Tactical voting could come into play across Cumbria at the upcoming General Election, as local people consider how they can use their vote to the biggest effect.

Ukip’s Fiona Mills and the Green Party’s Helen Davison, who have put themselves forward to stand in Carlisle, believe this will be an issue, saying the current first-past-the-post system puts many people off voting for the smaller parties.

They therefore believe tactical voting could be a big issue, particularly in marginal areas like Carlisle and Copeland.

With the Conservatives far ahead in the opinion polls, there have already been some national efforts to encourage tactical voting in a bid to stop the Tories securing a large majority.

Links to the website Tactical 2017 are being shared across social media, aiming to tell the public which way they should vote in each constituency to keep the party out.

Meanwhile Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was quick to encourage voters to choose his party as a stand against a so-called “hard” Brexit.

Labour’s Stewart Young is encouraging people to vote tactically in Carlisle if they do not want a Tory MP.


Gareth Ellis But leading Carlisle Conservatives Gareth Ellis and John Mallinson are not worried, both believing the vast majority of people will vote for the candidate they want to win the election.

Mr Ellis does not believe the majority of people want to see the Conservatives lose seats, saying many of those he speaks while out canvassing identify with the party.

“People can try to be too clever and outsmart the system. (Tactical voting) is a plan of the obsessive,” he said.

“At one point the party suffered from this anti-Conservative feeling from the 1990s or early 2000s. Some of the people who advocate tactical voting are still of that mindset, but the reality is that the tactical anti-Tory vote doesn’t really exist any more. People are more anti-Jeremy Corbyn than anti- Conservative.

“I’m of the mind that you should vote for the person you want to win. I think most people do that. A general election is an opportunity for you to say who you want to run the country, be it Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative, whoever.”


Helen Davison But Ms Davison, who stood as the Green Party candidate for Carlisle in 2015 disagrees. “I think people do tactically vote. It was apparent at the last general election,” she said.

“I had people say that they’d like to vote for me but they had to vote Labour to keep the Tories out. This time that’s even more the case. The tactical vote will be a huge thing.”

She said there has even been talk of parties, including the Greens, forming progressive alliances and fielding candidates tactically, adding that the current electoral system does not give all the parties a fair chance to be represented in Parliament.

“It’s crazy really that people should have to tactically vote. It’s fundamentally wrong,” she explained.

“In the last general election we should have had 24 Green seats proportionally. We had one million votes across the country. Ukip were even worse off and the Liberal Democrats have had this issue for years. It’s just not fair that across the country so many people vote for parties that do not get seats. I think the call for a fair voting system is bigger than ever, that’s why people are disenfranchised.”


Stewart Young Labour’s Mr Young, Cumbria County Council leader, believes people will tactically vote in a general election.

“My view is that in Carlisle there’s either going to be a Conservative MP or a Labour MP, it’s unlikely to be anything else. If you’re someone who would potentially vote Green, Lib Dem, Ukip but do not want a Conservative MP and a Conservative government then all you can really do is vote Labour,” he said.

“I would encourage people to vote tactically if that’s the case. It could be enough to swing the seat. The Conservatives only had a majority of about 2,500 votes last time. If you add up all the Lib Dem, Green and Ukip votes then that would make a big difference.”

Miss Mills, who also stood in 2015, also believes the current system discourages people from voting at all.


Fiona Mills “The problem I have with this General Election is that I feel it’s a power grab by Theresa May and that it’s also undemocratic, because a lot of people in marginal seats do vote tactically, whichever way that may be. The system is broken,” she said.

“I’ve had people talk to me in the street, saying they will vote for us in the local elections but not nationally. I understand where they are coming from and I think some voters will desert us, but people shouldn’t have to tactically vote. We shouldn’t have a first-past- the-post system. I personally couldn’t bring myself to vote tactically. That’s why I’ve put myself forward again.”

However Mr Ellis warned that tactical voting does not always work out how voters want, using the Liberal Democrats’ 2010 campaign – which ended with then leader Nick Clegg forming a controversial coalition with the Conservatives – as an example.


John Mallinson Mr Mallinson, leader of the Conservative group on the city council and president of Carlisle Conservative Association, believes talk of tactical voting is just speculation.

“My personal view is that people should vote for the candidate they want to represent them in Westminster.

“I know it’s talked about, but probably a lot more than it’s actually practised. It’s something you can never really prove one way or the other, but I don’t think it will be a game changer in Carlisle.

“I think some people are trying to hype it up. I’m not saying it would never make a difference if it was a really tight contest, but it’s not something that’s really concerning me,” he said.