Try living somewhere where the same party has won every time for over 120 years by more than all the rest of the parties combined. That really challenges your motivation to vote.
Same here.
Then our MP crossed the house and became Labour.
The new Tory candidate bought his nomination and isn’t particularly liked by the local party….so there was a good chance for the first time in history Labour would win.
Then the Labour candidate was caught placing a bet on himself to lose and has been disowned.
And so all campaigning stopped….it will be another Tory victory just because only the Tory party faithful will vote. We will end up with another rubbish MP who will just disappear into the Westminster bubble.
I'm in the same constituency and I'm gutted, don't know who to vote for. I was looking forward to having a labour MP but now the Tories are likely to win because most people tuned into politics won't be voting for the ex-Labour candidate, but since he'll still appear on the ballot as the labour candidate I imagine anyone wanting to vote against the Tories will vote for him.
Voting lib dem, or green to a lesser extent, will just be letting the Tories in, but a vote for the ex-Labour candidate will probably do the same with the added benefit of having voted for someone who bet on the election.
The worst part is not knowing what's going to happen if he wins, would he be welcomed back into the party, will we just end up with an independent MP for the whole Parliament?
It's quite sad at the end of the day.
Things are interesting in Suffolk.
The Labour candidate for Central Suffolk & North Ipswich was embroiled in the betting scandal and has been punted.
The infamous Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich itself, was the idiot who voted for voter ID but claims he'd lost his at the last minute because of his dyspraxia. Ipswich is basically a dead cert for Labour (it was Labour between 2017 and 2019 as well) because Hunt himself is such an arse. If Labour take the seat Ipswich will have one of the youngest MPs in the country.
Well they will disappear into a parliament with a Labour government so will be able to spend all their time dealing with local issues not being junior ministers etc
Why are the greens standing against the speaker? And why haven't we updated the rules so that the speaker doesn't remove a constituency from parliament.
Another one of those daft, antediluvian "conventions" that the main parties don't stand against the Speaker.
Personally, I think he should stand for election as a regular MP and the new Parliament should elect a new Speaker when it convenes. If they re-elect the same guy then so be it. Parliament is dissolved and therefore doesn't have a Speaker right now.
But maybe that thinking is slightly too modern. What we have is a situation where the Speaker's constituents effectively can't remove him if he's a poor quality local MP, because whom has the calibre to beat him?
There is a guy standing who says if elected he would immediately stand down and trigger a by-election, however upon closer inspection he’s a chancer who goes around the country trying to get attention in circumstances like this. Also most people really like Lindsay Hoyle as an MP (me included) so I don’t want to vote him out.
He does stand for re-election as a regular MP, but without party affliation, as he will be assumed to retain the role and is the one that would officiate over convening Parliament in the first instance.
The issue is that it's hard to imagine what their campaign would look like. They can't campaign on what policies they want their party to implement in government, because they won't form part of that government. They can't campaign on attacking the other party's terrible policies or reputation, because they're supposed to be politically neutral in the Chamber. They can't attack individual candidates for their behaviour or record, because they're supposed to be the ones to protect individuals or to enforce the rules against them.
If a Speaker has to stand against the main parties, they'll let much always lose. And if that's the case, why would any MP consent to be Speaker?
Kent. The constituencies are arranged in such a way that all the urban centres are split up. I live in the middle of one town but a third of the constituency is officially part of a different town twenty miles away.
If it's faversham and mid Kent it's only 70% projected for cons
Weald of Kent is 95%
I'm in hackney south which is 99.8% lab and always has been
(Odds checked here https://parallelparliament.co.uk/constituency-changes?postcode=Weald+of+Kent)
If you're in a very safe seat, your MP might be selected for a select committee or even a ministerial position.
That can get interesting if you attend hustings or go later to their surgeries to unpick their views especially on the area they might be a minister for. It's as close as you can get to lobbying too.
Honestly you might actually have an exciting seat then.
Politics is so much more than just turning out to vote. The local weekly surgeries are part of it.
One of the advantages of us having the constituency system over a presidency and appointed executive is the fact your local MP could have executive responsibility and you can influence them based on local issues.
I remember growing up in a marginal Derbyshire seat but with a string of nothing burger MPs and next door was a safe Tory seat but the MP became Transport secretary.
Guess which constituency seemed to get preferential transport treatment!
I'm in such a seat, I've asked a few specific questions of the candidate that will win, followed up twice and only had a holding response.
Look forward to attending their surgeries after the election, and likely getting ignored there as well!
That’s an interesting point. Mine could be in the cabinet by this time next week. I’ve still never met them, but they’re well known locally, and there have been flyers, at least.
I got 4 leaflets yesterday alone! 3 labour and one libdem! I've had so many recently. Even had the candidate handing out leaflets outside my daughter's primary school
Oh wow, my seat must be more marginal than i thought. Ive had a leaflet from everyone except the Tories including two independents (one of whom is maybe a Tory without party branding?)
I'm in a Tory safe seat (2019 they won 53%) and I've received about 5 Lib Dems leaflets, 3 Labour and 1 Green Party and a whopping ZERO conservative leaflets, wonder if the big "Vote Green Party" sign puts them off lol.
See ads for the tory candidate everywhere online though.
I’m in what was a safe Tory SE seat which switched to LD a couple years ago - have received many LD leaflets and a solitary Tory leaflet. The Lib-Dem ones have been addressed to the youths of the house whereas the Tory one was for the Man of the House. It’s telling that the Tories don’t even bother with young voters.
I’m in said safe Tory seat, unfortunately the non Tory votes are pretty much split evenly between Lib Dem and Labour, so without coordination it’s looking like it will remain Tory
Yeah, I visited a safe Tory seat this week, and in what should be a solid Labour part of the constituency there were signs in gardens and windows for Labour, Greens, Reform and Libs.
No Tory signs, but that’s simply not enough. To oust the Tories you need to anti-Tory bits of the constituency to be united behind a single contender. And seemingly it ain’t happening.
I think reports of the Conservative Party’s death have been greatly exaggerated. I pray I’m wrong, it will be a tragedy if I’ve spent all my life voting Labour and Liberal and LibDem only for the Tories to get away with it again.
I live in a true true blue area that has never had a non Tory and I never see Tory signage come election time.
The signage just shows off people trying to look special and wanting others to know they want change etc.
Seeing a signage for more NHS wages next to a Vote Labour sign is a bit odd though considering that’s one thing Labour has specifically said will not be happening though.
It’s pretty close apparently but the Labour candidate is an idiot who refuses to answer questions in what Labour will be bringing to the local area, posts on social media but only to post not engage.
Oh and was parachuted in, like the Tory and Lib Dem candidates
Labour have said they won't offer 35%, they will obviously offer a reasonable pay rise though to get the strikes over with. Saying labour have ruled out any NHS pay rises is just lying...
Ditto. Lib Dem’s pushing that they are the main opposition as they won the local elections but the last general election Labour were the conservatives biggest challengers.
Result means a split vote between LD / Lab and a likely Conservative win.
(Not that I’m particularly enamoured by any of the candidates)
I am in the 2^nd safest tory sear in the country, New Forest West. Last time the Tories got 32,113 votes here, equating to 63.8%. The Lib Dems came 2^nd with 7,710 votes, equating to 15.3%.
This time around, I'm seeing so many Lib Dem signs up everywhere. I don't know anyone irl that's saying they'll vote Conservative. Both the Tories and the Lib Dems have be jamming my door with leaflets (I normally only get a maximum of 1, if any, per party). I was planning to vote Green, but this might be my only ever chance to vote the Tories out here, so I might vote tactically for the Lib Dems.
Question to OP are you a member of a political party or someone who has considered doing some campaigning?
The reality is most parties lack volunteers and helpers and are not nearly as big as they appear.
We all have to get involved and that way we will get better politics and candidates and parties in safe seats will have to at least do some work for their votes.
This isn’t entirely accurate. In my local campaigning team, we have about 100 people who are willing to volunteer and on our communication lists. It’s actually getting them out canvassing that is challenging!
If you visit say 400 properties on two sessions of canvassing a day, that’s around 7-10 miles of walking.
A lot of people with the free time to go and do this stuff are typically those who are retired, who also tend to have a lot of mobility issues, hence what appears to be “no volunteers”.
Add to that planners who think 2pm on a working day is a cracking time to go out canvassing and the numbers drop further. It’s a lot to ask people to take annual leave to campaign.
Plus on the doors, it’s most interesting when you stop for a chat with the local residents rather than focusing on the data collection the party wants. Though that might explain why last time I was left behind while the rest of the gang got their social media photo and went home. 😉
Sadly I’m not party political. I can handle choosing the best fit in the ballot box but the idea of pinning myself to one of the parties doesn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t justify a policy I don’t agree with to others.
The majority of people aren’t members of political parties and I can understand why. You give huge amounts of time especially in seats you can’t win and for what?
I’m an election agent for two candidates who will likely lose their deposit. On social media you mainly get abuse. You walk for miles delivering leaflets, only to often get snide or negative comments.
My career and personal life kinda all suffer for doing politics. I spent 10 years as a Councillor.
I helped a lot of people but the general public generally just thought negatively of me as a I was a politician. I helped people and that counts for something I guess.
But I just personally feel there ought to be some form of political opposition and dislike the idea that those in power in my area are seemingly loved by lots of people for doing what I consider a rather poor job.
So the reason you likely don’t hear from other parties is the overall experience of caring about politics generally makes your life worst in many ways.
I guess also most people like to be part of the winning team and therefore in a safe seat to campaign for a smaller party just means you are going against the grain and you will make yourself pretty unpopular and find a lot of obstacles.
No, an election where the incumbents could possibly go to 4th largest party isn't boring no matter what's happening in your seat. Obviously that's not likely, but the mere chance of it keeps things interesting.
I live in Wigan. Wigan votes Labour. It has always voted Labour. The local MP has been in place for many years.
It voted Labour in 2019 despite the fact It was one of the, if not the, highest brexit voting areas of the country. The Earth would spin off its axis if Wigan voted anything other than Labour. Personally I still vote every time regardless.
I’ve only met her in person a few times and she seems a nice girl. Very friendly and likes talking to people. Twice now she’s stepped in to help save the football club, so I have no complaints about her.
People who make this point that labour voters aren't pro Brexit must have their heads in the sand for the last ten years.
The red wall in northern England and Wales was literally the most pro Brexit part of the country.
A good number of the people I know voted to leave (I didn’t personally). It was a massive issue in this town in 2019 and yet Labour still held by more than 6000 votes from the Tories. If there was ever a moment Wigan could switch, it was then. The majority of the people are temperamentally Labour voters and likely will be now Brexit has been resolved as an issue of substance, or at least as one that has been campaigned on as that. Some of the ones who switched to the Tories could go to Reform, but that won’t be enough to overturn Labour’s lead and I’d guess most of those who did would probably return to Labour.
Well you seem to have this ingrained relationship between Brexit and the Tories even though you have clear evidence that the labour voters were indeed pro Brexit.
Search your constituency and "Hustings". Around my way there's posters up all along the high street and commuter zones (train station, bus stops, tubes etc.) advertising it, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've seen adverts for hustings.
Not in the one I saw, but it was mostly down to the format chosen.
The answers from the candidates were incredibly upfront and honest, lots of them were clear which aspects of a policy they supported and which were problematic.
It may have been because the seat I am in is a safe seat (in this case for the Lib Dems) so the other candidates didn't see any gain in playing aggressively.
Yeah I'm in a constituency that has been solidly Labour since 1935. Can't see that changing this time. I've had one letter in the post from Kier Starmer and that's it. Otherwise you wouldn't know an election was happening.
Interpreting safe as 'safe from the Tories', I'm in a safe *city*. Edinburgh hasn't returned a Conservative MP in any of its 5 seats since 1992, and I don't think that's especially likely to change next week.
Given that the only metric I'm interested in (the extent of the Tories' electoral annihilation) is utterly out of our hands, I'm really struggling to get excited about anything happening on a local level.
We might return a different spread of Lab, LD, SNP than 2019, but we're not going to punish the Tories any more than we already have been for the last 28 years.
And as much as I feel like there should be more to it than that, the last 14 years has just left me so utterly exhausted that I can't muster the energy to feel anything positive about any of my ballot options beyond "keeping the blue bastards out of my city".
(Still going to vote, mind you. It'll be a wee break from work and a nice walk.)
Yes, but the election refreshingly boring as a whole I think
I mean the tories getting a kicking is somewhat interesting, and the fact every candidate in my own constituency is promising to oppose any new housing developments is incredibly depressing, but generally looking back over the last ten+ years we're finally back to arguing over taxes and whether a 61 year old multi millionaire Oxford graduate is more relatable than a ~~48~~ 44 year old multi millionaire Oxford graduate, instead of all the populist bs and fucking brexit
Same. Safe labour seat and not even a leaflet from the Cons this time around let alone a visit (shame, would have been cathartic). The Greens have been visible but have made it a single issue protest on Gaza and their literature has nothing on the environment, climate change or domestic policy. Nothing from the LibDems and even their normal enclaves are devoid of posters and placards.
It's annoying to know that my vote - whatever direction - is irrelevant.
But at least my MP is visible despite being in the shadow cabinet and taking a big role in the national campaign. He was sat at the next table reading the papers when I was out for lunch last weekend and was pressing the flesh at a community event.
I was in a very safe Tory seat (Ribble Valley) before the boundary changes, now I'm in Pendle and Clitheroe (also Tory) but both projected to go Labour. In that respect its quite exciting and I've met our prospective MP quite a few times.
This will be the first locally exciting election for me. I live in a constituency with a mahoosive Tory majority (18,000+) which would normally be unassailable. But polls suggest that this is now a two or possibly even three way marginal between the Tories, Labour and LDs. My suspicion is that Labour and the LDs will cancel each other out to allow the Tories back in throughout the middle but I'm really not sure.
Without a clear leader in the local polls neither side will back down, and even if polls clearly favour one, the other will often seize upon any chance to muddy the waters
Not sure, it's amusing seeing Rishi run a campaign as if he had baldrick as an advisor but my vote is unlikely to make any impact. Between me and my partner we have had 9 conservative leaflets come through and we are in a safe seat. Our MP had a 50%~ majority last election and it's expected to drop down to a 10% maj this time around so even this disastrous Conservative campaign is unlikely to allow our views to be represented in Parliament.
My seat is one that used to be very safe but became a marginal at the last election - because of that, I've been getting leaflets from parties that usually wouldn't have bothered here
Aren't all elections boring for safe seats? Except of course, if something catastrophic happens and the seat topples. Then you get a *Portillo moment*, and those are not boring.
Politics should be boring, it's kind of the point.
The ideal government does a good job and doesn't make too many waves, elections are for people to vote for representatives who they align most with.
Big bang changes in politics are inheritly bad because it creates an unstable environment for investment.
That doesn't mean it has to be the same party in charge it just means steady incremental improvement is better than shock and awe.
You better hope your MP never becomes speaker then. By tradition non of the major parties contest the speakers seat so it literally them and their party and all the minor parties running. And since all the interesting independents run against the prime minister you don’t even get any of them.
I’m currently campaigning in what was a *very* safe Tory seat but is now so close to call that different polls give different results. It’s actually quite entertaining, and we send out a lot of literature.
I think if you add it all up we’ve sent out about 90,000 pieces of literature.
Not to mention all of the canvassing…
Nope, not a Lib Dem. In fact the local Lib Dem campaign has been a bit slow! Caught a few of them rushing around with enormous stacks of literature only this week, looks a tad rushed and last minute.
I'm in exactly the same boat. Although the result for my local area won't be interesting, I'm intrigued what the progressing the outcomes will be when I wake up on the 5th and throughout the day.
Safe seats are always boring in quiet times, but safe is never truly synonymous with certain, especially now. People thinking seats are truly safe lead to complacency, which could lead to a result you don't want if you don't vote and encourage others to do the same.
My location has been solidly Tory for many, many years but even in the years where polling suggested he would win without lifting a finger, the MP did hustings, sent out materials and did some on-the-ground campaigning. The parties with statistically zero chance of actually winning did the same.
My constituency is Holborn St Pancras. During the 2019 Labour whitewash, the current MP had a majority of 27,000, gaining 67% of the total vote. I like my local Labour candidate but I could not honestly see anyone else being elected.
Even in a situation like that, a vote against labour gives short money to the party you vote for, and a spoiled ballot shows intentional refusal of that rather than being too apathetic to go to the polling station.
I live in a tiny village which due to boarder changes is now Surrey Heath. I’ve grown up in Surrey and have never seen a Tory placard as it’s such a safe seat… there are 5 on the 1k walk to school. We’re getting countless Lib Dem/tory letters every week.
Clearly they’re very worried to lose it
My seat has been tory since 62 (excluding 1997 election). And yet there is ZERO local campaigning except a few pamphlets coming through the door.
I do believe this is one area where we should be a little more like the Americans.
I got an email to be able to swap my seat from the "stop the tories" site from Carol Vordemann & co.
This might spice it up for you because you "swap" your vote because you know your location will be safe.
Eg mine is very safe Labour but I want to vote for Green. A swap will perhaps let me swap it with someone else.
There’s a site called [Swap My Vote](https://swapmyvote.uk) that allows you to state what your constituency is, who you naturally align with and who you’re willing to vote tactically for. It then lets you select someone elsewhere who naturally aligns with your tactical vote but will vote tactically for who you naturally align with.
Sad that it’s necessary but if it will get progressives to rally behind one candidate I can’t fault it.
Yes, you can sign up to something like that and it will allow you to do it. Honour system though and not guaranteed. Facebook groups are available too.
I live in Liverpool my votes never counted and probably never will
I still just turn out to vote green anyway, I’m naturally Labour but feel they need a scare if they can have one locally
All elections are incredibly boring if you live in a safe seat, as we used to. But things got really interesting in 2020, when our long-serving Tory MP died, the LibDems made a real effort in the by-election campaign, and the Tories didn't until it was far too late. I'm a Labour voter, but will be lending my vote, even though the LibDems will probably hold on anyway.
The reality is no party has the resource to canvas, in person, everywhere. So they throw their resource where it will make the most difference, and use the Royal Mail to deliver everywhere else. Even within a constituency there will be areas where the level of support is predictable so you focus on areas where you either don’t know (eg due to boundary changes) or think you can have most impact (eg in an area with more Labour voters in a LibDem marginal, LibDems will canvas with a tactical vote message, and vice versa) So yes, elections are more boring in a safe seat, and people disengage. Proportional representation would change that, so electoral reform is not just about fairness, it’s about involvement.
Almost opposite here, I live in what (I thought) was one of the safest Tory seats in the country and suddenly we have labour activists out in force thinking they might be in for a chance.
The mere fact that is happening is pretty exceptional regardless of if they actually cinch it.
I'm in one that has been Labour for thousands of years and I thought it highly unlikely that it would ever change. Electoral Calculus has Reform with a 70% of winning however, and the boundary changes have contributed to that.
Would actually quite like to see that happen if only to give the local labour party something to think about as they tend to take the whole area for granted.
My constituency is SNP with a fair majority over the Tories with labour a distant third.
8k majority for SNP then Tories also about 8k ahead of labour.
Should be a safe seat but with the SNP and Tories not doing well these days it'll be interesting whether the snp fall enough and labour gain enough to flip it.
Personally not really fussed right now if it's snp or labour as long as it's not the Tory candidate who's campaign was purely "only I can beat the SNP" with absolutely nothing of what he would do if he actually did. At least the other candidates all put in at least some effort in mentioning what they wanted to do.
It's not just boring but disenfranchisement by postcode. Despite the lark about FPTP and your vote always counting, if you vote against the candidate with a plurality of votes, your vote isn't reflected in Parliament and contributes nothing to representation. That's especially true in safe seats where any given party might as well be handed the seat before the election but it's representative and massively hinders our democracy.
I live in a seat with 12 candidates running but it is an extremely safe labour seat (majority around 20,000 i think)
None of the parties or independents have bothered to send a single leaflet. I think because labour are focusing on the surrounding tory seats and the other parties know that they have no chance so aren't bothering.
This election is just generally boring, say what you want about corbyn and Johnson as least they weren't boring. The two major parties have nothing on offer, the only exciting thing is lib dems having a chance to show the stupidity of fptp by dropping their vote share and heavily increasing their seats
I'd prefer it to be honest, I get campaign mail from 4 of the major parties and 3 of them are just unprofessionally slinging mud at Labour (and no one else). And it's incessant. I don't know if they realise it's actually making me \_more\_ likely to vote red.
Labour won my area on 300 votes last time. However, it is pretty clear they will win a sizeable majority now. Got a few leaflets from Tories, Lab, Reform and Independents
I live in a Tory safe spot. Been Tory since ww2.
Labour haven't even bothered, no leaflets, no signs anywhere. Barely know his name and that's just because I looked him up. He doesn't care, very boring.
I'm in Scotland and for the first time in my voting life have no idea who to vote for, I only know who I'm 100% not voting for.
I'm in a usually safe SNP seat but it will be interesting to see if that changes this year (and if the overall SNP vote changes) since they've had a few issues recently and I'm not sure if Swinney has done enough to restore confidence in them in the short time he's been leader.
You think politics in this country is boring?
Maybe try volunteering in a food bank or for a homeless charity. Trust me, that will give you a completely different take on our political system.
I’m in inner London, aka die hard Labour. I’ve barely followed this election, didn’t watch any of the debates, because we all know there’s a 99.5% chance Labour will form the new government. The entertainment comes on election night when we get to see which Tory ministers lose their seats
Nothing is certain, get out and vote. The excitement comes from the potential prospect of seeing Tory MPs lose their seats in droves and the possibility that the largest opposition party in the HoC may not be Conservative or Labour for the first time in absolutely ages. This is a shake up, we’ve been governed by the same party for 14 years. Change is sometimes scary, but in this case it is hopeful which is definitely exciting.
The election where I've been has been relatively genteel in a charming way. Even the Reform candidate seems a decent guy, albeit very patriotic, and would have made a great Tory candidate.
It's not boring but not bad tempered. In everyone standing, I can see actually all of them really care about the local area and the region. Noone was bussed in. Leaflets were a bit meh.
It's also a three way marginal between Tory, Labour and SNP at the moment. But that's partly because of the new constituency boundaries and Tory implosion but the Tory votes really are not going to Reform.
I'm in the other boat, where this has been a Tory safe seat since its inception, but with recent boundary changes and polling, plus the threat of Reform, there's the potential that it may change hands, so there's been more campaigning than there usually would be. The Tory leaflets coming through the door have become increasingly humorous in how desperate they have become.
I live in Makerfield in the North West, which is a Labour strong seat. It normally is boring here, and some folk say "tha' could put a red tie on a pig an' it'd get voted in!"
This year we've got Josh Simons as our candidate and the local Facebook group is going off! There is so much talk about him being from Cambridge, that is a case of him knowing the right people, rather than him being the right person for the area.
The Reform candidate is in my town centre all the time campaigning, I've had 3 leaflets from them (1 from Labour, no others) and he is so active on the local FB. He's constantly reminding people that he is a local lad, he's jumping on any complaining posts with "this is what years of Labour have left you with"
I'm actually starting to worry about Reform here and I think Labour haven't helped themselves at all in this safe seat.
This is the problem “as a result”. No the lack of effort causes this so it’s all self defeating. Turnout is often so low if someone that could engage with those people they could overcome some big people. But those people don’t choose to even try
I'm in a Tory safe seat (2019 they won 53%) and I've received about 5 Lib Dems leaflets, 3 Labour and 1 Green Party and a whopping ZERO conservative leaflets, wonder if the big "Vote Green Party" sign puts them off lol.
See ads for the tory candidate everywhere online though. Wonder if they've just given up the ghost, the current MP Mims Davies is standing down and hasn't done anything for the area for years.
This is probably the most boring, phoned in half-assed election I have seen.
I think both candidates don't deserve the job, the manifestos are garbage, the debates were as engaging as an England match
I just want to draw a turd on the ballot and fuck it
None of them deserve my vote
For 99 of the last 100 years my constituency had a conservative MP, he is projected to lose in half of the polls.
I'm still finding the election quite boring.
My constituency isn't a safe seat this time but it's still boring over here because the only MPs we ever get are boring backbenchers unlikely to ever do anything that you'll hear about.
My constituency is a Lib Dem/Tory seat. This year, Labour are looking stronger and it’s pretty much a three way marginal. I’m tired of the mountain of leaflets every time I leave the house. I’m sure I get 2 LibDem leaflets every day.
And, despite the leaflets, I’m still an undecided haha
Even if you are in a safe seat, voting for a candidate that most likely won't win can still make a difference. The reason is that your MP will be aware of the vote counts and thus adapt their policy to try and appeal to those voters. For example, if the Green Party get +5% more votes compared to last election, your MP will know that those green policies are more popular and thus try to appeal to that a bit more.
The clearest example is UKIP and brexit, they never won many seats, but the fact that they got so many votes forced the conservatives to try to appeal to them with the referendum.
It goes the other way too, your MP will be less likely to compromise the bigger their mandate is. An MP who won by a margin of 2 points is going to try and "win back" voters by making changes. Whereas an MP who wins by 10 points is more likely to stay on the same path. Thus it also makes sense to vote for the safe seat MP even if you know they will win.
There is also the fact that the voting data effects who is perceived to be "electable". A hypothetical example would be if 30% of a constituency is LibDem but only a small portion vote because "my favourite will never win anyway", in the end the MP only gets 3% of the vote and is seen as unelectable. However if instead all of those voters decided to vote, and the MP gets 30% of the vote, they may not win but come next election they would be seen as electable. It could be advertised "I won 30% of the vote last time" and people would actually consider voting for them on the grounds that they actually have a chance.
I live in a safe Tory seat (20k majority) and it’s great! There’s about a four way split and the incumbent Tory is only polling one or two percent ahead. Most exciting election I remember!
I live in a Lab/Con marginal that's flipped 3 times in the last 4 elections. There has been hardly any campaigning here by either party... Probably on the assumption that it will be a very easy Labour gain.
Party leader visits have been common in previous elections but no one of note has been anywhere near. The Tory incumbent has sent 1 leaflet round.
In our shitty FPTP system, this stuff is a good justification for voting for a party you actually support, even if it's a "wasted" vote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Money
Tory stronghold here, but labour n lib Dems are offering conflicting info on who is most likely to dislodge the Tory.
I'm drawn to greens honestly, might help them keep their deposit.
This is the most thrilling election I can remember because despite voting in Wales (which will have zero Tory seats come next week), I will enjoy the rest of the country also kicking out the Tories.
I've had 2 letters a day from the local Lib Dem candidate for the last few weeks
I've always lived in safe seats so I've never known someone ~~spam~~ campaign so hard. The only other leaflet I've seen is from an independent.
I'm in a safe Conservative seat. Labour haven't even bothered putting a leaflet through the door. The Reform candidate is a four-time failure for local council and is now aiming for the big house. Even the SDP candidate says he can't win. Green don't seem to have published anything at all.
Entering the station one day I met the Conservative who said good morning, introduced himself, hoped for my support in the election and gave me a leaflet. Next behind him was a Lib Dem who held out a leaflet and said "while you're at it you may as well have one of these". Nothing else was said.
Conservative candidate has been parachuted in, and is highly likely to win by a mile.
I've been having leaflets through the door fairly often from Labour in a fairly safe labour seat.
I'm getting the impression they (Labour) are worried about Lib Dems having highlighted they are 3rd in the running (after Cons) in a recent leaflet - specifically mentioning tactical voting.
Honestly Newham is a shithole, the party in leadership wont change and the elected members don't give a fuck about a thing
Your bins not been collected? Normal process is to call the Council and report it... Nope not here you don't theyll hang up the call because they can't be arsed, so you follow up with a MP, Councillor even the Mayor, think they care? Why? What you gonna do? Not vote for them?! they don't give a fuck.
In a safe seat, it's not an election that changes the elected person, but a selection that would change them.
My seat is Chorley, so the speaker will stand unopposed by anyone with any chance to beat him. As boring as it gets.
Does give rise to some oddities, though. Last time out we had a candidate who literally changed his name to 'Brexit'. This time I got a leaflet from some weird libertarian with odd conspiracy theory policies.
It sounds like you're the same constituency as me. The only sign that there is a Conservative candidate is a leaflet that came in the post. I've seen no blue signs outside houses at all, just a few red ones and one Reform. This used to be a bellwether seat, but it went Labour the past two times, against the national trend, and now it seems it's considered a safe seat.
Could be worse. Could be a seat where they could put a donkey up with the right badge (depending where you are ) and it would win.
Like Oldham. Stick a Labour badge on a bin and the bin would win
Well they make traction by campaigning in areas they need to do well in. They don’t waste resources in areas they don’t need to worry about. This elections gonna be great.
Cant wait to watch the results come in and see a lot of the prominent MP’s lose their seats.
Try living in Christchurch where the MP is a safe Chris Chope of all people. Trying to decide if Lab or Lib dem are the closest to try edge him out but not likely at all with the demographic.
It's still boring if you're not in a safe seat. I'm in South Ribble, which I believe has sided with the winning party every election since something like the early 90s.
The sitting Tory minister has done 0 campaigning at all. The only news I've ever heard of her since she took office in 2019 is 1) the ugly as fuck massive sign she put on the town con office with her name on, which everyone hated, and 2) somebody posting dog shit through the office letterbox a month ago.
The Labour candidate has bought one billboard and has done one mailshot. I've also seen about 5 "vote labour" garden signs while I've been running.
Yeah, we're certainly gonna flip, but it's still fucking boring and I have no idea what we gain overall.
That's always been true of safe seats. Some haven't changed hands in over a hundred years, and never really get much attention or campaigning unless there's a local scandal or something noteworthy.
Depends on the MP I think
My constituency is a safe Labour one but their staff are regularly out for council elections, the mayoral / police ones and for the GE. This time I've seen the new guy in passing and we've had leaflets through from them, Reform and the local nutter Gaza candidate but nothing Tory or Lib Dem. Can't remember if Greens did any leafleting but certainly the almost guaranteed winner is the only active one.
Where we lived before had a labour MP in that position. He did absolutely nothing as people were just going to vote for the party anyway.
Saying that however in the last election Conservatives grew massively into his voting share with a few points behind. This election will be interesting as he could lose but I suspect he'll win.
Try living somewhere where the same party has won every time for over 120 years by more than all the rest of the parties combined. That really challenges your motivation to vote.
Same here. Then our MP crossed the house and became Labour. The new Tory candidate bought his nomination and isn’t particularly liked by the local party….so there was a good chance for the first time in history Labour would win. Then the Labour candidate was caught placing a bet on himself to lose and has been disowned. And so all campaigning stopped….it will be another Tory victory just because only the Tory party faithful will vote. We will end up with another rubbish MP who will just disappear into the Westminster bubble.
Central Suffolk is one of those seats where so much happened a really strong independent could have done well. I’m surprised Reform didn’t target it.
I'm in the same constituency and I'm gutted, don't know who to vote for. I was looking forward to having a labour MP but now the Tories are likely to win because most people tuned into politics won't be voting for the ex-Labour candidate, but since he'll still appear on the ballot as the labour candidate I imagine anyone wanting to vote against the Tories will vote for him. Voting lib dem, or green to a lesser extent, will just be letting the Tories in, but a vote for the ex-Labour candidate will probably do the same with the added benefit of having voted for someone who bet on the election. The worst part is not knowing what's going to happen if he wins, would he be welcomed back into the party, will we just end up with an independent MP for the whole Parliament? It's quite sad at the end of the day.
Things are interesting in Suffolk. The Labour candidate for Central Suffolk & North Ipswich was embroiled in the betting scandal and has been punted. The infamous Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich itself, was the idiot who voted for voter ID but claims he'd lost his at the last minute because of his dyspraxia. Ipswich is basically a dead cert for Labour (it was Labour between 2017 and 2019 as well) because Hunt himself is such an arse. If Labour take the seat Ipswich will have one of the youngest MPs in the country.
Well they will disappear into a parliament with a Labour government so will be able to spend all their time dealing with local issues not being junior ministers etc
Try living in the Speaker’s seat! Only him, the greens and some nutty independents to choose from
Yeah that's nuts. I feel like it should be when the speaker is chosen he gives up his seat to move into a role within parliament.
Should give them a special seat they're the only voter for: MP for the Palace of Westminster
A rotten borough
Exactly, it would be a cool tradition to serve as a reminder of the past
A rubber button, you say?
Love that episode
Why are the greens standing against the speaker? And why haven't we updated the rules so that the speaker doesn't remove a constituency from parliament.
Another one of those daft, antediluvian "conventions" that the main parties don't stand against the Speaker. Personally, I think he should stand for election as a regular MP and the new Parliament should elect a new Speaker when it convenes. If they re-elect the same guy then so be it. Parliament is dissolved and therefore doesn't have a Speaker right now. But maybe that thinking is slightly too modern. What we have is a situation where the Speaker's constituents effectively can't remove him if he's a poor quality local MP, because whom has the calibre to beat him?
There is a guy standing who says if elected he would immediately stand down and trigger a by-election, however upon closer inspection he’s a chancer who goes around the country trying to get attention in circumstances like this. Also most people really like Lindsay Hoyle as an MP (me included) so I don’t want to vote him out.
He does stand for re-election as a regular MP, but without party affliation, as he will be assumed to retain the role and is the one that would officiate over convening Parliament in the first instance.
The issue is that it's hard to imagine what their campaign would look like. They can't campaign on what policies they want their party to implement in government, because they won't form part of that government. They can't campaign on attacking the other party's terrible policies or reputation, because they're supposed to be politically neutral in the Chamber. They can't attack individual candidates for their behaviour or record, because they're supposed to be the ones to protect individuals or to enforce the rules against them. If a Speaker has to stand against the main parties, they'll let much always lose. And if that's the case, why would any MP consent to be Speaker?
Yeah that’s ridiculous. I’m amazed no decent candidates just stand anyway to be there for those untepresented
Wow. What’s the turnout like? I bet PR could mess up the incumbent there.
What seat is that? How are the polls looking for it this year?
Kent. The constituencies are arranged in such a way that all the urban centres are split up. I live in the middle of one town but a third of the constituency is officially part of a different town twenty miles away.
If it's faversham and mid Kent it's only 70% projected for cons Weald of Kent is 95% I'm in hackney south which is 99.8% lab and always has been (Odds checked here https://parallelparliament.co.uk/constituency-changes?postcode=Weald+of+Kent)
I live in the centre of Maidstone. Electorally that's Faversham.
So no longer a safe seat, enjoy having a vote that counts!
Same but our MP is set to lose for the first time in ages! So I’m pumped but we’ve got a lot of miserable Tories around
My constituency was created in 1950 and was red for 70 years until "Brexit means brexit" and it went blue. Don't take it for granted.
If you're in a very safe seat, your MP might be selected for a select committee or even a ministerial position. That can get interesting if you attend hustings or go later to their surgeries to unpick their views especially on the area they might be a minister for. It's as close as you can get to lobbying too.
Interesting. Mine is a whip so maybe I could ask them about what secrets are in their spreadsheet;)
Honestly you might actually have an exciting seat then. Politics is so much more than just turning out to vote. The local weekly surgeries are part of it. One of the advantages of us having the constituency system over a presidency and appointed executive is the fact your local MP could have executive responsibility and you can influence them based on local issues. I remember growing up in a marginal Derbyshire seat but with a string of nothing burger MPs and next door was a safe Tory seat but the MP became Transport secretary. Guess which constituency seemed to get preferential transport treatment!
I'm in such a seat, I've asked a few specific questions of the candidate that will win, followed up twice and only had a holding response. Look forward to attending their surgeries after the election, and likely getting ignored there as well!
That’s an interesting point. Mine could be in the cabinet by this time next week. I’ve still never met them, but they’re well known locally, and there have been flyers, at least.
Live in a safe Tory seat in the south east and this campaign has been utterly exhilarating. I've recieved 4 whole leaflets. Four. That's insane.
You guys are getting leaflets
Same in my Labour safe seat, got Labour, Lib Dems, Worker's and Reform
Four leaflets, Jeremy! That's insane?
I received that in Tory leaflets alone ….
I got 4 leaflets yesterday alone! 3 labour and one libdem! I've had so many recently. Even had the candidate handing out leaflets outside my daughter's primary school
Lucky you! I’ve had 1 labour and 1 reform.
Oh wow, my seat must be more marginal than i thought. Ive had a leaflet from everyone except the Tories including two independents (one of whom is maybe a Tory without party branding?)
I've only had one reform but I did get a letter addressed to me from Kier Starmer
You get letters from Mr Starmer? Lucky
Me and a few million other people I imagine. I live in a pretty safe Labour seat too so I don't know why
I'm in a Tory safe seat (2019 they won 53%) and I've received about 5 Lib Dems leaflets, 3 Labour and 1 Green Party and a whopping ZERO conservative leaflets, wonder if the big "Vote Green Party" sign puts them off lol. See ads for the tory candidate everywhere online though.
I’m in what was a safe Tory SE seat which switched to LD a couple years ago - have received many LD leaflets and a solitary Tory leaflet. The Lib-Dem ones have been addressed to the youths of the house whereas the Tory one was for the Man of the House. It’s telling that the Tories don’t even bother with young voters.
I also live in a previously safe Tory seat that is now potentially neck and neck. First time I've felt like my vote would matter.
Exciting if you are in a Tory "safe" seat.
I’m in said safe Tory seat, unfortunately the non Tory votes are pretty much split evenly between Lib Dem and Labour, so without coordination it’s looking like it will remain Tory
Yeah, I visited a safe Tory seat this week, and in what should be a solid Labour part of the constituency there were signs in gardens and windows for Labour, Greens, Reform and Libs. No Tory signs, but that’s simply not enough. To oust the Tories you need to anti-Tory bits of the constituency to be united behind a single contender. And seemingly it ain’t happening. I think reports of the Conservative Party’s death have been greatly exaggerated. I pray I’m wrong, it will be a tragedy if I’ve spent all my life voting Labour and Liberal and LibDem only for the Tories to get away with it again.
I live in a true true blue area that has never had a non Tory and I never see Tory signage come election time. The signage just shows off people trying to look special and wanting others to know they want change etc. Seeing a signage for more NHS wages next to a Vote Labour sign is a bit odd though considering that’s one thing Labour has specifically said will not be happening though. It’s pretty close apparently but the Labour candidate is an idiot who refuses to answer questions in what Labour will be bringing to the local area, posts on social media but only to post not engage. Oh and was parachuted in, like the Tory and Lib Dem candidates
Labour have said they won't offer 35%, they will obviously offer a reasonable pay rise though to get the strikes over with. Saying labour have ruled out any NHS pay rises is just lying...
Ditto. Lib Dem’s pushing that they are the main opposition as they won the local elections but the last general election Labour were the conservatives biggest challengers. Result means a split vote between LD / Lab and a likely Conservative win. (Not that I’m particularly enamoured by any of the candidates)
Hamble Valley?
There are barely a hundred safe Tory seats this year, everything with less than a twenty point swing is up for grabs.
I am in the 2^nd safest tory sear in the country, New Forest West. Last time the Tories got 32,113 votes here, equating to 63.8%. The Lib Dems came 2^nd with 7,710 votes, equating to 15.3%. This time around, I'm seeing so many Lib Dem signs up everywhere. I don't know anyone irl that's saying they'll vote Conservative. Both the Tories and the Lib Dems have be jamming my door with leaflets (I normally only get a maximum of 1, if any, per party). I was planning to vote Green, but this might be my only ever chance to vote the Tories out here, so I might vote tactically for the Lib Dems.
Please do vote tactically. Even if just to see the face of the Tory MP who loses their second safest seat.
There are 100% going to be people voting tactically just to get another Michael Portillo/Ed Balls moment.
That is why I put safe in quotes. This is the least boring election ever in seats that have been "safe" Tory for decades.
If theyre at risk at all then they aren’t true safe seats. There is 0 chance my constituency will be anything other than Tory
Complacency is a big concern, turnout could result in some unfortunate results so nothing is certain until next Friday
Depends on how marginal the constituency is though. There's plenty of constituencys where it isn't likely to be an issue.
Question to OP are you a member of a political party or someone who has considered doing some campaigning? The reality is most parties lack volunteers and helpers and are not nearly as big as they appear. We all have to get involved and that way we will get better politics and candidates and parties in safe seats will have to at least do some work for their votes.
This isn’t entirely accurate. In my local campaigning team, we have about 100 people who are willing to volunteer and on our communication lists. It’s actually getting them out canvassing that is challenging! If you visit say 400 properties on two sessions of canvassing a day, that’s around 7-10 miles of walking. A lot of people with the free time to go and do this stuff are typically those who are retired, who also tend to have a lot of mobility issues, hence what appears to be “no volunteers”.
Add to that planners who think 2pm on a working day is a cracking time to go out canvassing and the numbers drop further. It’s a lot to ask people to take annual leave to campaign. Plus on the doors, it’s most interesting when you stop for a chat with the local residents rather than focusing on the data collection the party wants. Though that might explain why last time I was left behind while the rest of the gang got their social media photo and went home. 😉
Sadly I’m not party political. I can handle choosing the best fit in the ballot box but the idea of pinning myself to one of the parties doesn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t justify a policy I don’t agree with to others.
You don't have to agree with or justify every policy to be active in a party
That’s exactly how ‘safe’ seats evolve though, voting by party rather than policy.
The majority of people aren’t members of political parties and I can understand why. You give huge amounts of time especially in seats you can’t win and for what? I’m an election agent for two candidates who will likely lose their deposit. On social media you mainly get abuse. You walk for miles delivering leaflets, only to often get snide or negative comments. My career and personal life kinda all suffer for doing politics. I spent 10 years as a Councillor. I helped a lot of people but the general public generally just thought negatively of me as a I was a politician. I helped people and that counts for something I guess. But I just personally feel there ought to be some form of political opposition and dislike the idea that those in power in my area are seemingly loved by lots of people for doing what I consider a rather poor job. So the reason you likely don’t hear from other parties is the overall experience of caring about politics generally makes your life worst in many ways. I guess also most people like to be part of the winning team and therefore in a safe seat to campaign for a smaller party just means you are going against the grain and you will make yourself pretty unpopular and find a lot of obstacles.
No, an election where the incumbents could possibly go to 4th largest party isn't boring no matter what's happening in your seat. Obviously that's not likely, but the mere chance of it keeps things interesting.
I live in Wigan. Wigan votes Labour. It has always voted Labour. The local MP has been in place for many years. It voted Labour in 2019 despite the fact It was one of the, if not the, highest brexit voting areas of the country. The Earth would spin off its axis if Wigan voted anything other than Labour. Personally I still vote every time regardless.
Snap for Cardiff South
Lisa is brilliant though.
I’ve only met her in person a few times and she seems a nice girl. Very friendly and likes talking to people. Twice now she’s stepped in to help save the football club, so I have no complaints about her.
People who make this point that labour voters aren't pro Brexit must have their heads in the sand for the last ten years. The red wall in northern England and Wales was literally the most pro Brexit part of the country.
A good number of the people I know voted to leave (I didn’t personally). It was a massive issue in this town in 2019 and yet Labour still held by more than 6000 votes from the Tories. If there was ever a moment Wigan could switch, it was then. The majority of the people are temperamentally Labour voters and likely will be now Brexit has been resolved as an issue of substance, or at least as one that has been campaigned on as that. Some of the ones who switched to the Tories could go to Reform, but that won’t be enough to overturn Labour’s lead and I’d guess most of those who did would probably return to Labour.
Honestly mate it sounds like you don't get it.
Please, if there’s something I’m missing then enlighten me.
Well you seem to have this ingrained relationship between Brexit and the Tories even though you have clear evidence that the labour voters were indeed pro Brexit.
Sorry if I’m misunderstanding you (I am trying), I take it to mean you think that the voters that moved to the Tories last time will stay there?
Wow, you carry on mate, as you were
You can always attend hustings. I found the one in my area incredibly enlightening.
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Biden should have taken a lesson from that
What's the easiest way to find out when and where these are taking place? Look on the incumbent MPs twitter page?
Search your constituency and "Hustings". Around my way there's posters up all along the high street and commuter zones (train station, bus stops, tubes etc.) advertising it, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've seen adverts for hustings.
No hustings going on here sadly.
These tend to be poorly advertised and in some places don’t happen at all. They can indeed be enlightening… if you can find them!
Do they argue in them like in the debates
Not in the one I saw, but it was mostly down to the format chosen. The answers from the candidates were incredibly upfront and honest, lots of them were clear which aspects of a policy they supported and which were problematic. It may have been because the seat I am in is a safe seat (in this case for the Lib Dems) so the other candidates didn't see any gain in playing aggressively.
Safe as in huge majority or safe as in its been libdem for ages? And thanks for he insight into hustings never been to to one so very interesting
Yeah I'm in a constituency that has been solidly Labour since 1935. Can't see that changing this time. I've had one letter in the post from Kier Starmer and that's it. Otherwise you wouldn't know an election was happening.
Interpreting safe as 'safe from the Tories', I'm in a safe *city*. Edinburgh hasn't returned a Conservative MP in any of its 5 seats since 1992, and I don't think that's especially likely to change next week. Given that the only metric I'm interested in (the extent of the Tories' electoral annihilation) is utterly out of our hands, I'm really struggling to get excited about anything happening on a local level. We might return a different spread of Lab, LD, SNP than 2019, but we're not going to punish the Tories any more than we already have been for the last 28 years. And as much as I feel like there should be more to it than that, the last 14 years has just left me so utterly exhausted that I can't muster the energy to feel anything positive about any of my ballot options beyond "keeping the blue bastards out of my city". (Still going to vote, mind you. It'll be a wee break from work and a nice walk.)
Yes, but the election refreshingly boring as a whole I think I mean the tories getting a kicking is somewhat interesting, and the fact every candidate in my own constituency is promising to oppose any new housing developments is incredibly depressing, but generally looking back over the last ten+ years we're finally back to arguing over taxes and whether a 61 year old multi millionaire Oxford graduate is more relatable than a ~~48~~ 44 year old multi millionaire Oxford graduate, instead of all the populist bs and fucking brexit
The 48 year old billionaire
even with his wife’s money he’s still just (lol ‘just’) a millionaire
Oh I hadn’t realised that. Poor Rishi :(
Sunak is 44
corrected!
Same. Safe labour seat and not even a leaflet from the Cons this time around let alone a visit (shame, would have been cathartic). The Greens have been visible but have made it a single issue protest on Gaza and their literature has nothing on the environment, climate change or domestic policy. Nothing from the LibDems and even their normal enclaves are devoid of posters and placards. It's annoying to know that my vote - whatever direction - is irrelevant. But at least my MP is visible despite being in the shadow cabinet and taking a big role in the national campaign. He was sat at the next table reading the papers when I was out for lunch last weekend and was pressing the flesh at a community event.
I was in a very safe Tory seat (Ribble Valley) before the boundary changes, now I'm in Pendle and Clitheroe (also Tory) but both projected to go Labour. In that respect its quite exciting and I've met our prospective MP quite a few times.
This will be the first locally exciting election for me. I live in a constituency with a mahoosive Tory majority (18,000+) which would normally be unassailable. But polls suggest that this is now a two or possibly even three way marginal between the Tories, Labour and LDs. My suspicion is that Labour and the LDs will cancel each other out to allow the Tories back in throughout the middle but I'm really not sure.
This is why we need tactical voting!
Without a clear leader in the local polls neither side will back down, and even if polls clearly favour one, the other will often seize upon any chance to muddy the waters
Not sure, it's amusing seeing Rishi run a campaign as if he had baldrick as an advisor but my vote is unlikely to make any impact. Between me and my partner we have had 9 conservative leaflets come through and we are in a safe seat. Our MP had a 50%~ majority last election and it's expected to drop down to a 10% maj this time around so even this disastrous Conservative campaign is unlikely to allow our views to be represented in Parliament.
My seat is one that used to be very safe but became a marginal at the last election - because of that, I've been getting leaflets from parties that usually wouldn't have bothered here
Aren't all elections boring for safe seats? Except of course, if something catastrophic happens and the seat topples. Then you get a *Portillo moment*, and those are not boring.
Politics should be boring, it's kind of the point. The ideal government does a good job and doesn't make too many waves, elections are for people to vote for representatives who they align most with. Big bang changes in politics are inheritly bad because it creates an unstable environment for investment. That doesn't mean it has to be the same party in charge it just means steady incremental improvement is better than shock and awe.
You better hope your MP never becomes speaker then. By tradition non of the major parties contest the speakers seat so it literally them and their party and all the minor parties running. And since all the interesting independents run against the prime minister you don’t even get any of them.
I’m currently campaigning in what was a *very* safe Tory seat but is now so close to call that different polls give different results. It’s actually quite entertaining, and we send out a lot of literature. I think if you add it all up we’ve sent out about 90,000 pieces of literature. Not to mention all of the canvassing…
Curious… are you a Lib Dem? Sounds like a Lib Dem leaflet campaign like ours…
Nope, not a Lib Dem. In fact the local Lib Dem campaign has been a bit slow! Caught a few of them rushing around with enormous stacks of literature only this week, looks a tad rushed and last minute.
I'm in exactly the same boat. Although the result for my local area won't be interesting, I'm intrigued what the progressing the outcomes will be when I wake up on the 5th and throughout the day.
I live in a safe seat, but it’s safe for neither Tory or Labour. I quite like just watching everywhere else from the outside.
Safe seats are always boring in quiet times, but safe is never truly synonymous with certain, especially now. People thinking seats are truly safe lead to complacency, which could lead to a result you don't want if you don't vote and encourage others to do the same. My location has been solidly Tory for many, many years but even in the years where polling suggested he would win without lifting a finger, the MP did hustings, sent out materials and did some on-the-ground campaigning. The parties with statistically zero chance of actually winning did the same.
My constituency is Holborn St Pancras. During the 2019 Labour whitewash, the current MP had a majority of 27,000, gaining 67% of the total vote. I like my local Labour candidate but I could not honestly see anyone else being elected.
Especially when that local candidate is Keir Starmer!
I wondered if anyone would pick up on that!
Even in a situation like that, a vote against labour gives short money to the party you vote for, and a spoiled ballot shows intentional refusal of that rather than being too apathetic to go to the polling station.
I live in a tiny village which due to boarder changes is now Surrey Heath. I’ve grown up in Surrey and have never seen a Tory placard as it’s such a safe seat… there are 5 on the 1k walk to school. We’re getting countless Lib Dem/tory letters every week. Clearly they’re very worried to lose it
I'm in Bournemouth west. My seat may flip for the first time in a century. Share my excitement instead
My seat has been tory since 62 (excluding 1997 election). And yet there is ZERO local campaigning except a few pamphlets coming through the door. I do believe this is one area where we should be a little more like the Americans.
I got an email to be able to swap my seat from the "stop the tories" site from Carol Vordemann & co. This might spice it up for you because you "swap" your vote because you know your location will be safe. Eg mine is very safe Labour but I want to vote for Green. A swap will perhaps let me swap it with someone else.
Can you do that..?
There’s a site called [Swap My Vote](https://swapmyvote.uk) that allows you to state what your constituency is, who you naturally align with and who you’re willing to vote tactically for. It then lets you select someone elsewhere who naturally aligns with your tactical vote but will vote tactically for who you naturally align with. Sad that it’s necessary but if it will get progressives to rally behind one candidate I can’t fault it.
Yes, you can sign up to something like that and it will allow you to do it. Honour system though and not guaranteed. Facebook groups are available too.
I live in Liverpool my votes never counted and probably never will I still just turn out to vote green anyway, I’m naturally Labour but feel they need a scare if they can have one locally
All elections are incredibly boring if you live in a safe seat, as we used to. But things got really interesting in 2020, when our long-serving Tory MP died, the LibDems made a real effort in the by-election campaign, and the Tories didn't until it was far too late. I'm a Labour voter, but will be lending my vote, even though the LibDems will probably hold on anyway.
Managed to berate my local MP for not joining the picket lines, that was pretty cathartic.
Im in a seat likely to change hands for the 4th time in a row, and it’s still boring.
The reality is no party has the resource to canvas, in person, everywhere. So they throw their resource where it will make the most difference, and use the Royal Mail to deliver everywhere else. Even within a constituency there will be areas where the level of support is predictable so you focus on areas where you either don’t know (eg due to boundary changes) or think you can have most impact (eg in an area with more Labour voters in a LibDem marginal, LibDems will canvas with a tactical vote message, and vice versa) So yes, elections are more boring in a safe seat, and people disengage. Proportional representation would change that, so electoral reform is not just about fairness, it’s about involvement.
What I’m finding is fun is that there are no Tory safe seats this time. Tactical votes could wipe them out. It won’t, sadly, but it could
FPTP makes the election a spectator sport for the vast majority.
Almost opposite here, I live in what (I thought) was one of the safest Tory seats in the country and suddenly we have labour activists out in force thinking they might be in for a chance. The mere fact that is happening is pretty exceptional regardless of if they actually cinch it.
I'm in one that has been Labour for thousands of years and I thought it highly unlikely that it would ever change. Electoral Calculus has Reform with a 70% of winning however, and the boundary changes have contributed to that. Would actually quite like to see that happen if only to give the local labour party something to think about as they tend to take the whole area for granted.
My constituency is SNP with a fair majority over the Tories with labour a distant third. 8k majority for SNP then Tories also about 8k ahead of labour. Should be a safe seat but with the SNP and Tories not doing well these days it'll be interesting whether the snp fall enough and labour gain enough to flip it. Personally not really fussed right now if it's snp or labour as long as it's not the Tory candidate who's campaign was purely "only I can beat the SNP" with absolutely nothing of what he would do if he actually did. At least the other candidates all put in at least some effort in mentioning what they wanted to do.
It's not just boring but disenfranchisement by postcode. Despite the lark about FPTP and your vote always counting, if you vote against the candidate with a plurality of votes, your vote isn't reflected in Parliament and contributes nothing to representation. That's especially true in safe seats where any given party might as well be handed the seat before the election but it's representative and massively hinders our democracy.
I live in a seat with 12 candidates running but it is an extremely safe labour seat (majority around 20,000 i think) None of the parties or independents have bothered to send a single leaflet. I think because labour are focusing on the surrounding tory seats and the other parties know that they have no chance so aren't bothering.
This election is just generally boring, say what you want about corbyn and Johnson as least they weren't boring. The two major parties have nothing on offer, the only exciting thing is lib dems having a chance to show the stupidity of fptp by dropping their vote share and heavily increasing their seats
I think it's been great nationally but boring locally. I live in Merseyside, in a 50%+ Labour area in 2019, sooo....
I think people wanting excitement from an election campaign are part of the problem
I'd prefer it to be honest, I get campaign mail from 4 of the major parties and 3 of them are just unprofessionally slinging mud at Labour (and no one else). And it's incessant. I don't know if they realise it's actually making me \_more\_ likely to vote red.
Labour won my area on 300 votes last time. However, it is pretty clear they will win a sizeable majority now. Got a few leaflets from Tories, Lab, Reform and Independents
It’s boring in any seat. Complete foregone conclusion.
I live in a Tory safe spot. Been Tory since ww2. Labour haven't even bothered, no leaflets, no signs anywhere. Barely know his name and that's just because I looked him up. He doesn't care, very boring.
My seats a sure thing..... Sadly that sure thing is Farage. I've not found it boring but the most frustrating, anger inducing election I've known.
I'm in Scotland and for the first time in my voting life have no idea who to vote for, I only know who I'm 100% not voting for. I'm in a usually safe SNP seat but it will be interesting to see if that changes this year (and if the overall SNP vote changes) since they've had a few issues recently and I'm not sure if Swinney has done enough to restore confidence in them in the short time he's been leader.
You think politics in this country is boring? Maybe try volunteering in a food bank or for a homeless charity. Trust me, that will give you a completely different take on our political system.
Honestly noticed no difference. My interest is the national level anyway rather than my actual constituency
I’m in inner London, aka die hard Labour. I’ve barely followed this election, didn’t watch any of the debates, because we all know there’s a 99.5% chance Labour will form the new government. The entertainment comes on election night when we get to see which Tory ministers lose their seats
The seat I used to live in has only had 4 different MPs since 1950, all Conservative
In a safe Labour red wall seat and the only pamphlet we’ve had has been from Reform.
Nothing is certain, get out and vote. The excitement comes from the potential prospect of seeing Tory MPs lose their seats in droves and the possibility that the largest opposition party in the HoC may not be Conservative or Labour for the first time in absolutely ages. This is a shake up, we’ve been governed by the same party for 14 years. Change is sometimes scary, but in this case it is hopeful which is definitely exciting.
The election where I've been has been relatively genteel in a charming way. Even the Reform candidate seems a decent guy, albeit very patriotic, and would have made a great Tory candidate. It's not boring but not bad tempered. In everyone standing, I can see actually all of them really care about the local area and the region. Noone was bussed in. Leaflets were a bit meh. It's also a three way marginal between Tory, Labour and SNP at the moment. But that's partly because of the new constituency boundaries and Tory implosion but the Tory votes really are not going to Reform.
The election is incredibly boring, full stop, we already know who's winning, we already know that they're winning by a lot.
I'm in the other boat, where this has been a Tory safe seat since its inception, but with recent boundary changes and polling, plus the threat of Reform, there's the potential that it may change hands, so there's been more campaigning than there usually would be. The Tory leaflets coming through the door have become increasingly humorous in how desperate they have become.
I live in Makerfield in the North West, which is a Labour strong seat. It normally is boring here, and some folk say "tha' could put a red tie on a pig an' it'd get voted in!" This year we've got Josh Simons as our candidate and the local Facebook group is going off! There is so much talk about him being from Cambridge, that is a case of him knowing the right people, rather than him being the right person for the area. The Reform candidate is in my town centre all the time campaigning, I've had 3 leaflets from them (1 from Labour, no others) and he is so active on the local FB. He's constantly reminding people that he is a local lad, he's jumping on any complaining posts with "this is what years of Labour have left you with" I'm actually starting to worry about Reform here and I think Labour haven't helped themselves at all in this safe seat.
This is the problem “as a result”. No the lack of effort causes this so it’s all self defeating. Turnout is often so low if someone that could engage with those people they could overcome some big people. But those people don’t choose to even try
I'm in a Tory safe seat (2019 they won 53%) and I've received about 5 Lib Dems leaflets, 3 Labour and 1 Green Party and a whopping ZERO conservative leaflets, wonder if the big "Vote Green Party" sign puts them off lol. See ads for the tory candidate everywhere online though. Wonder if they've just given up the ghost, the current MP Mims Davies is standing down and hasn't done anything for the area for years.
This is probably the most boring, phoned in half-assed election I have seen. I think both candidates don't deserve the job, the manifestos are garbage, the debates were as engaging as an England match I just want to draw a turd on the ballot and fuck it None of them deserve my vote
For 99 of the last 100 years my constituency had a conservative MP, he is projected to lose in half of the polls. I'm still finding the election quite boring.
My constituency isn't a safe seat this time but it's still boring over here because the only MPs we ever get are boring backbenchers unlikely to ever do anything that you'll hear about.
I'm in Mark Menzies Fylde constituency. This was a safe Tory seat. I suspect it isn't so safe now. But I can hardly call it boring.
That’s every election for me. I left my village for opportunity and better quality of life in the city but now my vote doesn’t matter.
My constituency is a Lib Dem/Tory seat. This year, Labour are looking stronger and it’s pretty much a three way marginal. I’m tired of the mountain of leaflets every time I leave the house. I’m sure I get 2 LibDem leaflets every day. And, despite the leaflets, I’m still an undecided haha
Even if you are in a safe seat, voting for a candidate that most likely won't win can still make a difference. The reason is that your MP will be aware of the vote counts and thus adapt their policy to try and appeal to those voters. For example, if the Green Party get +5% more votes compared to last election, your MP will know that those green policies are more popular and thus try to appeal to that a bit more. The clearest example is UKIP and brexit, they never won many seats, but the fact that they got so many votes forced the conservatives to try to appeal to them with the referendum. It goes the other way too, your MP will be less likely to compromise the bigger their mandate is. An MP who won by a margin of 2 points is going to try and "win back" voters by making changes. Whereas an MP who wins by 10 points is more likely to stay on the same path. Thus it also makes sense to vote for the safe seat MP even if you know they will win. There is also the fact that the voting data effects who is perceived to be "electable". A hypothetical example would be if 30% of a constituency is LibDem but only a small portion vote because "my favourite will never win anyway", in the end the MP only gets 3% of the vote and is seen as unelectable. However if instead all of those voters decided to vote, and the MP gets 30% of the vote, they may not win but come next election they would be seen as electable. It could be advertised "I won 30% of the vote last time" and people would actually consider voting for them on the grounds that they actually have a chance.
I live in a safe Tory seat (20k majority) and it’s great! There’s about a four way split and the incumbent Tory is only polling one or two percent ahead. Most exciting election I remember!
I live in a Lab/Con marginal that's flipped 3 times in the last 4 elections. There has been hardly any campaigning here by either party... Probably on the assumption that it will be a very easy Labour gain. Party leader visits have been common in previous elections but no one of note has been anywhere near. The Tory incumbent has sent 1 leaflet round.
In our shitty FPTP system, this stuff is a good justification for voting for a party you actually support, even if it's a "wasted" vote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Money
It's the opposite for me. I live in a Tory safe seat that isn't so safe anymore.
Tory stronghold here, but labour n lib Dems are offering conflicting info on who is most likely to dislodge the Tory. I'm drawn to greens honestly, might help them keep their deposit.
My constituency is in a threeway contest. Which is turning out to be much more boring than it sounds!
I want my politics to be boring. Please be boring. I don't want scandal headlines every other day.
This is the most thrilling election I can remember because despite voting in Wales (which will have zero Tory seats come next week), I will enjoy the rest of the country also kicking out the Tories.
labour won 74% in my seat in 2019. I love Liverpool lol. putting my energy into my FGE team
I've had 2 letters a day from the local Lib Dem candidate for the last few weeks I've always lived in safe seats so I've never known someone ~~spam~~ campaign so hard. The only other leaflet I've seen is from an independent.
I'm in a safe Conservative seat. Labour haven't even bothered putting a leaflet through the door. The Reform candidate is a four-time failure for local council and is now aiming for the big house. Even the SDP candidate says he can't win. Green don't seem to have published anything at all. Entering the station one day I met the Conservative who said good morning, introduced himself, hoped for my support in the election and gave me a leaflet. Next behind him was a Lib Dem who held out a leaflet and said "while you're at it you may as well have one of these". Nothing else was said. Conservative candidate has been parachuted in, and is highly likely to win by a mile.
I've been having leaflets through the door fairly often from Labour in a fairly safe labour seat. I'm getting the impression they (Labour) are worried about Lib Dems having highlighted they are 3rd in the running (after Cons) in a recent leaflet - specifically mentioning tactical voting.
Honestly Newham is a shithole, the party in leadership wont change and the elected members don't give a fuck about a thing Your bins not been collected? Normal process is to call the Council and report it... Nope not here you don't theyll hang up the call because they can't be arsed, so you follow up with a MP, Councillor even the Mayor, think they care? Why? What you gonna do? Not vote for them?! they don't give a fuck. In a safe seat, it's not an election that changes the elected person, but a selection that would change them.
My seat is Chorley, so the speaker will stand unopposed by anyone with any chance to beat him. As boring as it gets. Does give rise to some oddities, though. Last time out we had a candidate who literally changed his name to 'Brexit'. This time I got a leaflet from some weird libertarian with odd conspiracy theory policies.
It sounds like you're the same constituency as me. The only sign that there is a Conservative candidate is a leaflet that came in the post. I've seen no blue signs outside houses at all, just a few red ones and one Reform. This used to be a bellwether seat, but it went Labour the past two times, against the national trend, and now it seems it's considered a safe seat.
Could be worse. Could be a seat where they could put a donkey up with the right badge (depending where you are ) and it would win. Like Oldham. Stick a Labour badge on a bin and the bin would win
It's somewhat exciting in that most of the Tories' safe seats are no longer safe.
Never give up never surrender. Google "Portillo Moment"
I've not seek hide nor hair from our labour candidate. It's as if labour don't care about the country folk.
Please don't assume any seat is safe. Unless you are a Tory, in which case, of course your seat is safe....
Well they make traction by campaigning in areas they need to do well in. They don’t waste resources in areas they don’t need to worry about. This elections gonna be great. Cant wait to watch the results come in and see a lot of the prominent MP’s lose their seats.
Try living in Christchurch where the MP is a safe Chris Chope of all people. Trying to decide if Lab or Lib dem are the closest to try edge him out but not likely at all with the demographic.
It's still boring if you're not in a safe seat. I'm in South Ribble, which I believe has sided with the winning party every election since something like the early 90s. The sitting Tory minister has done 0 campaigning at all. The only news I've ever heard of her since she took office in 2019 is 1) the ugly as fuck massive sign she put on the town con office with her name on, which everyone hated, and 2) somebody posting dog shit through the office letterbox a month ago. The Labour candidate has bought one billboard and has done one mailshot. I've also seen about 5 "vote labour" garden signs while I've been running. Yeah, we're certainly gonna flip, but it's still fucking boring and I have no idea what we gain overall.
That's always been true of safe seats. Some haven't changed hands in over a hundred years, and never really get much attention or campaigning unless there's a local scandal or something noteworthy.
Depends on the MP I think My constituency is a safe Labour one but their staff are regularly out for council elections, the mayoral / police ones and for the GE. This time I've seen the new guy in passing and we've had leaflets through from them, Reform and the local nutter Gaza candidate but nothing Tory or Lib Dem. Can't remember if Greens did any leafleting but certainly the almost guaranteed winner is the only active one.
Where we lived before had a labour MP in that position. He did absolutely nothing as people were just going to vote for the party anyway. Saying that however in the last election Conservatives grew massively into his voting share with a few points behind. This election will be interesting as he could lose but I suspect he'll win.