how can i vote in the next election

I don't go along with the view that sees the current Labour leadership as extremist - they are in favour of suporting public services, and a fairer society - basic social-democratic principles that would have seemed pretty normal before the dramatic shift rightwards that came with Thatcher. But many people in positions of influence (e.g. the Murdoch press) are appalled at the prospect of a socialist government and have set out to demonise Corbyn, surely a decent man by anyone's standards. (Compare the careerism and greed not just of certain Tory politicians but of Blair and his cronies.)

Both parties do not manage as they should Labour gets us in to debt whilst Tories try to reduce the debt to quckly
both wste money through the mandarins and civil service proejcts that we cant really afford HS2 a prime example
a ministers reply fronm someone in his office says that councils are elected demoncratically can do what they want!
I dont remember who elects CEO,s of councills
and they waste money on their pet projects.

If you can't decide because of the way Brexit has been handled, then vote on other issues.
Homelessness, poverty, elderly care, the NHS, education, state asset sales, tax dodging - you are spoilt for choice on the other issues. Read the manifestos. Ignore the press proganda, listen to what they say directly, you can usually find the exact quotes on YouTube or online somewhere.
I really cannot understand how people can not vote when people are suffering so much.

I too can no longer vote for my MP as he has behaved very badly over all this.
I have voted for the same party all my life apart for a brief flirtation with UKIP before the referendum.
Nothing on earth would make me vote Labour even without Corbyn in charge (?)
I am just hoping for a good independent solution.
I could not NOT vote. My Mum would turn in her grave!

MyCat and Nota I too feel politically homeless because of the main parties’ appalling positions on self-ID and because I feel Corbin is absolutely the wrong person to be Labour leader given his disgraceful voting record (against his own party) when he was a backbencher. Ultimately it’s hypocritical too given that little dissent is tolerated with momentum in charge. In addition there is Brexit and I was disgusted by the way he behaved during the referendum campaign.
So I am going to spoil my ballot paper too, (saying something like no to self-ID). Sad but I feel I can’t vote for any of the others but I still want to make a point.

It doesn’t matter who I vote for because the conservatives have a stronghold in my area. Last time they had a majority of over 30,000. I don’t see the point in voting because other parties don’t get it.

Don't ever forget Emiline Pankhurst - you must vote always at the least to spoil your ballot paper. Remember for the spoilt ballot paper to be counted you must deface inside the box only. If you scribble right across it -it doesn't count.

Political discussions are tricky because they involve heart as well as head. But it is a matter of record that the debt has increased much more under the Tories than it did under Labour. It was low under Labour (36%of GDP), but went up in 2009, their last year in office, as a result of the recession (caused not by 'overspending' - they didn't - but by a world financial crisis provoked by speculation, after deregulation in the financial industry). It has since climbed a lot higher under the Tories - around 80% of GDP. (There are various ways of measuring debt, but this is one reliable index.)
It's also worth considering that if you cut public services you create a need for greater public expenditure through the consequences that have to be dealt with - chronic ill-health, drop-outs from education, increase in crime, general disorder, etc. And if you privatise public services, so that they are run for the benefit of shareholders, you also build up more expense in the long run (staffing cuts, government bale-outs when things go pear-shaped, etc.).

I quite agree

Austerity has caused a lot of problems. It said on The One Show that there are 25% more kids in care now than in 2010, that is because surestart centres & youth clubs have been devastated by cuts, which are false economy in the long run. Austerity gets forgotten at budget time and tax cuts are doled out to millionaires. A relative told me yesterday that he earns just over the minimum wage as a gardener but his managers have hefty pay rises, 'I've stood out working in rain, snow & cold for them to get extra,' he said. He's really cross and said he'll never vote Tory again. He's like us, Labour all the way now.

Like paddyann, I am so glad we do have another option in Scotland. I have voted Tory( probably just once), Labour and Liberal years ago and never felt I was really confident who would do the best job. Leaving Scottish Independence to one side( which I do support), with devolution and now an SNP government, huge changes have been made in Scotland within the restrictions of reserved/devolved issues. We are genuinely trying to secure a fairer, more equal society, to protect the NHS, and to ameliorate the worst effects of Tory-imposed austerity. As Labour do not seem to have been an effective opposition party and perhaps abandoned their roots, I understand why those of you who are in England are wondering whether to vote at all. Perhaps an Independent or Green candidate who has impressed you with their character/experience, etc is the best option? Or, if you feel Tory policies have been too damaging, grit your teeth and vote Labour anyway as they are probably the only party apart from Tory that could secure a majority?
I am desperately worried about the future for our grandchildren across the UK. In 50s, 60s and into 70s it looked as though things were getting more equal and fairer to a large extent, but we are now being taken at break-neck speed back to the dark ages and a country of elite vs serfs.

I don't want to seem like a Labour Party troll, but will just make a couple of points on Corbyn's voting record - he voted against the war in Iraq. If more MPs had had the courage to do that, there might be considerably less chaos in the Middle East today. He voted against the 2014 Immigration Act that deprived many of the Windrush generation - people who had helped to rebuild Britain in the postwar years and who had paid taxes all their lives - of their citizenship. Few other Labour MPs had the courage to do that.
And how did he behave 'disgracefully' during the referendum campaign? He campaigned for Remain up and down the country, making speeches, stressing that the benefits of EU membership far outweighed the disadvantages, which he did not attempt to gloss over.
I won't post any more on this question, but I agree with Jaycee5 that we should vote on the basis of the positions that politicians take up on the issues, not on the basis of distorted reporting. We can ask ourselves why certain sections of the press are likely to be unsympathetic to a social-democratic programme that promotes greater equality and that does not govern on behalf of the vey wealthy.

BRedhead59, I don't think it matters how you "spoil" the ballot paper! I think candidates want to/are required to see them anyway.

Brexit has certainly split the main parties so that it has become difficult for 'natural' left or right wingers to put their 'X' in the usual place.

I feel that the Conservative party does not espouse core values any more and it becoming more centralist, authoritarian and nannying by the day. In addition to this, it is piling on stealth taxes and supporting a Brexit deal which defies the voters' intentions to leave the EU and its federalising instincts. May's deal is the worst of all worlds:- out of the EU so we have no input but with all of the strings attached which people voted 'out' to get rid of.

From my point of view, if I wanted to vote Conservative I would be voting for a Brexit deal which is anathema. However, the alternative is to split the 'blue' vote and let the Marxists in to destroy the country.

I can see that for many natural Labour supporters they will have the same dilemma. Many Labour voters support Brexit but do not support the hard left, Corbyn and the bullyboy tactics of Momentum and they find themselves in opposition to their M.P.s, the majority of whom are defying both the leadership and their own constituents.

I have never seen such a state of affairs. I suspect that many normal, ordinary hardworking, decent, taxpaying, compassionate Conservative and Labour voters have much more in common with each other than with their elected representatives and/or the cabinet and shadow cabinet.

Read about each party on their own website, ignoring what is said by newspapers and tv, they are all pretty much one sided. But if you don't agree with any of them, don't vote - that's a statement in itself.

Castafiore spabbygirl I was less than impressed when JC was elected leader but went to remain rally to see my mates and was gobsmacked by him, in person. A much more personable individual than he comes across as on (no doubt carefully selected) tv clips. I agree, voters should not look at the party of the candidate but at what they are undertaking to do for the country - then look at the evidence. The NHS will (sort of) continue to exist under the Tories but they have successfully pulled the financial rug from under the, mostly, dedicated professionals and the care they provide, for decades. We have been paying for the reckless bankers with the austerity measures for the last 10 years - do you want to pay for Brexit for the next 10?

If there is a second Brexit referendum (or "peoples vote") will we be entitled, at the next GE to ask for a revote if we don't like the result of the first?

Try to look at each manifesto - do not read or believe anything in any of the newspapers - most of them are owned by moguls who, for a start are terrified of Jeremy Corbyn getting into power, as he has stated he would be looking into their conglomerates. That is why they have conducted one of the most disgusting and virulent campaigns against him since he became LP leader
As a Jewish woman and member of the LP I can only say that I have NEVER experienced anything in the LP in any way remotely resembling anti-semitism. Many of us are against the extreme right wing government at present in Israel - does not make us either anti- Israel or anti-semitic.
The Tories have been continually dismantling the NHS, that is essential to save before it is too late. We have more poverty, homelessness and real poverty in UK in past few years than for a very long time. Nobody who at all cares about other people and the future for our children and g.children can really vote for the Tories.
no brainer to me as to how to vote, even though I do not agree with all that JC has done and am very disappointed that he is not supporting a second referendum

Perhaps we should all just vote for the party that we think will do least harm?

Not a pleasant thought, but are there better options? I can't see them.

JC wouldn't know which way to vote if he was pressed for a second referendum--------so what does that tell us ? He literally doesn't know how he'd vote.
Where's the confidence of his voters in him being a future leader ?

Isn't it depressing? I would not vote for Jeremy Corbyn and his undemocratic and frightening bunch of leftist bullies under threat of torture, and as for the other contenders....where are there any politicians of stature, any statesmen or women who can be dignified and respected representatives on the world stage? Perhaps we just thought that the politicians of the past had more integrity because every part of their lives was not exposed by the media for close scrutiny, ridicule and comment. My Father, a strong labour supporter all his life, was horrified to read in his later years that Harold Wilson's ministerial car would drop off and collect his two sons who were at at private school; this from a party who fought to destroy grammar schools. Perhaps politicians have always been a useless bunch of self seeking patronising sharks - and we were better off not knowing!!

Wilma65. I understand how you feel because I am also in an ultrasafe Tory seat but numbers do matter and sometimes seats have swung to the other side slowly over time.
We did reduce the Tory majority in my constituency by 3000 last time which in this area (most of which is wealthy) is quite a change.
I am convinced that I have the laziest MP in Parliament, he votes with the government 100% of the time, is a third generation Tory minister so walked into a safe seat, is wealthy and married to a Countess etc. He has never reached above junior minister which, considering unquestioning loyalty to the PM, can only be because he is useless. He has been in the press twice, once for complaining that undergraduates were too lazy to take menial jobs (this from a man who has never had to apply for a job that he didn't know he was going to get) and to object to tax relief being removed from the Plymouth Brethren (we are nowhere near Plymouth but he was Minister for Charities at the time).
These are obviously issues of much more pressing importance that the rise of food banks, homelessness etc.
They really could stick a blue rosette on a pig here and it would be voted in.

petunia. I suspect you may be the voice of the majority. It is a massive dilemma. It doesn't help when people say "You get the MPs you deserve" either!

I shall have to vote to get my present extremely unbalanced and untrustworthy incumbent out, more than to get the other person in, which really isn't ideal.

Perhaps we should all just vote for the party that we think will do least harm?

Precisely. And thats not labour.
IF I vote it will be for the best of a bad bunch. The lesser evil. Not for a party I am enthusiastic about!

Castafiore. Thanks. It's great to hear someone talk about facts. We need to listen properly and look at what people actually stand for. Good for you.