All Your Election Questions, Answered: Including Tactical Voting And Spoiling Your Ballet Paper

As the public head to the polling stations, many are frantically googling these need-to-know questions to decide who to vote for…

election questions answered

by Georgia Aspinall |
Updated on

This morning, polling stations opened across the UK as the public began to use their vote and decide the outcome of this historic general election. And since politics is a minefield of jargon, confusion and misinformation, a lot of people are googling need-to-know questions when it comes to voting.

It’s never been more important to get out and vote, and feeling intimidated by politics is only beneficial to the most powerful: so here, we’ve answered many of the most googled questions.

Who should I vote for?

We’re starting off with the big one, because it’s the most important. Deciding who to vote for is not just a personal choice. When you vote, you’re voting for everyone – including your family, friends and peers. It’s a time to think beyond your own life circumstances and decide what party you believe will best support the many different types of people in this country.

It’s not uncommon to come to election day and still be undecided. And you’re not alone, barely anyone actually understands what’s going on most of the time, especially now. So, we’ve broken down the party manifesto’s promises to help you understand what each party represents:

Why vote Labour? Labour’s key promises

Brexit – Jeremy Corbyn would renegotiate a withdrawal agreement with the EU by March and put that deal to the public via a referendum within six months of the election. The result would be legally binding.

NHS – Increase spending on the health budget by 4.3% each year. Reverse privatisation and offer free annual dental care check-ups, free personal care for the elderly, free prescriptions and free hospital car parking. £1.6bn pledged to mental health services – all funded by increasing taxes on the wealthiest in society.

Public sector – Renationalising water, energy, rail and mail services. Offering free full-fibre broadband to everyone in the country and public sector workers to receive a 5% boost in pay with year-on-year rises above inflation.

Employment – Introduce real living wage of at least £10ph to all over 16, end zero hour contracts and strengthen the rights of trade unions. Paid maternity leave increased to 12 months with partners sharing parental leave able to spend a full year between them – employees will also have the right to work flexibly.

Environment – Create one million jobs by shifting gas, electricity, transport, agriculture and construction industries onto renewable energy modes. Aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

Welfare – Scrap universal credit with the two-child limit for benefits and welfare cap reconsidered immediately. Freeze state pensions at 66 and review retirement age. Waspi women (women born in the 1950s who were subject to a big change in pension age) would get compensation and triple-lock on annual state pension would continue.

Education – Scrap university tuition fees, Ofsted and SATS at key stage 1 and 2 – give councils and head teachers more power instead of academy bosses. Offer 30 hours of free childcare to all children at pre-school and reintroduce maintenance grants for students.

Crime – Employ 22,000 more police officers. Set up a royal commission to investigate the decriminalisation of drugs.

Housing – 150,000 homes to be built each year, two-thirds by councils. Renters would see rental caps and open-ended tenancies with a £1bn fire safety fund to prevent any repeat of the Grenfell fire.

Click here to view the entire manifesto.

Why vote Conservative? The Tories' key policies

Brexit – Boris Johnson has promised to implement Brexit deal before Christmas and leave the EU by end of January. The UK would leave the single market and any form of customs union.

NHS – 50,000 new nurses by 2023, 6,000 more doctors at GP surgeries and 6,000 more primary care staff (e.g. pharmacists). Reintroduce nursing bursary it once abolished and scrap hospital car parking charges for night shift staff, disabled people and families of terminally ill.

Crime – 20,000 more police officers over three years. Increase numbers of tasers, body cameras available to staff and consult on doubling the penalty for assaulting emergency service workers. Tougher sentences for worst offenders and end automatic halfway release for serious crimes.

Environment – Reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Spend £9.2bn improving energy efficiency on homes, schools and hospitals. Restrict the export of waste to advanced countries (a policy Nigel Farage suggested) and £2bn invested in fixing potholes across the UK.

Immigration – Reduce net migration to less than 100,000 with Australian merit-based system. Introduce an NHS visa for qualified health workers from overseas and make immigrants pay for the NHS before receiving any benefits.

Pensions – Triple-lock on pensions will remain in place after Theresa May pledged to scrap it. Keep free bus pass and winter fuel allowance.

Business – Introduce National Skills Fund with a budget of £600mn each year to kickstart the Right to Retrain initiative.

Education- Expand programmes that tackle bad behaviour and bullying increasing support of exclusions. Art, music and sport to receive further investment.

Welfare- Retain universal credit and end benefits freeze.

Click here to view the entire manifesto.

Why vote Lib Dem? The Liberal Democrats' key promises

Brexit – Promise to revoke article 50 and stay in the EU.

Education – Invest £50bn to reverse school cuts and hire 20,000 teachers (subject to that money being available if Brexit does not go through).

Childcare – Free childcare for children aged nine months until school age.

Mental Health services – Invest £11bn in mental health services over five years.

Environment – Initiate a 10-year emergency programme to make 80% of electricity renewable by 2030.

Click here to view the entire manifesto.

Why vote Green? The Green party’s key election promises

Environment – Invest £100bn a year to cut emissions to zero by 2030. Remove all fossil fuels by introducing a carbon tax to oil and gas extraction, phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and create jobs in new clean and green industries. Plant 700 million trees, build 100,000 zero-carbon homes for social rent. Ban single-use plastic and ensure 10 million homes have top energy ratings within 10 years.

NHS – Invest £6bn a year until 2030, with a further £1bn for nursing higher education.

Education – Scrap university tuition fees and write-off debt for ex-students who paid £9,000 a year.

Employment – Fund a universal basic income of £89 per week for all adults regardless of income.

Social care – Invest £4.5bn a year in social care with free personal care at home for people aged 65 and over.

Public services – Spend £2.5bn on cycle routes, scrap HS2 (a planned high speed railway network) and electrify the whole rail network.

Voting Reform – Scrap first-past-the-post voting system and replace it with a proportional alternative.

Click here to view the entire manifesto.

What party is best for women?

While the key election promises go into the biggest issues the public are talking about, each party does discuss specific issues that primarily impact women in their manifestos. Here, we broke each of the manifestos down specifically to how the best help women.

The Labour Party 2019 Election Manifesto – What Are They Offering Women?

The Liberal Democrats 2019 Election Manifesto – What Are They Offering Women?

The Conservative Party 2019 Election Manifesto – What Are They Offering Women?

Who is likely to win the 2019 election?

Polls have predicted a Tory majority the entire campaign trail, but the gap has been closing as we near voting day. This morning, YouGov released its final general election poll, revising down the Conservative majority to 28 – with a predicted win of 43% of the vote. However, critics have often ignored polls and as more people are googling how to vote tactically to keep the Tories out, it’s still up in air.

How do I do tactical voting?

Tactical voting is best used when you want to ensure on particular party does NOT run in the country. For example, as the Tories are predicted a majority, someone who did not want them to win would vote in a way that unseats the Tory MP in their area rather than voting for the party they actually want to win.

While some constituencies are overwhelmingly Labour or Tory, some are less secure and while you may be a Labour voter, voting Liberal Democrat may be more likely to unseat the Tory candidate. When you input your postcode into this website, it will tell you the best way to vote to tactically.

Should I spoil my ballet paper?

Spoiling your ballet paper is often considered a protest vote, but it doesn’t actually achieve anything in terms of the election. Your vote simply won’t be counted. So, if you don’t know who to vote for, it’s best to do some research and decide rather than not voting at all – which is what you would be doing by spoiling it.

If you specifically don’t want to vote for anyone and would like to protest the candidates, spoilt ballot papers will be added up and reported on after the election. While it shows how many people are unhappy with the entire political system, it doesn’t directly impact any politician's power.

When do election results get announced?

Election results will trickle in overnight with the result becoming more and more likely as constituencies declare their results. In theory, it will be clear who has the largest majority by 7am on Friday morning.

Are polling stations open all day?

Polling stations opened at 7am this morning and close at 10pm.

Are election polls accurate in the UK?

Election polls have been used to predict general election results for decades, however the varying levels of accuracy have made people sceptical about how valid they truly are. In 2010, an exit-poll rightly predicted a hung-parliament as did the 2017 exit poll predicting Theresa May had not extended her majority. However, a 2015 poll failed to predict a majority for the Tories.

Essentially, we can’t possibly know how accurate they are currently until tomorrow.

Can I vote online?

No, you have to go to a polling station. You can find out your local polling station here. The only exception is if you have registered to vote by post, which should have been sent off prior to voting day, or by proxy – where someone else can go to the polling station and vote on your behalf. Both of these were only available before the deadline for registering to vote closed in November.

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