The human mind is bad at judging risks. We care too much about large but infrequent disaster and not enough about small but constant tragedy. We worry about plane crashes when we are far more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport. We worry about nuclear reactor meltdowns while traditional fossil fuel plants kill more people per year by orders of magnitude as part of their normal operation. We worry about the Tories being elected to power in the next election while the political climate of the nation becomes gradually more Tory-friendly with every Parliament.

The act of tactical voting is so focused on the immediacy of the next election that it spares no thought to the long-term consequences of voting for people rather than policies. Not only does this attitude willingly abandon a right to democratic representation, it also removes any incentive for Labour to stick to their principles. What follows from large swathes of the country adopting this position is disastrous. The Tories propose ever more right-wing policies, and Labour, knowing that they do not have to work for the votes of the ‘lesser of two evils’ lefties, shift rightwards to stay competitive with swing voters. Before long the centre-ground of politics has moved, along with what the public perceives as normal and reasonable policy.

The centre-ground of British politics is shifting. Policies that would be considered extreme for even Margaret Thatcher’s governments are today mainstream and advocated by all three main parties. The only way to break this shift rightwards is to vote for parties that accurately represent your views, and not just for the most competitive non-Tory candidate in your constituency. Do not be upset that there is no left-wing opposition in parliament if you have continued to support Labour while they have become more and more neoliberal – it’s exactly what you have voted for. The only way to get genuine left-wing opposition in Parliament is to vote for genuine left-wing candidates. The Tories getting into power is bad for the country, there is no doubt about that. The centre-ground of British politics slowly becoming right-wing is fundamentally changing the nature of our country, and please, be in no doubt about that.