The Student Room Group

What has made you decide to vote Labour in the 2024 GE?

As someone who is abstaining from voting in this election for political reasons, I'm curious to know what has motivated many Gen-Zers like myself to vote for Labour on Thursday. Is it because the party is the 'lesser evil' compared to the Conservatives, or is it due to something more specific - e.g., particular Labour policies, the Labour leadership, etc?
(edited 1 year ago)
It’s the party that has the chance to kick the Tories out in my constituency.

Reply 2

Original post by AH_DUYP
As someone who is abstaining from voting in this election for political reasons, I'm curious to know what has motivated many Gen-Zers like myself to vote for Labour on Thursday. Is it because the party is the 'lesser evil' compared to the Conservatives, or is it due to something more specific - e.g., particular Labour policies, the Labour leadership, etc?

If you had repeatedly got food poisoning from your local takeaway, and another one opened next door that promised to abide by food hygiene standards, would you keep going to the old place, or would you give the new place a try?

And their policies are more likely to improve society for the majority rather than just the minority.

And their candidates are more trustworthy and less beholden to industry interests, and they have more in common with ordinary working people.

And they have a better historical track record when it comes to the NHS.

etc...

Reply 3

"... what is Toryism except organised spivvery?"

Nye Bevan 4th July 1948

https://www.mojologic.com.au/speech-10-aneurin-bevin-they-are-lower-than-vermin/

Reply 4

Four reasons to vote Labor: Cameron, Boris, Truss and Sunak.

Reply 5

Original post by 2WheelGod
If you had repeatedly got food poisoning from your local takeaway, and another one opened next door that promised to abide by food hygiene standards, would you keep going to the old place, or would you give the new place a try?
And their policies are more likely to improve society for the majority rather than just the minority.
And their candidates are more trustworthy and less beholden to industry interests, and they have more in common with ordinary working people.
And they have a better historical track record when it comes to the NHS.
etc...

I get the idea that Labour offers a fresh and potentially positive start to some, especially after 14 years of grim Tory rule. The party has some really good manifesto promises, such as closing tax loopholes on private schools and stopping bonuses to CEOs of water companies that damage the environment.

The question is, can Labour be trusted to carry out the policies they have promised to voters? Starmer seems to have a wishy-washy track record - e.g., the reversal of Labour's promise to raise corporation tax, the scrapping of their £28 bn environmental plan, to name but a few.

As to the influence of industry interests on MPs, Labour may be less susceptible to this than the Conservatives are. However:

Starmer's ban on Labour frontbenchers joining picket lines during worker strikes in 2022 -- https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/21/labour-frontbenchers-likely-to-be-disciplined-for-joining-rail-pickets


Starmer accepting more 'freebies' (e.g., free tickets to horse races) than those accepted by all Labour leaders combined since 1997 -- https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/keir-starmer-freebies-junkets-tottenham-hotspur-chelsea-coldplay-adele-google/


Rachel Reeves' promise that Labour will not raise corporation tax, and may even cut it, during a meeting with business leaders earlier this year -- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68164524


These events are red flags, as they imply that Starmer may be taking Labour on a path of aiding business interests as opposed to those of workers -- a bit like how Blair did.

Reply 7

Original post by AH_DUYP
As someone who is abstaining from voting in this election for political reasons, I'm curious to know what has motivated many Gen-Zers like myself to vote for Labour on Thursday. Is it because the party is the 'lesser evil' compared to the Conservatives, or is it due to something more specific - e.g., particular Labour policies, the Labour leadership, etc?

Ignorance about what Labour got up to the last time they were in.

Reply 8

Original post by TheStupidMoon
Ignorance about what Labour got up to the last time they were in.

Massive investment in schools and hospitals, Sure Start, Civil Partnerships, Minimum Wage, closer ties with the EU, cleaner water, lawful humanitarian intervention in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, saving the Global financial system from collapse. People only remember Iraq, and forget the good things.

Reply 9

Vote green.🇵🇸💚

Reply 10

Original post by Lmao9
Vote green.🇵🇸💚

No thanks. The Green Party has turned its back on women, and may be sued out of existence by women it has unlawfully discriminated against. At one point, the Green Party even strayed into anti-abortion territory.
Original post by Lmao9
Vote green.🇵🇸💚


I would have maybe done that if they had the chance to defeat the Tories in my constituency (even if I disagree with some of their policies).

Reply 12

Original post by TheStupidMoon
Ignorance about what Labour got up to the last time they were in.

Starmer seems to have worked hard to deselect members of Labour who have closer ties to workers' interests than himself -- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/30/purge-of-labour-leftwingers-must-end-keir-starmer-told

Add to that, the party's current glaring dishonesty and unclear stance on some policy areas, plus the possibility of them winning a super majority, and I don't think it's unreasonable to be extremely wary of what Labour will get up to this time.

Reply 13

Original post by Stiffy Byng
Massive investment in schools and hospitals, Sure Start, Civil Partnerships, Minimum Wage, closer ties with the EU, cleaner water, lawful humanitarian intervention in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, saving the Global financial system from collapse. People only remember Iraq, and forget the good things.

I've said this before.
No we had assaults on civil liberties,attacks on benefits,the start of immigration waves bringing racism back with it,funding hospitals with outrageous loans,tuition fees and god knows whatever else.

Add botching the human rights act so it doesn't benefit ordinary people and misusing EU directives against British people not that the conservatives are any better.
Original post by Stiffy Byng
No thanks. The Green Party has turned its back on women, and may be sued out of existence by women it has unlawfully discriminated against. At one point, the Green Party even strayed into anti-abortion territory.
They still pander to women like Labour does but aren't giving them the special treatment over other groups they demand. The reason not to vote for them is that they're a bunch of loonies.

Reply 14

Original post by TheStupidMoon
I've said this before.
Add botching the human rights act so it doesn't benefit ordinary people and misusing EU directives against British people not that the conservatives are any better.
They still pander to women like Labour does but aren't giving them the special treatment over other groups they demand. The reason not to vote for them is that they're a bunch of loonies.

Ah, misunderstood -- sorry. Totally agree with you on your points about Labour's violation of civil liberties.
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 15

Original post by TheStupidMoon
I've said this before.
Add botching the human rights act so it doesn't benefit ordinary people and misusing EU directives against British people not that the conservatives are any better.
They still pander to women like Labour does but aren't giving them the special treatment over other groups they demand. The reason not to vote for them is that they're a bunch of loonies.

The Greens don't even know what a woman is. No party "panders to women".

The defect in the HRA is that it does not permit the Courts to disapply primary legislation which is inconsistent with the ECHR.

Reply 16

Original post by TheStupidMoon
I've said this before.
Add botching the human rights act so it doesn't benefit ordinary people and misusing EU directives against British people not that the conservatives are any better.
They still pander to women like Labour does but aren't giving them the special treatment over other groups they demand. The reason not to vote for them is that they're a bunch of loonies.

What do you mean by 'pandering' to women? Who says women are demanding 'special treatment'?

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