British election
May. 9th, 2026 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcThe election happened. Feeling rushed, I took less care than usual in researching my options but there were readily available links online to manifestos and suchlike. As a sufficient discriminator, I focused on parties' positions on the subset of issues where I care more and where I expected more divergence.
Britain is good at offering abundantly many polling stations open for long hours, I have never seen much of a queue. It was R.'s and their eldest first time voting here so I tried to be informative but not overly so. I was surprised how long our regional ballot paper was in person, my not having thought through how it had to fit well over a dozen parties plus a couple of independents. It all seemed to go easily and smoothly even though our polling station serves three … districts? each of which needs two ballot boxes for each of that district's kinds of ballot. It is nice to be in a country that can count elections in hours rather than days.
In every election, my tendency is to weigh my options; over the years, I have voted for a good range of parties. The main exception might be that I don't believe I've ever voted Republican in the US. Twenty years ago I might have at least given them thought but, especially in this modern era, Republicans will have to find some principles, honesty and compassion before I can ever even consider them again. In recent years, the Conservatives in Britain have also moved enough rightward to be beyond the pale for me. I don't think I've moved much leftward in my old age, I think the parties moved under me: Labour remains much more Blair's than Kinnock's, and Badenoch's running scared of Reform. (Some Reform members think the National Socialists made some good points.) I'm slightly awkward because I'm more progressive socially than along other policy axes so it's always a tradeoff: in this case, drawing a few almost-red lines on issues narrowed the options nicely.
The results leave me quite comfortable with remaining in Scotland: Reform did the worst up here. Locally, and in general, the SNP did well. I am not their biggest fan but there are certainly worse and, not winning a majority in Parliament, perhaps they can focus more on governing than referenda. The SNP has this habit of campaigning on many issues then deeming every vote to be a mandate for Scottish independence.
Britain is good at offering abundantly many polling stations open for long hours, I have never seen much of a queue. It was R.'s and their eldest first time voting here so I tried to be informative but not overly so. I was surprised how long our regional ballot paper was in person, my not having thought through how it had to fit well over a dozen parties plus a couple of independents. It all seemed to go easily and smoothly even though our polling station serves three … districts? each of which needs two ballot boxes for each of that district's kinds of ballot. It is nice to be in a country that can count elections in hours rather than days.
In every election, my tendency is to weigh my options; over the years, I have voted for a good range of parties. The main exception might be that I don't believe I've ever voted Republican in the US. Twenty years ago I might have at least given them thought but, especially in this modern era, Republicans will have to find some principles, honesty and compassion before I can ever even consider them again. In recent years, the Conservatives in Britain have also moved enough rightward to be beyond the pale for me. I don't think I've moved much leftward in my old age, I think the parties moved under me: Labour remains much more Blair's than Kinnock's, and Badenoch's running scared of Reform. (Some Reform members think the National Socialists made some good points.) I'm slightly awkward because I'm more progressive socially than along other policy axes so it's always a tradeoff: in this case, drawing a few almost-red lines on issues narrowed the options nicely.
The results leave me quite comfortable with remaining in Scotland: Reform did the worst up here. Locally, and in general, the SNP did well. I am not their biggest fan but there are certainly worse and, not winning a majority in Parliament, perhaps they can focus more on governing than referenda. The SNP has this habit of campaigning on many issues then deeming every vote to be a mandate for Scottish independence.
