There is a General Election in July (2024) in the UK, so I thought I'd put forward a few ideas why you should ditch the main parties and seriously consider voting for a smaller party. In my humble opinion the best of the bunch is (by far) the Social Democratic Party (SDP). I urge you to give them your vote if you get the chance. They won't win. But even so, here's why you should give them your vote.
General Election 2024 - So What's On Offer
It looks like the current broken and dysfunctional UK government run by the Conservative Party will be replaced by an equally broken and dysfunctional (though marginally different) government run by the Labour Party.
Maybe there’s a chance there’ll be a (equally dysfunctional) Lib/Lab coalition or whatever.
There seems little chance that the Conservatives will win another term. Frankly, after their record, they really do not deserve consideration. They deserve to lose, and badly.
But what about the Labour Party?
I am sure I don’t have to relate the horror stories about the extremist, anti-Semitic and generally poisonous nature of a large section of the Labour party.
A party that clearly puts the working class (aka the people who usually elect it) at the very back of the queue. They are (and will be) placed behind every minority, fad, cult and other extremist who demands the attention of the inner Labour Party Clique. The decent people of this country will be lucky to get the table scraps.
We are in for a (very) hard five years. Whatever the outcome of the election.
But still, why vote for anyone else? Especially a small party. You’ll surely be voting for a loser.
So why vote at all?
In a democracy you have the privilege of voting. But that privilege entails you making a choice.
But what if there is NO choice? Or maybe a choice like between drinking Hemlock or swallowing Arsenic?
What do you do?
You look for an alternative to the poison on offer. If there isn’t one, you do nothing.
So Boycott Maybe?
I was brought up to treasure democracy. But one option is to do nothing. Not vote. Boycott it.
Though I don't consider this the best option, it is not as nugatory as some believe. Staying at home and not voting pushes down the turnout. The winner’s legitimacy is compromised. If only ever so slightly. So if there is no-one worth voting for then boycotting the vote is at least a away of showing your disgust.
A Better Option
But a better way of showing your disgust is to vote for one of the other candidates.
They may have no chance of winning but at the end of the day your vote will show. It will show your disillusionment with the Lib/Lab/Con/Grn hegemony.
But won’t a small Party vote be ignored?
Well, if it's for Lord Bucket-Head - maybe.
But if it's for a political party that has already put the Labour Party's nose seriously out of joint in Leeds like the SDP has (well done Councillors Dixon, Pogson-Golden and Chesterfield) it will focus minds wonderfully. Just like in these examples below.
Here’s a few examples.
1. George Galloway.
Hardly a person I support or agree with. But a very, very clever political operator. Look at the influence and control he has over the Labour Party with his pro-Islamic stance. See how in every seat contended by Galloway's party the Labour Party buckle and shift towards Galloway's agenda. The Labour Party (to it’s disgrace) has been falling over itself to “accommodate” people with views concurrent with with those of Galloway. It that is not political influence, what is?
2. Reform.
Reform is unlikely to get any MPs in July. But the Conservative party is bending over backwards to try and placate and accommodate those liable to leave it for Reform. A bit late in the day maybe. But after the election, does anyone believe that the Conservative will not try and win back their supporters lost to Reform? How will they do that? By adopting Reform policies.
3.(The original) UKIP.
Do you think that the Lib/Lab/Con/Grn hegemony would have ever approved an EU referendum (by 91% of MP’s by the way) unless the then UKIP hadn’t been breathing down their collective necks? Remember UKIP simply didn’t exist 25 years before the referendum. For most of that time it was regarded as a figure of fun by the Lib/Lab/Con/Grn hegemony. But they weren't laughing in 2016.
Influence
So by voting for small apparently insignificant parties you can at least influence the eventual policy outcome. All parties start as pressure groups. Then they build. Influence turns to power.
Building Visibility and Support
As disillusionment grows (and it will) so will support for decent parties like the SDP. A hundred votes this year gets you noticed. People see your policies and attitude. Word spreads. Next election it’s a thousand, then ten thousand.
That’s how the Labour Party came to power back in the 20th century. That's before it got poisoned by the elitist snobs who run it today.
That’s how the SDP will do it. Bit by bit. Election by election. Council seat by council seat. Then MP by MP.
We have to start somewhere. Turning our country round is going to be monumentally difficult. Things will almost certainly get worse before they get better.
So lets all start the fight back by putting an X in the box marked SDP on the 4th July.
