Yes, I do wish that the Lib Dems would get there act together and offer a real alternative to the Tories that certainly for me doesn't exist within the current Labour Party.

I certainly have worries about the direction of the current Tory party ( and whether an increased majority strengthens or more controls the more right wing and therein lies the question of will the true Theresa May stand up ).

For me it will come down as usual to a choice of two, Tory or Lib Dem, how they stand in my constituency and wanting my vote to count in some way if at all possible and in Scotland being possibly influenced ( horror ) by helping the pro unionists against the SNP. For the Scottish Parliament, my constituency MSP, Ruth Davidson, gets my vote, being the best leader of the unionist opposition to the SNP, who also importantly in domestic terms have many failings simply as a day to day government ( their main job ahead of dreaming / calculating the possibilties of another independence vote ). Generally whenever it clearly won't count ( or could actually help them ) in a General Election I vote Lib Dem, basically being my preference at heart, and would even more so with the current Labour and Tory parties.

indiana wrote:

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Yes, I do wish that the Lib Dems would get there act together and offer a real alternative to the Tories that certainly for me doesn't exist within the current Labour Party.

I certainly have worries about the direction of the current Tory party ( and whether an increased majority strengthens or more controls the more right wing and therein lies the question of will the true Theresa May stand up ).

For me it will come down as usual to a choice of two, Tory or Lib Dem, how they stand in my constituency and wanting my vote to count in some way if at all possible and in Scotland being possibly influenced ( horror ) by helping the pro unionists against the SNP. For the Scottish Parliament, my constituency MSP, Ruth Davidson, gets my vote, being the best leader of the unionist opposition to the SNP, who also importantly in domestic terms have many failings simply as a day to day government ( their main job ahead of dreaming / calculating the possibilties of another independence vote ). Generally whenever it clearly won't count ( or could actually help them ) in a General Election I vote Lib Dem, basically being my preference at heart, and would even more so with the current Labour and Tory parties.

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 Stick with Lib Dems at worst Indiana, you sound far too intelligent a guy to vote Tory as an anti SNP vote. Davidson may be a good politician but her policy attitude is horrible. A clever sneaky Tory (As they tend to be naturally).

Im voting for my local Independant candidate rather than for any party. He's ProEuro and also ProIndy. The thing that annoyed me about IndyRef in Scotland was people who said No on the basis of the SNP. I voted Yes but I'm not voting SNP this time.

"Jezzer" looking and sounding magnificent on the campaign trail yesterday. He reminders me of that great revolutionary "Wolfy Smith" aka "Foxy" to the mother in law. Can't but help feel his rightful place would be helping customers and providing handy DIY hints in his local B and Q

I can't believe I too am developing "Lib Dem" leanings, finding it very difficult to vote Labour as not totally sure who or what one would be voting for. Still hoping they will mutate over time and become a genuine "Tooting popular front" with Sajid at the helm, it would say something in an era of Trump and Le Pen to have one of the worlds oldest democracies run by an ex-comp kid, Muslim, civil rights lawyer!

"Power to the people!"

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Friday 21st of April 2017 03:27:55 AM

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Thursday 4th of May 2017 05:08:22 AM

I don't care about skeletons in the closet, I just wish people would come to their senses about May in general but her ability to ensure that nothing sticks to her is breathtaking. Anyway, I'll probably regret getting into politics on the forum (Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, KIPpers and Nat supporters may all find reasons to despise me after reading this!), but here we go ...

If I thought for a moment that May was holding this election to get a big enough majority to help her withstand pressure from the right wing of her party so that she could approach the EU exit negotiations more constructively (and ignore some of the far right's other more lunatic ideas too), then I might be more relaxed about the prospect of a large Conservative majority but from everything I've seen of her, she appears to be a classic little Englander with a nasty authoritarian streak. I'm not sure I'd have realised that if I hadn't had to deal with the Home Office in the last few years and thus taken a closer interest than I might otherwise have done in what she was up to while she was there. She seems to get painted as a relatively moderate Tory, but beneath the surface, all the evidence suggests she is more like UKIP, albeit without the misogyny, overt racism and PR incompetence, though as far as general competence goes, I do think she is in over her head.

Then again, the way May's popularity keeps rising (while obviously having a lot to do with Corbyn) suggests that maybe having lived in London for most of my adult life and been so proud of how well multicultural Britain worked (still not perfect, but far better than in most other countries), I hadn't realised how much mid-20th century attitudes still persisted out in the shires, especially among the generation that tends to vote the most.

I also find it hard to imagine how anyone who lived through the 1970s (even as a young child like me) can even contemplate voting for a Labour party that seems to want to take us back there or worse, though I can easily understand why those too young to remember the 1970s might not have any context for this.

I'm very sorry that Toby and his ilk haven't had a chance to get rid of Corbyn, since maybe they could then have provided at least some semblance of the decent opposition that is so desperately needed at the moment. Even then, I would have found it hard to vote Labour, despite agreeing with some of the things they want to do, simply because they are always so irresponsible with the economy, which is virtually guaranteed to create more pain and a need for even more austerity in the long term, not less. I did vote Labour in 1997 but Gordon Brown had already lost me by 2001 with his idiotic gold sell-off and short-termist counter-productive attack on pensions and he went downhill from there.

I'll almost certainly vote Lib Dem this time, though I'd much rather they weren't led by (the generally well-meaning but weak) Tim Farron. It'll make no difference in my constituency, which is a CON/LAB ultra-marginal (*), but (again, no thanks to Corbyn) Lib Dem is the only clear "please don't take us back 40 years or more" option and I can only hope that if there is a big enough surge in the Lib Dem popular vote, that might embolden some of the more moderate Conservative MPs to put more pressure on the PM to avoid the hardest of hard Brexits, though that may be a forlorn hope.

What I really wish is that the Labour and Conservative moderates could have put their knee-jerk enmities aside and combined with each other and the more sensible Lib Dems to form a new centrist party with some real clout. Given how much the Labour left, UKIP/Tory right and the nationalists all hate each other, it's not hard to imagine the more extreme votes being completely split and a proper centrist party romping home, and (if it included moderate Conservatives too) doing much better than the SDP/Lib Alliance ever did. I guess it's not impossible for that to happen before the following election (especially if Labour get rid of Corbyn after the election but the left-wing takeover of the local parties means they still can't get a more moderate leader and May + the 3 Brexiteers start making enough of a mess of the Brexit negotiations to give the moderates in their own party the courage to do something), but by then it will probably be far too late, especially if the union breaks up in the meantime too.

(*) my MP had been excellent (an intelligent, very hard-working and effective, moderate and very socially liberal Conservative) and until last year, I couldn't have imagined not voting for him again. After the referendum though, he (a strong Remainer) ended up accepting a junior ministerial post in the May government and he has been equivocating ever since. I can understand how difficult a decision that might have been (and by all accounts, he is doing his ministerial job conscientiously and very well, as I'd have expected) but I just can't bring myself to vote for him if he won't stand up to the PM for what he (on all previous evidence) believes in and most of all, I can't vote (directly or indirectly) for a little Englander like May at all.

I think we have to wait for proof when the leaders get into the limelight, eg tele debates.

Nick clegg had no profile realistically before the lead up to a gen election.

Any Scottish Tories on here (If there are any who are braver enough to admit it) care to comment on the rapeclause? Ruth Davidson was completely shown up today even Kezia had a go. Horrible wee woman Davidson I'm glad she is being found out. Her ignorance of the topic was astounding.

Her twitter feed almost made me sick as well. The Tories cutting benefits for the sick and disabled and she has the ordasity to post a picture of her on a mobility scooter. Not surprisingly in an affluent area of course. Disgusting.

Anyone that votes Tory in Scotland tends to be driven by selfishness and greed, have no regard for the community, sick or needy. They also tend to be born into money, have no clue about austerity, are aloof and arrogant, usually work in finance. Stocks and shares, pensions, marketing etc. If none of the above are ticked then they have probably bought their council house in the 80s or 90s at a knock down price when Thatcher sold off the housing stock. The final category are the true blue Church of Scotland Protestants who dislike Catholicism, Pro Brexit Rule Britainia types.