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Let’s see if the TEF reflects the voting pattern ok the UK polls.

Is this who do we want to win or who are we voting for in our constituency?

It's going to swing much more Left Wing than the UK as a whole, I think that much is clear.  Despite the experience of the past fifty+ years, the Country leans left as well, with the Conservative Party spending most of that time unopposed on the Right of the political spectrum.

I honestly don't know who to vote.  I don't trust any politician tbh they are all in it for personal gain.

Labour / Conservative is like choosing death by a 1,000 cuts or death by slow hanging

Protest vote for me

Really just cannot be arsed

I think at the last election the age at which Conservatives moved ahead of Labour in voting was about 45. The polls this year so far have that at *70*.

Not sure the TEF is too big in the Septuagenarian world.

You ought to have a not voting option.

None of the above

Spoilt paper

Not voting, for the first time at a GE in my life. As Victor Meldrew would say, I don't believe it.

Done ☑️

With both club & country in a bit of a mess, probably no surprise that the levels of disgruntlement reflected are pretty much the same.

It's quite amusing.
No more income tax from me until this lot are gone & won't be renewing the passport either.

Seriously though, the Tories might yet be seen as a safe pair of hands when it comes to making a mess of things, whereas this version of Labour are an unknown quantity when it comes to fucking up.
The result could yet be a lot closer than the polls are suggesting.

Is it time for change after 14 years, yeah I think so.

This.

I want to vote labour but the Lib Dems in South Somerset are more of a force to fight the Conservarives so it feels a wasted vote if I do vote how I feel rather than what will oust the Conservaties.

Pretty disenfranchised with it all, leaning towards spoiling my ballot, but depending on what polling looks like just prior to election day, might opt for whoever might unseat my local tory mp if zero seats looks like a possibility

Zero seats is a bit of a stretch, anything less than 100 would still be hilarious and is essentially a wipeout in our near 2 party system

I don't think much will noticeably change with a labour government, but I'm hoping they will move away from culture war and vindictive policies and focus on getting some basics working. Housing, NHS & Criminal Justice system etc..

I'll be voting to unseat Justin Tomlinson, so it's a vote for labour.

Ditto Ben

This.  There isn't a good option to vote for unfortunately, but the least we can expect is that the Tories feel as much pain as possible and realise that they can't get away again with taking the British public for granted.  They need a complete reset and purge of the crooks, if that is ever possible to happen.

Sound familiar to closer to home?

Also sounds like Trump/Biden/Trump*

* Probably

I don't actually expect it to happen, if I had to guess now I'd say they'd get about 150, but like the prospect of Swindon ever reaching the heights of the championship, we can but dream

Well interestingly from my perspective you’re highlighting what Labour have done in the past, take their voters for granted and not listened to them, hence the 80 seat majority at the last election for the conservatives. So yes, it does sound familiar.

Worryingly is if the polls turn out to be correct and and Labour sweep all before them like a certain German National Socialist Party in the 1930’s (not violently of course) then I’ll bet you £20 to a pinch of shit the same will happen further down the line to them. It always does. No effective opposition means those in power get to do what the fuck they like. So be careful of crowing to hard and to long about the Conservative parties supposed demise post election.

My worry about labour is tax. Yes, they and the cons say they won’t put up tax. Fuck me, as a con voter I’m deeply annoyed at the levels we’re paying now, directly and indirectly, but sadly labour have form when it comes to spending money, where is it going to come from if they do a McBrown? The really well off you class war lot bitch about will fuck off or hide it even more, the poorer may well benefit but it is us the squeezed middle who’ll suffer the most.

Immigration? Not worried about those Legally coming here for work with the requisite skills, it is the unskilled, the extended families who likely as not will contribute nothing and more than anything the boats from France. Other than the danger to their lives, it is or appears to be all males. Young men without skills, some my have but you just have no idea who these people are and what adverse effect they have on our budget, a cost we all have to bear. The French have no real appetite to stop them, why should they, they become our problem not theirs. Even though they should seek asylum in the first country of entry. It’s a joke. A bad joke all round and the cons have done fuck all about that. The NHS, great institution, need more money? Does it? Does it really? It seems the more we put in the less we’re getting back, it cannot go on. Armed forces, deffo more money, again they waste shit loads. Crime, bloody hell, where do you start? The list is endless and for me as I have stated no, no more, they can all fuck off.

I’m sure you’ll counter what I have said, fair play to you I won’t bother replying, no point. You’re not going to change the way I think, feel or what I see. The same applies to you too. Good luck going forward you young idealistic punks, you’re going to fucking need it.

By the time then next election come round I’ll be retired. I do hope labour keep the triple lock though, selfish yeah, I’ve paid my dues I’m entitled to it and I will do my best to dodge the coffin for as long as I can.

Apart from being a weird comparison, this is not historically accurate, the Nazis never won a majority in contested elections (they did after the Enabling Act, but that was because literally nobody else was allowed to stand). At their electoral peak in 1932, they won 44% of the vote. Germany at the time used pure PR, so they got 44% of the seats. That would be a smaller parliamentary party than basically any PM has ever had in the UK political system - even during the Cameron/Clegg coalition, the Conservatives had 47% of the seats.

I am not sure if some or all of that is aimed at me based on what I said, but I don't think the majority of even the most staunch Tory voters would disagree with me. I am typically a swing voter, but have fallen on the side of the Tories the majority of the time due to what suits me personally/professionally, but I can't consider voting Tory this time around due to the reasons in my original post - the only shame is that there is not an opposition that I can feel comfortable with either or convince me to truly get behind.  I have no doubts that the Tories will be back in 5 years time, but hopefully with fresh leadership and staff.  Liz Truss was the straw for me, and that is saying something after the blonde buffoon had been holding the reigns previously.

LL - a British Indian who is against immigration :D

Couldn't make it up

For me personally the fact that they were so utterly appaling at dealing with covid and killed record numbers should be enough to never vote for them, but I still hear people saying they did really well with covid, It beggars belief

Many years ago someone told me that for the majority of people in this country neither labour or Tory will do anything for you, unless you are super rich, in which case you would clearly be better off voting Tory or if you are in the poorest in society where you would be better off voting labour.

For those in the middle it depends if you have a social conscience and care about others (outside of your direct circle of family & friends).

This is still true, probably more so than ever

Immigration (the illegal kind) isn't a racial issue tbf.

It is for many of the people against it

The question that should be asked and addressed about illegal immigration is what the end game for them is.

Are they going to get a job, their own accommodation, their own family etc - the usual things we all aspire to.

To me it is very doubtful. Then what do they do for the rest of their lives?

What numbers have you got for that?

It's not really illegal immigration though, is it?  People conflate immigration and Asylum.  The latter requires you to enter a Country and then stake a claim, there is no legal/illegal about it, in immigration terms.  Illegal immigration would be a person entering on a valid Visa and then doing something like overstaying, trying to work without authorisation etc., or sneak in and not make any claim for asylum.  The boats situation, no different to what every developed Country is experiencing, relates to people who make a claim for Asylum once they arrive.

There are two primary ways to reduce Asylum numbers (those residing in your Country) - fix the shit going on elsewhere (or stop causing in the first place) and have a legal process in place that supports the quick and fair decision making process for each claim.

As I understand the world today:

The developed Countries have caused a fair amount of the shit that causes people to flee their homes, and it is only going to get worse as Climate Change ruins entire Countries.

Most developed Countries have under funded and under skilled Asylum and immigration systems - usually on purpose as some sort of hope it will deter people.  Trust me - if someone is willing to risk death to get to your shores, they won't give a flying fuck about the legal difficulties once they arrive.

Imagine a world where people were not living in war torn Countries, or Countries rampant with corruption and crime, supported by Developed countries (through exploitation of precious metals, or oil, or crops etc).  Imagine if an Asylum claim was handled in weeks, not years.

It won't happen, political parties will continue to fight over the necessary forms to be used, or charter some planes.

You'll never get any.  I don't know what % of people oppose immigration and/or asylum based on Race, but I think it is fair to say that a Ukranian Refugee and a Yemeni Refugee would get treated differently by many people, even if they rocked up on the same boat.  I'm not certain race is the defining issue though, most people, in most Countries have a tendency to be a bit anti-foreigner.  People are not keen on differences.

Can we change the 80% bollocks to 19% thick fucking cunts?

Well i know a few raging racists unfortunately who are against it for race reasons. Are you suggesting that there are not any people who are against it for those reasons?

You tell me? Nobody knows exactly the split, but there is a split. Of course you get your racist element who don't want anyone migrating to the UK. My gripe is that anyone against economic migrants for example gets tarred as a gammon etc. even if they are welcoming of refugees looking for help.
What's your opinion on those that pay traffickers thousands to get to the UK?

Wrong. On both points.

They are an absolute fucking disgrace, What a strange question

My original point was that there are people there are a number of people who don't want immigration because they are racist. I believe you said can i prove that? You have agreed above

It's true that racist people are concerned about migration (both asylum and economic migration, which really should be discussed separately). It's not the only reason to be concerned about them though, and it doesn't help just to dismiss all concerns as racism. as as RobT says above, the numbers are already high and only likely to rise, no matter what any party does here. There are going to have to be some very difficult decisions and adult discussions here, as on tax - not sure either party wants to have them right now though.

Both main parties (and most of the smaller ones) just seem to want to fight a very narrow campaign and not talk about the big issues facing Britain - an ageing population, a high level of debt and an already high tax burden alongside minimal growth for a decade or more and failing public services. I get why - it's not good for your electoral chances to say "tell you what folks, to sort out public services there are going to have to be a bunch of tax rises" or "we'll keep taxes down but public services are going to remain fucked lads", but it is where we are.

At the risk of coming over all Liz Truss, growth is about the only thing that would get us out of that hole. In many ways she had the right diagnosis, just a fucking nuts way of trying to achieve it.

But whatever term is used or the reasons for any sort of immigration my basic question stands. What is the end game for the thousands of, mainly, young men that have ended up here. What is the rest of their lives likely to be like. If they don’t get granted asylum they cannot work and surely they can’t be expected to live forever on The Bibby or hundreds of hotels (flop houses).

There’s no plan at all for them once they hit Europe let alone what happens for the next 30, 40, 50 years.

Like my wife, she turned up at Madrid airport and claimed asylum, dirty no good fucker should go back to Venezuela and get murdered for speaking out against a dictatorship

Do people realise how fucking lucky they are to be born in western Europe.

The maddest thing about immigration is that those requesting citizenship are not allowed to work while their application is being processed. We had a chef/cook at a local pub who was a really good guy who had a visa to work here and after a year or so decided he’d like to stay, so applied to do so but was told he’d have to give up his job whilst the application was processed, which meant he could no longer pay his rent & support his family so decided to go back.

The pub then struggled to get a replacement and was sold off shortly afterwards to become an Indian restaurant.

The immigration system is broken, because like every other public service it’s been under funded for many years

That's the point - they are escaping something, so I doubt have a master plan of what happens next.  That is why one part of the long term solution is having a well funded system that supports the Asylum process.  On one side, that would be a quick decision that enables them to become economically viable, by granting them access to work and being able to fund their own accommodation, in time.  By supporting language learning, if needed, etc.

On the other hand, it may men denying their request and getting that put through any appeals as quickly as possible (not rushed to just reject, a fair but efficient process).  Once a final determination is reached, they are deported.

People do not risk their lives for our benefit systems - they risk them to save them, or, to try and better them.  If it is the latter, they should be using the Visa type processes that exists in most countries, and if they do not, they would risk being deported.  I'd have no issue with a deportation uptick, if it was supported by the investment necessary in a fair Asylum process. 

Do all that and you'd reduce the need to take such risky ways of entry.

It won't reduce the demand though - for that, you still need to look at host of fucked up Countries and ask questions about what can be done to ease the pain.

I say all that as someone who would have wide open borders, in every Country, something I know would never be approved or adopted by any Country!  We are a nomadic species, the world is forever changing (environmentally) and we've created an arbitrary process for dividing up ownership based on bits of land being passed down by generations.  I don't think those factors align properly.