Are you a Liberal Democrat or Labour supporter living in a constituency expected to go Conservative? Are you questioning the value of your vote? If so, you can now sign up on the website tacticalvoter.net and pledge to “swap” your vote with a Labour or Liberal Democrat supporter in a constituency where a seat is up for grabs.
Organisers hope to wipe-out the Conservatives and see the Liberal Democrats become Britain’s second party. Michael Howard and six shadow cabinet colleagues are at the top of a list of high-profile candidates who are seen as vulnerable at the general election.
The campaign is run by a not-for-profit firm called Howard’s End. It was set up by a group of Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters. Its spokesman, Jason Buckley, a teacher from Essex, said: “For Labour voters, there are seats where voting Lib Dem is a no-brainer. The chance to oust senior Tories like Howard, Letwin, Davis and May is irresistible. The only people voting Labour in these seats should be the candidates and their agents.”
Advocates of vote swapping claim it helped the Liberal Democrat gain in Cheadle in 2001, and Dorset South, where the Labour MP Jim Knight won with a majority of 153.
Clearly, all pledges to swap a vote are based on the honour system. There is the chance the Liberal Democrat voter you have pledged to swap your vote with is actually a Tory in disguise.