Can you vote with your heart and head tomorrow?

Right now it seems like I have to choose between my heart or my head, which is why one day before the election I'm still undecided. 

At least there are some things I know. I'd never vote UKIP and as per yesterday's post, that's a big NO for the Tories. The Greens are as small a party as I'd like to consider for this election, so I'm left with three. 

I live in the constituency of Old Southwark and Bermondsey. This was a newly defined constituency as of 2010 but when you add in similar constituencies around the same area, Lib Dem Simon Hughes has been the MP for 32 years.

In 2010, Hughes soundly won with 48% of the vote followed by Labour (29%), Tories (17%), Greens (1.6%) and others (3.7%). My impression is that Hughes has run the most energetic campaign. We also get a lot of Labour flyers through the door, but I think we get even more from the Lib Dems. You also see Hughes around a lot, get doorbell-ringing campaigners and you see a lot of Lib Dem signs around.  I don’t think we’ve received any election flyers from the Tories, UKIP or rather disappointingly, the Greens (although I can’t be certain, because my husband may have recycled the Tory or UKIP stuff before I saw it, but even if we did receive a couple it was much less than the two major parties).

It seems like the scale of the Hughes campaign reflects some worry about losing the seat, but I feel the Hughes onslaught must have had some impact.I haven’t really had any plans to vote for him, but even I find myself thinking that he may be the best candidate as a champion for the local area with his tenure, connections and potentially  a larger role in a smaller collation vs. a brand new MP, who is likely to work hard but may have less impact/influence. However, I’m more interested in national and global issues, such as austerity and how it's done, the size of the state, EU membership and fighting climate change, which is why I don’t plan to vote for Hughes. Also, I think they were in a difficult position in 2010 and have had some positive influence on the Coalition, but since I’m fundamentally unsatisfied with what the Coalition has done, I do not think I should vote to keep it in place.

I was surprised to find out reading the news today that it’s considered a close race between Hughes and Labour candidate Neil Coyle. 

Besides the rather insulting assumption that our borough’s 130,000 residents, bar a banker or two, aren’t here for the buffet of cultural delights, I thought this New Statesman article from yesterday about our constituency battle was interesting plus this one from the Guardian today. This article on the SE1 website also shows the Sun pushing its readers to vote Lib Dem here to keep Cameron as Prime Minister. 

I’m also going to share on Facebook the 38 Degrees email on our constituency battle.

A tight race unfortunately, doesn’t help me make my decision between Labour and the Greens. I realise now that knowing that Tories really couldn’t win in my area gave me a perceived freedom to vote with my heart, which is with the Greens. However, now that there’s a tight race between the Lib Dem and Labour candidates, I feel very torn, so I’ll explain below while I’ll (probably) vote Labour tomorrow and also why I’ll (probably) vote Green. Maybe writing this down will help me decide.

Why I’ll (probably) vote Labour tomorrow

Both my gut and my brain dislike the Tories (see yesterday’s post). I believe they are radicals rather than conservatives who fundamentally want to change this country for the worse, in irreversible ways if at all possible. Also, their full reliance on free markets as the solution to all problems unfortunately won’t only hurt the UK but also the entire world, by giving no chance for the serious fighting of climate change.

While I’m not enamoured with Labour’s climate change plans, I think that they will be much more open to pressure form the people to act decisively on climate change versus the Tories that won’t even open the door no matter what the people think. Think what you may of Russell Brand, but he has a passion for community activism and explains why he supports Labour in the video shown here, which as of a couple days ago had 1.75m views.

  

I’m torn on Ed Miliband. I wish he was more charismatic, but I think greater charisma often comes at a cost of limited other skills (aka the Boris effect). So if a lack of charisma means that he’s needed to be harder working and smarter to get where he is, I’ll take that cost. Plus I’m not bowled over the charisma of Cameron or Clegg either.

But I just wish that Labour would have done more to attack the false positions that continue to be pushed by the Tories and offered a more exciting position on the left. I think they’ve missed a big opportunity to fight for what many disillusioned people are looking for.

Unfortunately, for the sake of our future as a human race, we don’t have the luxury of a longer-term plan, such as to vote Green now to get a better Labour for the next election. It will be too late then. We really need to act now, which could mean being as strategic as possible (as described in this opinion piece in the Guardian today).

So if a Labour candidate has a chance to get into office tomorrow, my head says that voting to make that happen is potentially the most important action to fight climate change now. There simply isn’t a tomorrow or "next time" left. Labour will also move us in the right direction away from many of the Coalition's worst policies. 

Why I’ll (probably) vote Green tomorrow

.

My heart is still with the Greens. Perhaps by virtue of being an outsider party, they say things that need to be said. They will fight against climate change and are willing to say that major changes will be needed to do it. They are willing to fight for disabled and disadvantaged people who need us to support them rather than demonise them, which in my mind is tied to fighting climate change. We need to show that this world is populated by real people who care about real people and the environment. Free markets have failed us regarding the environment and only by realising that there is a way for us escape this system that puts profits above all else, will we start to make the changes necessary to save this world for us, our kids (and I really hope grandkids and great-grandkids).

Voting Labour tomorrow means that we’re more likely to get the same offer from them in five years’ time. If we’re never ready to commit to what we believe in, then it will never happen. George Monbiot described well this challenge to find a progressive agenda in the election..And this is why I’m (probably) going to vote with my heart tomorrow. 

One sleep to go, hopefully the answer will be clear to me in the morning!