the thought of that man in government, though!

So, yes - in terms of politics I am currently living under a bridge.

 

[Yew]

I have voted Labour, I could under the right circumstances support highly socialist or even communist policies. Yet apparently I am also a hard-right libertarian..

 

[Bald Rick]

Ive been feeling that way for nearly 3 decades. Covid hasn’t changed my view.

Can’t vote blue because of their Brexit debacle, and because I’ve met most of the top brass and seen them in real world action (it says something that Gove is by far the nicest)

Can’t vote red because of their own Brexit debacle, the Corbyn debacle, and, frankly, the loony left.

 

[Bantamzen]

Quite honestly I am totally disillusioned with all sides of politics. The handling by the government and their constant shifting in "covid-safe" policies make them completely unsupportable, whilst on the other side of the house the opposition instead of acting as a counterbalance have been rubber stamping all of these policies without even a slight effort to question them. The problem in politics today is that most politicians dare not step out of line and actually question if any of the "covid-safe" restrictions actually work, because questioning them has become faux pas.

 

[squizzler]

The Liberal democrats seem to have the best offering for most progressives these days. They ought to gain more following than they do but seem perpetually to be the outsiders. But since there seems to be such an appetite amongst British voters to support the "anti-establishment" parties, the lib dems would seem a shoe in.

 

[philosopher]

That happened; it was Change UK (or whichever of the 4 names they had) and they got demolished in the European elections (the Lib Dems hoovered up that sort of vote) and disbanded.

Don't forget the electoral system in this country makes it very very hard to make any meaningful progress and build an infrastructure for a new party. UKIP had a maximum of 2/650 MPs, Brexit Party never had any. Lib Dems have 2% of MPs on ~10% of the vote.

Ah, Change UK. They made such a little impact that until I saw this post I had forgotten completely about them.

 

[MikeWM]

I have voted Labour, I could under the right circumstances support highly socialist or even communist policies. Yet apparently I am also a hard-right libertarian..

While taking into account that it has many issues and over-simplifies considerably, whenever I've done the political compass test in the past couple of decades (https://www.politicalcompass.org, if you've never encountered it) I've always landed firmly in the 'left, libertarian' quadrant. Personally I've never believed there is an inherent contradiction between being 'left' on economic policy and 'libertarian' on social policy - or at least no more contradictory than any other political position.

I'd say current issues show the need for multiple axes on which to measure your politics. Left and right are far too simplistic.

 

[jfollows]

I was a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1981, after Theresa May was a member and before Boris Johnson was a member.

I last voted Conservative in 1992, but then who honestly would admit to voting Conservative in 1997?

I was happy with the Conservative+Liberal coalition in 2010, and mistakenly reasonably happy with David Cameron's win in 2015, although I didn't vote Conservative on either occasion.

Now the Conservative party ought to be renamed the Blue Anarchist party, it's run by people who will stop at nothing including breaking the law to get their way. To say that I feel homeless would be true, for sure. I am also pro-EU, although I accept that that battle is now lost.

I'll probably vote Labour at the next election, but it's not a home for me, there are fundamental differences between me and a party that seeks to use the power of government, but sometimes it can and has used that power for good.

 

[radamfi]

I am also pro-EU, although I accept that that battle is now lost.

On the contrary. There is plenty of scope for getting back into the single market and/or customs union.

 

[Journeyman]

The Liberal democrats seem to have the best offering for most progressives these days. They ought to gain more following than they do but seem perpetually to be the outsiders. But since there seems to be such an appetite amongst British voters to support the "anti-establishment" parties, the lib dems would seem a shoe in.

The Lib Dems ruined everything when they propped Cameron up for five years, and went against just about everything they ever said they would do.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2020 ==

On the contrary. There is plenty of scope for getting back into the single market and/or customs union.

I'd settle for that, as I think it's the best we can hope for, and gives us plenty of advantages. I hope it'll become Labour policy.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Yes-I'm a Tory, but not a class background Tory or an economic liberal Tory. More of a communitarian, Nation-State Tory-without the toxicity of nationalism. Sure the free-market is great, but I'm not a fanatic over it, I'm more than happy for services owned by the Council/government if they deliver a good service. That said, I find a lot of the economic liberal/small state Tory dogma tiring. Perhaps I could fit in with the more David Owen style Labour Party, but for the past 10 years Labour has just seemed to be a North London activists group on steroids. I hate how the left treat Brexiteers, especially how so many Labour towns are Leave voting, and I feel like the left doesn't really like national identities and dosen't really understand what most people outside of their own political bubbles think and feel in this country.

That said, I just don't feel like much of a Tory, particuarly when it comes to ingrained class-culture of the Party. Its fading, slowly, but still very much present.

Oh well, onwards and upwards!

 

[youngiecj]

Voted Labour all my life. Just can’t relate to them these days. Sadly they don’t seem to represent me anymore. So disillusioned with politics these days.

 

[HSTEd]

On the contrary. There is plenty of scope for getting back into the single market and/or customs union.

The problem is the single market represents by far the most toxic parts of the EU to large parts of the electorate.
Which is why trying to force remaining in it was always going to fail miserably.

It's Brexit in Name Only.

The Customs Union is better in that respect, but in order to get into that you are required to accept large parts of the Single Market rulebook, so there is little hope there at all.

But let's not turn this into a Brexit thread.

 

[ashworth]

I’m another disaffected Conservative. Always voted for them but could not do so at the last election because I don’t agree with Brexit. I voted Lib Dem for the first time because of their stance on Europe. Voting Lib Dem is very much a wasted vote where I live but I could not vote for Labour. I suppose that my political views are very much of the old fashioned Ken Clarke type of One Nation Conservatism.

I think a lot of long term conservative voters, who voted to remain, felt that they had no one to vote for at the last election. We would be better off with the Monster Raving Looney Party than what we have now.

 

[S&CLER]

I stopped voting Labour after the Winter of Discontent, and switched to the Liberals, also voting for Shirley Williams and the SDP in the famous Crosby by-election (1983, or thereabouts). But last December I reluctantly abandoned the LibDems because I didn't trust them not to do a deal with Corbyn, and felt that keeping Corbyn out was all-important, and so voted Tory. Also, despite having voted remain, I despised the wholly negative antics of the remainers who willed the end but not the means in the appalling last Parliament. I salved my conscience by voting for my former LibDem MP, John Pugh, after he left Parliament, as my local councillor. So I "split the ticket" as they say in the USA.

 

[Mojo]

Don't forget the electoral system in this country makes it very very hard to make any meaningful progress and build an infrastructure for a new party. UKIP had a maximum of 2/650 MPs, Brexit Party never had any. Lib Dems have 2% of MPs on ~10% of the vote.

That is true, but also on the other hand like which happened with Ukip and then The Brexit Party, they also don't necessarily have to win, but they could have a significant enough impact by taking votes from one one of the established parties meaning they then fall to second place in an individual seat and let someone else in.

 

[kristiang85]

The Lib Dems ruined everything when they propped Cameron up for five years, and went against just about everything they ever said they would do.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2020 ==

The Coalition was probably the best government we've had since 2001 (ie since early New Labour, before Blair became best buddies with Bush and Brown went on his spending sprees).

The Lib dems were a huge component of that, and a lot of their policies did get through - eg the huge hikes in the tax free allowance. Just a lot of their headline ones didn't.

But history will look kindly on 2010-2015, I feel, despite the austerity measures at the time.

 

[packermac]

On the contrary. There is plenty of scope for getting back into the single market and/or customs union.

Perhaps you can explain how you think this would be possible?

 

[radamfi]

Perhaps you can explain how you think this would be possible?

How did Switzerland and Norway get into the single market and how did Turkey get into the customs union? The parties make negotiations and then sign an agreement.

 

[packermac]

How did Switzerland and Norway get into the single market and how did Turkey get into the customs union? The parties make negotiations and then sign an agreement.

Right so you think we would be first in the queue with them to start all that from scratch when we can't even agree things as a departed member and on and existing exit agreement.

 

[radamfi]

Right so you think we would be first in the queue with them to start all that from scratch when we can't even agree things as a departed member and on and existing exit agreement.

Everyone on both sides know it was an anomaly caused by having a mini-Trump in charge so it would be easy enough for a future government to disown that.

 

[telstarbox]

I wouldn't be so sure. The EU27 are absolutely fed up of the UK's approach and it's notable that no other country has seriously tried to leave since the Brexit vote.

 

[johnnychips]

Unfortunately there is no policy statement on CV from the Yorkshire Party, for whom I voted at the last election.

 

[Bald Rick]

Unfortunately there is no policy statement on CV from the Yorkshire Party, for whom I voted at the last election.

No doubt it’s all the fault of Lancastrians.