I have seen a few of these posts getting a lot of attention on Facebook and what I find most interesting is the difference of voice and opinion. So I wonder what people of this community think and I'd love to learn something new and make the right choice .

Almost every morning I wake up knowing with certainty who I am going to vote for, usually by the evening my mind is change. For me it is a choice between Plaid and Labour (I'd love to think I could vote Green but I dont think its feasible). Plaid because they seem to chime with my socialist values. But I have two problems with Plaid, the first living in Butetown it feels like a one horse race, with Labour winning. The Plaid candidate is Ben Foday (who is a lovely guy), he lives a few doors away from my mum, but he might as well live on Mars during this election because is he is a Quiet Man. Second is (and I dont know this for certain) I imagine that when Plaid was set up in 1925 through to modern times  that they wouldnt have classed my Great-Grand parents, my grand parents, my mum or my community of Butetown as Welsh. The image of Plaid is very different, inclusive today and they are one of the few parties that are not spouting anti-immigration rhetoric but the fact remains.

Labour, because we cant have another five years of the Tories. For all the reasons Im sure everyone is aware of. But, again as Im sure everyone is aware of, Labour are not the Labour I grew up with, in fact could be said that the name Labour is a bit of an oxymoron. I went to the Cardiff People Question time last we and it was argued there that we should perhaps not give up on Labour but try to influence policy from the grassroots level.

So today I think i am going to vote Labour, after being 100% sure last week it would be Plaid. 

Who should I/You/We vote for?

 If your interested in more conversation around this and other issues join The People Think Tank http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/group/the-peoples-think-tank

 

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Comment by Yusuf salaban mohamed on May 5, 2015 at 14:10

Like you said Gavin this Vote is so full of lies and hidden agendas i think it's impossible to make your mind up.

how ever as much as i would love to vote for Plaid the question that i keep asking myself is what will that change? So for me i think i will stick with the boring Labour   cos five more years of cuts, hurting the most vulnerable groups and individuals in our society while the richer gets even richer for me is a slow death to the principles and values of this great nation.

last year ( DIFD) Department of international development in Britain paid out over 20 billion pounds to other countries and you have homeless people hungry and cold sleeping in queen street.

no wonder people are kicking off spitting out racial hates.   

Comment by Gavin Porter on May 1, 2015 at 2:47

@Rhain, me too. its not an easy choice.

@catrin, I was thinking bout more recent history i.e 80s/90s but yes it feels that they are a different party and its a different Wales.

Comment by Catrin Rogers on May 1, 2015 at 0:25

Very interesting, Gav.

I would caution against judging Plaid on their rhetoric (or what you imagine it would have been) a century ago. They're no more the same party now as Wales is the same country (and same goes for all the other parties), and a vote for them now would be a vote for their current rhetoric - if that chimes with your views.

Living in the Vale of Glamorgan, I share your dilemma of whether to engage in tactical voting.

On a media note (sorry, it always comes back to this for me!), I've found BBC Wales' Daily Politics series very interesting: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05t2yt7/daily-politics-2015-e...

Comment by Rhian Richards on May 1, 2015 at 0:07

All I can say in response to this Gav, is you really make me think about politics and what I should do.

I always vote, I would never waste my right to vote by not voting, but I don't think I've ever really sat down and thought about it properly.

I have a lot of thinking to do before next week!

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 28, 2015 at 3:43

My heart is with Wyn too, I think there is a shift and Scotland is leading the way but..... in the last election Lab 17, 262, Tories 12,553 (Plaid 1854) which is close and what Im constantly surprised by is people saying things like 'the plan is working', so my head says vote tactical.

I think that the whole country is shifting and that the election after this is where we will see real change, people will expect more openness, transparency etc, but if we have another 5 years of the tories, what kind of country will we live in?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_South_and_Penarth_%28UK_Parlia... 

Comment by Sophie McKeand on April 28, 2015 at 2:31

I'm with Wyn all the way. Couldn't have put it better myself. So I won't. But I will say I live in Wrecsam and am voting Plaid for all the reasons Wyn just gave. :)

Comment by Wyn Mason on April 27, 2015 at 22:30

I live in Cardiff West and I'm going to vote Plaid, knowing full well that Labour will win the seat, but at least I'll be contributing towards lowering their majority.  And that's how things will change eventually, otherwise we are left with Wales being pretty much a one party state (in the Assembly, that is).  I'm also a socialist, with strong anarchist leanings, and Plaid's policies are far more socialist than Labour and are serious about devolving power and wealth, not only to Wales but within Wales.  I don't think Plaid are ideal, but at least I feel they are trying to shift things in the right direction. 

And another reason I can't bring myself to vote Labour is to do with Trident and nuclear weapons in general - which I think need to be abolished.  Plaid are anti-Trident, Labour are pro-Trident.  It should be remembered that it was Clement Attlee (Major Attlee as he was known), Labour's first Prime Minister, who developed Britain's very first nuclear weapon.  As he did so he saw through the end of British rule in India, saying that being a colonial power in the post-war world wasn't about how much foreigh territory a country controlled, but about having one's own nuclear weapon.  Labour are still committed to this. 

I guess I'm as much of an anti-colonialist as I am a socialist and I'm afraid that Labour is deeply rooted in Westminster's colonial traditions, i.e. committed to the idea of Britain being as a major power in the world, and the endless wars and atrocities that follow such a stance.  Rathering than holding on to a desperate and unrealistic hope that the Labour Party can somehow be reformed I'd rather use my vote to help British politics move beyond the current Labour v Tory stalemate, which mainstream media (faithful guardians of the Establishment) keep on presenting as the only viable option, but at times it's really difficult to see much difference between them.  So, for the sake of speeding up the day when the winds of change will finally blow through those dusty old, colonial corridors, I'm opting for Plaid.

There we go, Gavin, just a little contribution to your on-going dilemma!  Good luck with making your mind up! 

Comment by Christina Handke on April 27, 2015 at 6:37

Since I'm not allowed to vote, I'm hoping people will also go and vote for me and in my best interest. I hope they don't waste their vote, something I very much wish I was entitled to. I think voting should be a mix of voting for whom you want to vote and voting in a way that's strategically smart. If it looks like the tories will win, for example, you should vote for labour or any other party that could be part of a minority government, because if you don't, you're basically voting for tory, if that makes sense.

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