As the UK prepares for what could be one of its most interestingly general elections for some years, there’s been a lot of talk about tactical voting.  The UK’s electoral constituencies and ‘first past the post‘ voting system lends itself to such voting, particularly because the political scene is dominated by two parties: Labour and the Conservatives (although the Liberal Democrats arguably make the UK a 3-party house these days and are powerful enough to effect votes in the House of Commons, they are still some way short of challenging the leadership).

Left vs right: do Labour and Tories still represent their traditional sides of the political spectra? Click to view large; image from InformationisBeautiful.net

Some people feel that organised action is required to redress the balance of power towards constituents and not politicians, advocating the use of tactical voting. In 2001 and 2005 Billy Bragg publicly asked the people of Dorset to vote tactically to avoid the Tories finding power in the counties South and West constituencies. Going further still are those who ‘swap’ votes with someone in a different constituency, often because there is a great chance of their vote making a difference in an area with a different balance of political power (and there are a number of website swapping of one’s vote with someone from a different constituency).

Personally, I think it’s a huge shame that people are compelled to vote tactically rather than based on policies. I’m not ruling out ever doing it. In the recent European elections the BNP campaigned hard in my area of Leeds and I made sure I got up early and went to my local polling station simply to cast a vote to someone who wasn’t the BNP. I based my decision on policy – perhaps if there’d been more collaboration (tactical voting) between anti-BNP voters then we wouldn’t be sending a BNP member to Europe to represent Yorkshire.

Who do I vote for? Voteforpolicies.org.uk helps you find out more on the policies of the major UK parties

Policies should be the fore front of people’s decision, way ahead of which party leader has been in Heat magazine the most or made the least gaffs when interviewed by Netmums. But first things first, what policies matter? What do the UK political parties even stand for these days? Who do they represent? What does a future under their stewardship involve? There’s cannibalisation of beliefs and policy between the parties and progression from their traditional values. These new homogenised parties are difficult to decipher, shrouded in spin and their leaders more than prepared to use their wives as ammunition (or cannon fodder?!)

With this and myriad complexities that us citizens (well, me) can’t ever expect to understand, is it little wonder the UK suffers from voter apathy (Yorkshire could easily have stopped the BNP if only they’d rolled out of bed). So I was delighted to find out about a new online tool that allow you to compare the policies of 6 of the most influential political parties standing in the next general election: Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, Green, UKIP and BNP. Not to mention a helpful tool in understanding what the parties stand for, it’s a useful exercise in really finding out what matters to you. Blindfolded, who really stand for what you believe in?

It brings up many other questions too: Can the party who meets my beliefs get elected? Who should I vote for to push the country forward, to really make a difference. It doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s definitely helped me confirm my beliefs and inspired me to stick to my policies. Time will tell if I maintain that attitude to the ballot box.

Check it out at http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

At over 8,500 votes, the Green Party are winning the policy vote at voteforpolicies.org.uk