General Election

that’s what im worried about.. tories or Labour - will be interested to hear each party’s manifesto- I’m sure those that pledge not to cut benefits will get my vote!

Meg, I was making a general comment about those who hadn’t registered yet - not suggesting that you hadn’t

I get your caution in making sure that the tories are locked out of power by all means necessary

And also no one should stay at home/not vote or spoil their ballot this election

However I’m suggesting looking at the smaller picture by saying concentrate on the candidates for your constituency

If your labour candidate/mp is known disability ally then great but if you got someone like Kendall or reeves than I’d personally be weighing up the pros and cons of a protest vote

Here’s the thing - 2 years back I was very much team labour & starmer (and there’s still a lot of labour mps I’m very much in support of)

However the words/actions/judgement of starmer and the higher up shadow ministers honestly has me worried and questioning the possibility of things getting better for the disabled (or even worse) - starmer states on a weekly basis that labour is the party for working ppl (which excludes ppl like the elderly/ill/disabled)

As much as I hate sunak/stride/hunts verbal attacks on the disabled the past year I don’t believe any of them have loved ones with disablities so it’s harder for them to empathise (not making excuses for them - they are still crappy human beings - be you are less likely to educate yourself on things that don’t directly affect you)

Starmer on the other hand (if you’ve read parts of his biography on his family) should be a natural disability ally (and other minorities) - however the last few months himself and labour have been happy to throw the vulnerable under the bus to appeal to times/daily mail readers (readership that is primed to hate ppl like this)………they are able to do this because they presume those disabled voters (who’s disillusion in politics will mean they will stay at home) will have no choice but to vote for them to make sure the conservatives are frozen out (and they basically don’t need to ‘suck up’ to our community because our votes locked to them regardless of what they do)

there aren’t many times a disabled person can actually rebel and I certainly wouldn’t recommend doing a protest vote without a lot of research because as you said it’s high risk and depending on party a wasted vote.

But there are times when going nuclear (being unpredictable) is a viable option

bottom line is that the labours top brass right now share similar views on the disabled community as the tories and I honestly 50:50 on them continuing the tories evil plans (or something even more messed up)

However as no other party has come out as disability allies (greens & Lib Dem’s are closest but nothing official) it comes down to 3 questions

• who’s the strategic vote for you constituency (aka in 98% of cases not Tory - there are a few decent Tory mps that care about their constituency)
• If the strategic candidate is the labour one, are they a disability ally, indifferent or a stride clone with a red rosette (obviously ask the same questions if the strategic candidate is Lib Dem, etc)
• if your not at all comfortable with the strategic vote look into the candidate that is (a close) 3rd place/the dark horse

thankfully my personal vote will be an easy one this election but I wouldn’t be scared of high risk voting (partly bcos I don’t see how the tories can make a comeback - but they are masters of the smear & spin so ask me again in 5 weeks) because right now the tories and labour are almost as bad as each other and I don’t feel in this moment in time there’s much to lose from a protest vote if it’s well thought out.

(And shot me down but I think a labour coalition with the Lib Dem’s/greens - however unlikely - would be the best result for the disabled community………..but that’s solely my opinion )

I loved the irony too 😂

I hope that we can all agree that if labour win the general election but continue down the same path that the tories have in terms of portrayal/treatment of the disability and cruel welfare reforms…..

…..that the disabled community will not let them ‘get off’ as easy as the tories (aka allowing them to ‘walk all over’ us)

The community in the last couple of months decided that the tories crossed the line with the pip reform stuff (and chosen fight over flight/curl up in a hedgehog ball)

Labour should get no benefit of the doubt or second chances if they end up pulling the same **** as the tories have the past 14 years

We need to be prepared to launch the mother of backlash in the worst case

(Hopefully it won’t come to that and labour is just saying anything to get the times/sun/daily mail/right wing readership and voters like some are hoping - though I do wonder if u turns/lying about party policy is the best idea for a party that want at least 2 consecutive terms in power)

Given the ongoing consultation and how much this - and the Carer's allowance discussion - has been in the media of late, I suspect they will have to say something.

I also think a Lib/Lab coalition is the best option for us, though I am not going to be protest voting. I don't think it's going to be hard for me actually because of who the main parties are here. And our (Tory) MP is active locally and not a bad MP (he gets involved in local campaigns, runs some of them, is here a lot, answers emails…). I don't think he understands the full scope of damage the policies are likely to do to us but he did pass my concerns to the Minister.

I promised myself after my PIP ordeal that I would never vote for the Tories so long as they didn't see me as a human being. Their policies in that regard have not improved so although I am a floating voter, my vote will not be blue.

I don't really expect miracles from Labour. But the little they have said is not as bad as what we've already seen under the Tories and what their plans are. I have very low expectations of all political parties, honestly. It's a case of the best of a bad bunch most of the time.

I echo the view that protest voting in this election is risky. But I also understand if a particular MP has been not great to disability, wanting to not vote for them. It's going to be a very individual decision.

It's because of the right wing press and Murdoch in particular. If you ask people what they most value, the NHS, Welfare safety net, worker's protections, minimum wage etc - all Labour endeavours, then ask them about Utilities privatisation, social housing crisis, cuts to council budgets etc - all Conservative acts, then people are mostly quite decided, but then they go and vote Tory because Murdoch tells them they're worse off under Labour! I wish more people could see what's good for them!

one of the signs of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

Also the uk public are really the embodiment of ‘turkeys voting for Christmas’ - they really are allergic to wanting decent humans beings over career politicians that like punishing certain social groups.

Honestly I’m still spinning from starmers 2yr transformation from decent human being to someone ready to bin the majority of personal beliefs/value to try and gain power

‘Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely’

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LIF-2017-0037/LIF-2017-0037.pdf

so Parliament isn’t going to be dissolved till after the half term and wash out can last up to 7 (working) days

By my maths this first ‘squeaky bum time’ for the disabled community (at least in terms of the Data Protection and Information Bill‘) shouldn’t last longer than the 11th June

after then the rest of the election is technically a break for the disabled community as government can’t do anything whilst dissolved

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2011-007/LLN-2011-007.pdf

basically we are going to find out where labour stands on an lot of Tory’s policies because if you read any of the links on wash-up it requires compromise by both parties

bottom Line is labour should be blocking/not folding on the data protection bill over the next fortnight - anything else and all of you should be questioning labours intent even if you will give your vote to them regardless

There's an easy solution to that, @Danny123 can just flag their first comment and ask them to change the title of the thread. This way one of the team will definitely see it.