this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024
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[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 38 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Imagine that. If you go out of your way to present absolutely no vision for a better future and instead side with Tories repeatedly, you won't inspire anyone to vote for you.

Who knew?

[–] hellothere@sh.itjust.works 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Look, I'm not exactly inspired by playing it safe either, but to suggest no one is going to vote Labour is wrong.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html

93% probability of a Labour majority, with the current prediction being a Labour majority of 184.

And this article is exactly what Labour should be pushing, they shouldn't be presuming that the above projection is a sure thing. Voter apathy is a real problem, and getting the vote out is critically important.

Politics in the UK has been sufficiently fractured in recent years that a lot of people are going to have to hold their noses to get the Tories out.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The problem is to tackle voter apathy, apathetic voters need to be given something to vote for, not just told to go the polls for the sake of it.

While I understand Starmer’s Labour’s desire to play it safe, at some point they have to nail their colours to something catching. Not being the other guy only goes so far, if there is concern about an unconvinced portion of the electorate not turning out there needs to be something to inspire them.

[–] hellothere@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago

I agree, but under our stupid system it needs to be something that inspires a plurality of constituencies.

And that, unfortunately, means tory swing voters are more important for electoral success.

I live in an incredibly safe labour seat, so if they push a policy that gets 1k more votes here it's pointless. If that same policy gets 1k here, and loses 1k in a target swing constituency, it's actually bad.

We saw under Corbyn - who I voted for as leader twice - that in 2017 with an inspirational manifesto it will inspire people, but unfortunately those people literally lived in the wrong places. His support was too concentrated. In 2019, in a glorified brexit proxy vote, we saw that the public believed that Johnson could promise the earth, and that Corbyn couldn't. Labour still had that, false, association with economic mismanagement.

Another way of framing this is that yes, some voter cohorts need to be inspired. But tory swing voters don't need inspiration, they need to be reassured. They need to not be scared to vote Labour for possibly the first time in 20+ years. They need to know that their mortgage isn't going to yet even higher, that Labour won't "max out the country's credit card", and every other lie they've been fed by the Tories.

[–] Wanderer@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Push for voter reform and you can have my vote otherwise I dont believe you want what is best for the country just whats best for your party. Make as much noise as you like I don't care.

[–] crapwittyname@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

This is exactly right IMO. The system is obviously broken. Well done for manipulating it so you win, but if you don't fix it we'll be here again in no time, probably in an even worse situation.

[–] Gamoc@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Why does he do everything he can to encourage apathy then? Fucking Tory.

[–] Rumbelows@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Maybe present yourself as something other than a friend slightly less shit version of the Tories then.

They had a leader who advocated for de-privatisation and taxation of the rich and they went out of their way to sabotage him.

[–] mannycalavera 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is not a plea to keep the Tories out of power. This is a plea to ensure a Labour majority. Tories are out either way. This will only sell to hurt other parties.

[–] MonsterMonster@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't be so sure on that. In 1992 it was considered that Labour under Neil Kinnock would easily win the election that year but the nation was reluctant as memories of the 70's remained. History could repeat itself. Labour needs to try harder if they want to win. The Tories could still hoodwink the nation yet again.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 6 points 10 months ago

"any other leader would be 20 points ahead"

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Well good golly gosh. I wonder what could possibly make people so apathetic in the face of such a shit government?