Britain has become a nation of swing voters. In the last three general
elections, almost half of voters (49%) have backed more than one party at the polls.
More will follow suit at the ballot box on Thursday. Voters who have been loyal to a political party for years – or even decades – will lend their support to somebody else. In many cases, it will be a move they could not have imagined just a couple of years ago.
But it’s not always been this way. Research suggests that in the mid-1960s, only 13% of voters switched parties between elections. People identified strongly with their party – and backed them at the polling booth.
So who are the people switching their allegiances in this
election after supporting the same party in ballot after ballot? And what pushed them to do it?
Peter Hutchinson joined the
Labour Party in 1967. “I grew up in a Labour family,” the 70-year-old says.
“My parents were branch officers, my grandfather was an NUM [National Union of Mineworkers] official and my daughter was a county councillor.”
When his cousin became a Liberal Democrat councillor “the whole family talked about him with wonder for years”, he says.
But in this election, after more than five decades of Labour membership, Peter won’t be giving the party his vote. Instead, “through gritted teeth”, he will be backing the Lib Dems. “My reasons for not voting Labour can be summed up as ‘Corbyn’,” he says, citing the party’s anti-Semitism row as a major reason behind his decision.
According to Peter: “Corbyn may not be actively anti-Semitic himself, but too many of his friends and supporters are and disciplinary procedures have been selectively and unenthusiastically applied.”
Even so, it’s a decision that he “struggled with for months”.
“But there is almost a sense of relief that I don’t have to go to constituency Labour Party meetings, where I may hear anti-Semitism for the first time ever,” the retired project director says.
In his constituency – Chesham and Amersham – the Lib Dems are unlikely to win. In the 2017 snap general election the party came in third, trailing more than 26,000 votes behind the Conservatives. Labour didn’t fare much better, with 20,000 votes separating them from the winners.
“I have limited respect for the Lib Dems, but at least I know where they stand on the EU,” Peter explains. “On Brexit, I believe Corbyn has never campaigned actively against leaving since he has never recognised the value of the EU.”
As a result, the party’s policy to re-negotiate the
Brexit deal and then offer a second
referendum in which Corbyn would remain neutral is “both confusing and wrong”.
Peter is far from alone in this view. Ashleigh Li, a wedding planner, will also be voting for the Lib Dems in this election after voting for Labour “all my life” – and Brexit has played a key role in her decision. “I think it’s the clarity of the Lib Dems’ stance on Brexit that has helped sway my thinking,” she says. “I know exactly what they stand for.”
Meanwhile, there was “such a long period” where it was unclear what Labour’s stance on leaving the EU was.
It meant that when the party did finally explain their position, Ashleigh had already made her mind up to switch allegiances.
“I’m a Remainer and want to vote for a party that are clearly pro-Remain,” the 32-year-old explains.
A move from a Labour safe-seat to Sutton and Cheam, where the Tories have been in control since 2015, made her choice even clearer.
“It cemented even more for me that I had to vote Lib Dem this time round, as a vote for Labour here is almost a wasted vote… I haven’t had a thing [campaigning material] through from Labour here.”
Catherine Gladwyn is on the opposite path. In her Swindon South constituency, she always votes Lib Dem “as the candidate is the only one who is about the town regularly and actually does stuff in the community”. But 42-year-old Catherine, who has a recurring brain tumour and a fatal chronic illness, has just one aim in this election – to unseat
Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party from government.
“I’m only voting Labour as they’re the only ones who can get the Tories out,” she explains. “I don’t want the Tories in because of their destruction of the NHS.”
Voting Lib Dem is “just not a tactical vote”, Catherine adds. In the last general election, the local Labour Party fell just 2,500 votes short of overthrowing the Tories, who have held Swindon South since 2010.
Matthew – a 46-year-old IT consultant – will also be voting for Labour for the first time in this election, having voted Conservative since 1992.
“Whilst I have always viewed them as flawed, I saw them as less flawed than the other options,” he explains.
But now, Matthew says he holds the Conservative Party “in contempt”. “Whilst not hard-right, the direction of travel [for the party] is clear,” he says.
“It now seems to be a party determined to look out for the interests of a few rather than putting the country first.”
Matthew – who voted Leave in 2016 and now regrets it – will be “holding my nose” while voting Labour.
He actually supports the Lib Dems, but lives in Delyn – a seat in north Wales that has been held by Labour for the past 27 years. To get around this, he has agreed to a vote swap with someone living in a constituency where Jo Swinson’s party has a better chance of winning.
“The number one issue is about trust,” he says when asked why he is backing the Lib Dems at this election. “I do not trust either the Tory or Labour parties.
“I think the Lib Dem manifesto seems to be better for the NHS and the economy. It also seems – though I’m not 100% sure here – better costed than both the Labour and slimline Tory ones.” Marcio Delgado disagrees. For him, the Tories’ stance on taxes is the way forward.
Since he moved to the
UK 15 years ago, he has always identified more with the Labour Party and its policies.
“Not for this general election, I’m afraid,” he says. Labour is “just too unrealistic and unprepared to be in charge of the country”.
Marcio continues: “They may have good intentions, offering free broadband and other things to lure voters, but at the same time they are alienating their lifelong supporters.”
Meanwhile, he says he could not endorse the idea of a second referendum on Brexit “even having voted Remain back in 2016”.
The Conservative Party “isn’t the answer to everything”, the 40-year-old says.
But “their promise of no income tax, VAT or National Insurance rises is the thing that has made me decide”. “I already pay a lot of taxes,” he adds.
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