UK Elections 2024: ‘Tactical voting’ in full swing
By Saiba Haque
Can things only get better for the Labour party? Well they are predicted to win this year, by achieving a swing through a little nudge from tactical voters.
Recent YouGov polls show that there is widespread public cynicism about parties keeping to their election pledges. Just one in five (20%) believe that winning parties generally keep to all or most of their manifesto promises.
Fully half of Brits (53%) think that parties go back on most of their promises, and 22% believe they go back on all or almost all of their pledges.
And who can blame them, after all that the conservative party has set out to not achieve in the past decade or so.
Video Vox pop on how voters are feeling about the 2024 elections
And yet these manifestos are at the epicenter of this year’s snap general elections (amongst all the jaw-dropping scandals and the finger-pointing amongst candidates).
Many are opting to partake in ‘tactical voting’ this year, by siding more towards voting for Labour (begrudgingly so) in order to drive the Conservatives out of No. 10. A true indication of negative partisanship unlike ever before seen in UK politics (at least not to this scale some would think). Although the concept of choosing the best from the worst available options is not entirely an uncommon phenomenon.
When asked about who he will vote for in a vox pop interview, Bunny form Create Not Destroy says:
“Do you want the mumps or the measles? You probably want neither of those do you?”
Which although is an incredibly creative way to put it, perfectly encapsulates the frustrations faced by many voters partaking in the election in 2024.
So can tactical voting work? In short, yes it can, given that Britain uses the first-past-the-post system where voters choose amongst candidates running from each party, where these candidates represent their local constituencies in parliament (should they win).
It is therefore harder for smaller or independent parties/candidates to gain enough of a majority vote from the whole country to become the leading party, albeit if these candidates win they can still represent themselves in parliament on behalf of their constituency.
Image by Jordhan Madec via Unsplash
Many loyal Labour voters of the past feel that they can not vote for the party this year due to Starmer’s shaky stance on the Gaza ceasefire. However there is a sizeable amount of the population who feel that due to the first-past-the-post voting system, voting Green, independents or even Reform can generate a “wasted Vote” as they may not have enough majority to win. Hence the ever so “begrudging” Labour vote from voters of differing demographics may likely lead to Labour taking over on the 4th July elections.
According to a new YouGov study, one in five voters (22%) say they will be voting tactically on 4 July. Among tactical-Labour voters, 89% are doing so to deter the Conservatives, and 85% of tactical-Lib Dems say the same – only 8% of this latter group are trying to keep Labour away.
But there’s a larger problem here which is consequential to the overarching solidarity within tactical voting. The dilemma being that of the true democratic right of voters and the voice of the people and how the voting system is at the mercy of settling for the next best option of arguably some of the worst instead of demanding for a better choice, that may already be in the works.
And yet it seems to be an immensely powerful tool to get a government out of power that people have not been happy with for the past 14 years. But at what cost? Electing another that may end up disappointing them equally?
Although we are merely less than a day away from finding out the result of one of the most historic UK elections to date, it still feels to early to predict long term implications in absolution. Whether those who claim that they will vote tactically for labour will follow through with their word on tomorrow’s elections or not is a different ballpark entirely. I guess all will be revealed in due course.
