Certainly If I do Jim, the chances are It'll be a wasted vote, for the reasons GarethC indicated.

A vote for a candidate who you know can't get in is not wasted, though; that tends to finish up as a self-fulfilling prophecy. It registers what you want. It improves the legitimacy of any MPs their party gets in in other constituencies. It increases pressure for electoral reform [¹]. And it might at least save them their deposit.

[¹] Loving [²] hearing politicians who argued viciously against AV now moaning that MPs might be returned with disproportionally small numbers of votes.

[²] Actually, somewhat infuriated by it.

Posted By: atomicbisfIt's better to vote for what you want and not to get it, than to vote for what you didn't want and get that...

That's good.

Sign of the times, for first time ever I can now vote green today - and at both national and District level. Nationally it's a Tory cert, and for District an Independent farmer always beats everyone 2 to 1 - so no question of tactical voting in either - might as well make my gesture and hope it's part of a nationwide trend that no one expected.

Britain's railways are already mostly in public ownership. It's just that the publics owning them aren't British.

For a first past the post system in a safe seat all alternative voted could be considered a waste
or as Tom and Ed says the opposite , Vote to show your view to the sitting MP
Only in a marginal seat does a vote for an alternative to the current MP have any real effect.
How many seats are Marginal (or Swing), whats the percentage of total ?
So I can only understand tactical voting in these type of seats

Either way I'll vote for the individual/groups policies I most prefer, I'd be surprised if my views are inline with the majority

In Scotland, polls suggest almost all seats will go to the SNP (from zero now). The data aren't available, but I'm assuming that the current MP's party (Labour mostly with some Lib Dems) is most likely to come second. The margins will probably not be huge, and since many Lib Dem, Labour and even Tory voters in Scotland are putting aside differences to vote tactically against SNP, tactical voting could have a big impact.

I'd like to think that a second successive coalition would result in another drive for some form of proportional representation, but since that was roundly rejected just a few years ago, and nobody's talking about it now, I'm not hopeful.

Put it this way, the Lib Dems got a much higher share of the vote than they did of commons seats for decades, but it was only when forced into coalition that the conservatives did anything about it.

Page 23 of the Green manifesto caught my eye..

https://www.greenpar...n_Manifesto.pdf

They plan to phase out the use of fossil fuel for energy generation by 2023 (8 years) and Nuclear by 2025 (10 years). I think that would be impossible.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: jamesingram</cite>
How many seats are Marginal (or Swing), whats the percentage of total ?

Historically, not more than about 30% and that was at the "97" election with the massive swing to Labour. Usually it's much less than that. I haven't crunched the numbers but if you go back to "45" you'll more than likely find that most elections are won or lost with less than 20% of the 650 seats, party wise, changing hands.
I read somewhere that at this election there are about 80-100 marginals depending on your interpretation. So roughly 12.5% to 15% of the seats decides who we get. If you're in one of these you can affect the outcome, if not you're p...ing into the wind, but heigh-ho that's democracy. Protest vote if you want, but you may be better off choosing the least worst candidate, if you're first choice historically hasn't got a chance.
No one remembers the bronze medallist, not in a first past the post electoral system.

Posted By: GarethCIn Scotland, polls suggest almost all seats will go to the SNP (from zero now).

Am I misreading that or are you suggesting that in the parliament that has just ended there were no SNP MPs?

There were 6 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scottish_National_Party_MPs_%282010%E2%80%9315%29

I probably will vote green tomorrow both locally and nationally because I know the candidates. The local councillor will probably win (be re-elected) and he does a good job. The national MP will almost certainly lose, which is just as well because most of the 'ordinary' green party policies are lunatic IMHO, but the 'green' issues do need support. Apart from changing the voting system, I also think we need a different method of deciding individual policies.

Yes sorry Skyewright, should have said very few currently.

Posted By: owlmanbut heigh-ho that's democracy

Not remotely what the ancient Greeks meant by it - another buzz word (like 'Sustainable', or 'Christianity') that's been hijacked and almost reversed in meaning.

To them it was a way to reach consensus; to us it's a way to rudely deny what they want to at least 49%, usually more, of the poulation, who immediately then put all their energy into hating the others and plotting their downfall 'next time'.

Posted By: CWattersThey plan to phase out the use of fossil fuel for energy generation by 2023 (8 years) and Nuclear by 2025 (10 years). I think that would be impossible.

Yep, not going to happen, at least not that quickly, even if there was a majority of Green MPs. Still, better for everybody and a closer approximation to what's really going to happen than the other parties' policies which are, in actual effect whatever they might say, to continue an exponential growth in fossil fuel use forever.

https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob/status/596204574492463104/photo/1