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Posted by: Suedehead2 28th April 2019, 09:32 AM

Local elections take place in much of England (not London) and Northern Ireland on Thursday. There are no contests (apart, maybe, from the odd byelection) in the rest of the UK.

The Tories did well in the corresponding contests four years ago and are defending nearly 5,000 of the 8,500 seats up for grabs. They have already won over 200 seats where no other candidates have been nominated. Labour are defending 2,000 seats and the Lib Dems about 650.

Here in Brighton and Hove the whole council is up for election. The Tories became the largest party earlier this year after a Labour councillor defected. Labour will be looking to overturn that and, perhaps, win a majority. This is one of the areas where the Greens have a significant presence.

My previous council in Poole has been abolished and is now part of an enlarged Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The new council will be elected on Thursday. The Tories controlled all three of the old councils (two of them overwhelmingly), so they will be expected to control the new one.

The two new parties (Chukas and Farage Fanclub) are contesting few, if any, seats.

The nature of the seats being contested should mean significant Tory losses with Labour and Lib Dems making gains.

Posted by: Iz~ 28th April 2019, 09:43 AM

I’m actually ready for little change in these elections, and media using them a bit disingenuously. It’ll be interesting as a whole to see how the parties are competing but it won’t mean too much on the national level.

These are however likely to affect your life much more directly than a general would, if you have them, remember to take the time to vote for whichever counselor sounds best.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 28th April 2019, 09:54 AM

There's elections in Salford but i'm still registered in Scotland (preparing for Indyref2) so I won't be partaking in the locals down here. It's a fruitless endeavour in Salford anyway as it'll just be Labour

Posted by: Popchartfreak 28th April 2019, 11:03 AM

Speaking as an employee of a new enlarged council I'm hoping the oldies will be so pissed off at not getting brexit delivered they stay at home and the Tory stranglehold gets loosened just to say thanks for all the cuts

Posted by: Suedehead2 28th April 2019, 11:22 AM

Here's hoping!

Posted by: Brett-Butler 28th April 2019, 12:24 PM

Thanks for opening the topic Si, meant to do it last week but didn't get around to it.

In terms of the locals in NI, it will be interesting to see if the past 2 years of Stormont deadlock will have an effect on the chances of Sinn Fein/DUP, especially given the rollicking they received from Father Magill at Lyra McKee's funeral last week. They'll likely still be the biggest two parties, with reduced seat numbers.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 28th April 2019, 05:31 PM

yes a noticeable lack of clapping and reluctant standing from certain quarters...

Posted by: Suedehead2 1st May 2019, 03:45 PM

Another day, another Tory treating us all as idiots.

A scout leader in Lincolnshire got some of his scouts to deliver Tory leaflets in exchange for use of an allotment. The scouts are now trying to suggest it was an honest mistake. Yeah, right.

Any candidate for office should know that getting people to deliver leaflets in exchange for payment is illegal unless it is declared as an election expense. Whether this counts is questionable, but the general advice should be that it is not worth the risk. Second, scout leaders should know that getting scouts involved in any political activity is against the rules. After all, Chief Scout Bear Grylls was criticised when he addressed the Tory conference in full uniform. It shouldn't take a great deal of brain power to work out that delivering election leaflets counts as political activity.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-48120288

Posted by: Iz~ 2nd May 2019, 08:33 AM

^Election law flaunting... to put it nicely, layabouts. Leafleting is a great physical challenge you should be proud to do, even if it kills your legs.

Who has voted today then? I don't need to as there are no elections in Cornwall but most of England has elections.

Posted by: Brett-Butler 2nd May 2019, 08:43 AM

Voted this morning just as the station opened. Leaves me rest of the day to myself.

Posted by: vidcapper 2nd May 2019, 11:19 AM

Been there, done that - never again!

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 2nd May 2019, 11:26 AM

I have voted!

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 11:27 AM

Voted at 7.30. I was the third person to vote at my polling station.

Posted by: LexC 2nd May 2019, 11:54 AM

No elections in Fareham sadly this year (but there’s at least something to vote in at the end of month!) but nearby (as in one ward is 30 seconds from my house) in Portsmouth Labour and Lib Dems should eat into the Tory vote nicely.

Posted by: Iz~ 2nd May 2019, 11:56 AM

Oh, I actually miss being able to do it, I was knackered at the end of a run but I always welcome exercise excuses and ticking off lists of suburbs is an activity that brings me great joy on occasion. I grant that perhaps I'm a little unusual in this regard, but it made my local party love me.

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 12:04 PM

Come and live in Brighton. We’d welcome you with open arms

Leafletting is generally OK, but there is an increasing problem over getting into flats. I also hate letter boxes six inches of the ground or with a violent spring mechanism. I usually end an election campaign wishing for strict regulations on letter boxes

Posted by: Popchartfreak 2nd May 2019, 06:58 PM

Voted. The hall was empty apart from officials (late morning) which is quite encouraging. It's next door to the doctor's surgery so it's quite handy for Tory voters not having to walk far, and next door to a church so they can go and pray for forgiveness afterwards ...

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 07:12 PM

Is your count overnight or tomorrow?

Posted by: Steve201 2nd May 2019, 07:55 PM

Voted there now.

Posted by: jakewild 2nd May 2019, 10:06 PM

boted

Posted by: Brett-Butler 2nd May 2019, 10:37 PM

Results are starting to come in. Obviously it's early days, but one surprising result already - Ukip have gained a councillor in Sunderland from Labour. Given that I was expecting them to lose every seat, they've already beaten my expectations, worryingly.

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 11:04 PM

The Tory spin machine is in full flow on the BBC with them claiming that the results four years ago were unusually good for them. They were good, but not spectacular.

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 11:33 PM

And now we get Tory Bernard Jenkin thinking Tony Blair is still Labour leader

Posted by: Harve 2nd May 2019, 11:48 PM

Is there anything more excruciating than watching Barry Gardiner try to spin bad Labour results. He makes me squirm.

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd May 2019, 11:55 PM

One of the ways of guessing how well parties think they have done is their choice of spokespersons on the results programme. Labour's choice of Barry Gardiner and the Tories' choice of James "Notso" Cleverly suggest that neither party is expecting their results to be particularly good.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 12:03 AM

Interesting to see a lot of Independent gains so far.

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 12:20 AM

why is barry gardiner

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 12:20 AM

Sorry I don't think I'm gonna post about any of the actual results but rather Barry Gardiner continued awfulness. Hope that's cool.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 12:23 AM

Feel free

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 12:37 AM

GB Remain parties ranked by how much they infuriate me:

Change UK
Labour
Lib Dems
Plaid
Greens
SNP

Is Barry Gardiner gonna be on the BBC all night long tho, cuz if so Labour might be even more painful than the CUK-TIG-Tigger mess.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 12:47 AM

They normally swap after a few hours, so I suspect he will be replaced eventually. Whether that proves to be an improvement remains to be seen.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 01:30 AM

The BBC need a new reporter in Portsmouth. He keeps saying nothing has changed, but the Lib Dems have replaced the Tories as the largest party. He obviously subscribes to the Theresa May definition of "Nothing has changed".

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 03:17 AM

I think it might soon be time to get a bit of sleep. I've got a count to attend in the morning where I find out whether there has been such a huge political earthquake in Brighton and Hove that I've won.

The Lib Dems are doing pretty well although it has to be remembered that the result four years ago were spectacularly bad. The results in Chelmsford look particularly good.

Posted by: Iz~ 3rd May 2019, 03:38 AM

Very encouraging for the Lib Dems at this stage, even gaining some council control, excellent. I haven’t caught any of the TV, but it seems like Conservatives and Labour are both being punished, in many cases possibly rightfully, the rhetoric of people like Cleverly would have you believe there can’t be bad councillors.

Posted by: vidcapper 3rd May 2019, 04:51 AM

Anyone trying to spin any bad results makes me want to

Posted by: vidcapper 3rd May 2019, 05:00 AM

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6987691/Boris-Johnson-forced-delete-tweet-suggesting-just-voted-local-elections.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed

Boris Johnson is forced to delete tweet suggesting he had just voted in local elections despite no poll being held in his London constituency

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 07:12 AM

today - it is likely still to be Tory, but fingers crossed Tories stayed at home pissed off. Good luck with the count! Suedey for PM!



Everyone blathering on about how well they've done this morning "considering" and slagging off the Lib Dems for joining the coalition.

Votes so far show: Tories have lost a quarter of seats as their supporters are pissed off at them for not delivering Brexit. That's before the other half of the pending votes.

Labour have lost around 100 seats in Remain areas as voters are pissed off at them for dithering and not listening to their core membership, DESPITE a massive Tory bashing and the worst government in my lifetime.

Greens have gone from ooh a handful of seats to a few dozen, and are beaming as if this a game changer.

UKIP have been hammered because they are even too extreme for Brexit supporters.

Independents have done amazingly well thanks to Brexit supporters not having The Nigel Farage Fan Club to vote for.

Lib Dems have done well in remain areas and total numbers of seats could be challenging both Labour & Tory give or take in total numbers around the 800's.

Half-time scores courtesy of PCFpolling....

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 07:16 AM

whenever he comes on TV I think "where's a handy giant dead fish waiting for a face to slap when you want one?". I speak as a vegetarian animal rights supporter.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 07:44 AM

This is a perfect illustration of what I've been saying about politicians lying. At one time, a politician might have made this sort of claim even if they had actually voted by post. That would have been a distortion of the truth, but not an outright lie. Now we get politicians telling lies that are bound to be spotted almost immediately. That is not healthy for democracy.

Posted by: Rooney 3rd May 2019, 09:26 AM

I voted Labour mainly because their manifesto for my City actually looked more sligned to my views rather than the Lib Dems.

9 years of Conversative and Labour are still losing seats? Can someone just oust Corbyn please, there is no way he is ever winning a General Election. My only concern about the Labour-Conservative hammering is it might make them both make a speedy resolution to Brexit to avoid getting hammered in the Euro Elections too.

Posted by: ElectroBoy 3rd May 2019, 10:44 AM

I'm in Chelmsford where the Conservatives were in control with quite a big majority on the Council.

Lib Dems overturned that massive majority

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 10:51 AM

A Lab-Con pact and a speedy resolution to Brexit would benefit the natural home of happy Brexiteers, the Conservatives, and do absolutely nothing to help Labour. Hopefully they realise this!

Not saying that this inherently means that going full FPBE helps Labour either, but I do think they would benefit from going in that direction.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 10:55 AM

Good news for everyone from Jacob Fleece-Mogg's Somerset constituency, he who has moved his business interests to ireland showing his commitment to the well-being of UK business after Brexit but can't bring himself to vote for a Brexit deal. yes him.

Con 28%

(Libdem 67%, Labour 5%)

I know it's wrong to feel good about the misfortune of others, but when they are habitual self-interested liars it's a struggle not to.

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 10:57 AM

Meanwhile the Derbyshire Dales where I grew up (but voting across the border in more Brexity Staffordshire), Greens have been elected there for the very first time with many Lib Dem gains and a sole Labour gain too. This has pushed the Tories down to a majority of 1 after having had a solid majority for over 20 years. That makes me a lot more positive about my local area for when I return in the summer.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 11:12 AM

One of the highlights of the night!

Posted by: Rooney 3rd May 2019, 11:39 AM

Unfortunately I think that is what is going to happen. Watching BBC newsnight now with Diane Abbott makes me tear my hair out. Most people seem to spinning the results as that people just want Brexit over with. I suspect if Labour don't back a 2nd Referendum it's going to kill the party for a couple of generations.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 12:30 PM

If Brexit happens both parties will take the blame for whatever happens over the next decade or 2. We've had a decade of austerity and it led to Brexit, people fed up with it and wanting to try another route on the offchance they might be better off. When they turn out to be worse off who they gonna blame? The politicians who lied about it and went along with it anyway.

If they don't deliver Brexit who they gonna blame? Same. Half the population will blame the politicians, as they'll feel a brave new marvellous world has been stolen from them.

The only way out for politicians is a referendum on the deal agreed with the EU. That way they get to blame the people and the people have no-one else to blame but themselves - they knew the facts and decided to go with it or stay as are.

If Labour & Tories refuse the referendum then they both deserve what they will get: blame from half the population and ongoing coalition governments for the foreseeable future. Serves 'em right for voting in utter numpties to lead them.

Posted by: Iz~ 3rd May 2019, 02:16 PM

It is quite amazing that given this entire results process being gains for anti-Brexit parties, in particular the Lib Dems, certain parties (Conservatives, the BBC in some areas of their reporting) are trying to spin this as a call to 'get on with Brexit'. But at the very least it does show that get Brexit wrong and voters won't be loyal to your party.

But that aside, it's good to see the Lib Dems get back to at least something approaching pre-coalition levels of local representation. Our politics is best when it's multi-party and, well, more European. Lib Dems + Greens now at 1,000 seats combined with about 2/3rds of the results announced.

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 03:10 PM

Why is Barry Gardiner MY NEMESIS back on the BBC

Posted by: lotita 3rd May 2019, 04:14 PM

i couldnt vote in these elections (still not sure if its bc i dont get to vote in locals as an overseas voter or bc of some SHADY shit going on with my postal vote???) but rlly nervous to see what happens in dorset !!!! im hoping the lib dems do well, especially much locally to me up north i love my local lib dems

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 04:46 PM

Me too, I'm still miffed I got moved out of Annette Brook's constituency and bunged in with a Poole Tory blowhard. I mean, yes I live in Poole, but at least my vote meant something then

Colehill & Wimborne went Lib Dem x2:cheer: Ditto Dorchester east, Lytchett Matravers & Upton ( down the road from me)

Corfe Mullen 1 Lib DEm, ditto Cranborne & Alderholt, Crossways, Poundbury, Sherborne East, Sherborne Rural, Sherborne West, Upwey, Winterborne.

A lot of these area names would fit into Game Of Thrones quite easily.....

Posted by: lotita 3rd May 2019, 04:51 PM

come through sherborne!!!!

Posted by: Brett-Butler 3rd May 2019, 05:03 PM

As far as the English local elections are going, the results have been cataclysmic for the Tories (over 1000 seats lost so far), woeful for Labour (losing close to 100 seats when they really should be winning them), and fabulous for the Lib Dems & Greens. Better than expected for Ukip, who 'only' lost 100 net seats (even winning a few new areas, surprisingly). The 500+ independent councillors who have gained seats is also pretty extraordinary - some of them appear to be actual parties that have been classified as such, so interested to see the detailed breakdown of these, I know that at least 2 Ukip splinter groups have gained seats, including the far-right For Britain.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 05:05 PM

https://twitter.com/bbcelection/status/1124352441112248321/photo/1

Oh these "Results So far" are just SO delicious. Tories on 1100+ down, still heading for about 25% losses.

Labour on about 100 down, as I said earlier, and almost half the number of Tory seats. They have less Councillors than the combined non-Tories.

Spectacularly disastrous for both parties. No other word will do.

LibDems about 600 behind Labour, doubling their presence. I'm still hoping our non-declared new Council will stop being 95% Tory in Bournemouth & Christchurch, & Poole will go LibDem again. That will be SUCH a great way to start a new Council: voters saying "bugger off" to the decision to create a new urban authority, the resultant job losses & services cuts on top of Brexit from a very crybaby NIMBY Brexity Tory area.

Posted by: ElectroBoy 3rd May 2019, 05:39 PM

Conservative losses now over 1250!

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 05:49 PM

Bad night bloodbath of a day for the tories! How many would they have to lose for May to lose her leadership?

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 06:00 PM

We have to look at these results in context the Lib Dems started from a extremely low base given the results of 2015 were a reaction to their coalition years. Also many of these seats were in areas tories normally do well in - there were no votes in London/Wales/Scotland were labour normally compete well. Also people say labour should do well 'at this stage of the electoral cycle' when we're are in extraordinary political times with 2016 being the starting point not 2010.

Posted by: Common Sense 3rd May 2019, 06:05 PM

She's said she's going. Be patient.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 06:28 PM

It is perfectly true that the Lib Dem results need to be put into context. That said, they have done a lot better than simply winning back the seats they lost four years ago when their results were dreadful. Similarly, Labour's results four years ago were not great, so to do even worse than that is a terrible result for them.

Here in Brighton and Hove, the Lib Dems matched their national performance by doubling their number of seats. To zero.

Posted by: Klaus 3rd May 2019, 06:34 PM

I think the significant gain in seats for the Green Party is really significant though. I feel they’ve always been consistent in their support base, with just a few seats here and there but this feels like the first step into the proper mainstream. If it was UKIP/Brexit Party doing the same, it would be headline news. And I’m neither a Green Party voter nor someone who complains about the stance of reporting

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 06:38 PM

The result from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is brilliant. The Tories stitched this up in the expectation that it would have a permanent massive Tory majority. At its first election, the Tories are the largest party, but without a majority.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 3rd May 2019, 07:04 PM

YES! I'm going to enjoy the new Council at work.

On the down side, my predictions about locating the voting hall next to the doctor's surgery proved prophetic - a large-ish victory for a UKIP Butler and a Tory Butt.

I'm not making it up.....

Posted by: Brett-Butler 3rd May 2019, 07:10 PM

The DUP have just had their first ever openly gay councillor elected. *grabs popcorn*.

Posted by: Rooney 3rd May 2019, 07:25 PM

I live in a very pro-Remain area, Tories have taken a kicking here (were coalition partners before). No-one with a majority, but Lib Dems made huge gains and I suspect they will merge with the Greens to form a majority.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 3rd May 2019, 07:28 PM

I voted in York (where Labour got the three seats by quite a way) but back in my hometown there's an official independent party and they took all 26 seats. Cue people moaning on Facebook about dictatorships.

I also have a flatmate who stood for the Conservatives in the Local Elections and a few weeks ago didn't know where he was standing :')

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 3rd May 2019, 07:36 PM

The Tory c**ts crown jewel council in the north, Trafford, is now in the hands of Labour. I'm cackling a little at this.

Tories, Labour and UKIP all down varying degrees is what they deserve.

Posted by: ElectroBoy 3rd May 2019, 07:41 PM

It weird how the results are being interpreted as 'people want us to get on with Brexit' by May and other Tories

The two biggest opposition parties to leaving the EU (Lib Dem and Greens) have gained nearly 1000 seats between them. Whereas pro Brexit parties (Troy/ UKIP) have lost nearly 1500 seats between them.

To me those results indicate people don't want Brexit rather than they want us to get on with it

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 08:04 PM

The good news is that I did something very few Lib Dem candidates managed in Brighton & Hove - I beat a Green candidate. The bad news is I didn't beat anyone else That just means my original assessment of my chances of winning - somewhere between extremely remote and zero - proved to be accurate.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 08:06 PM

It's bad enough having the Tories (and many Labour people) spin the results that way. It's even worse when BBC commentators do exactly the same.

Posted by: Brett-Butler 3rd May 2019, 08:10 PM

Ooh, I didn't realise you were standing. Commiserations, although great respect for anyone who puts themselves forward for election - one day I'll step up myself.

Posted by: Chez Wombat 3rd May 2019, 08:16 PM

I'm hoping that this means that the issue of the environment and climate change is starting to enter the public consciousness and show that the government can't keep ignoring it, even if they don't do amazingly, if they continue making gains, it would be good. They're certainly my party of choice for the moment (Admittedly I have voted Lib Dems and Labour in the past, won't touch the latter with a bargepole right now).

Very pleasing gains for Left Wing parties and some very deserved failures for Conservative and Labour. Ridiculous spin on the issue by May but I expected nothing less, hopefully it's at least made them take notice and the European Elections can go a similar way in a few weeks.

Posted by: coi 3rd May 2019, 08:26 PM

Come to think of it, I don't think any other Lib Dem candidate actually achieved that there so fair play to you!
(My mistake, one other did oops)

Posted by: coi 3rd May 2019, 08:36 PM

The Lib Dems totally swept up my constituency at least. The council was already firmly in their control but they extended their lead even further.

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 08:49 PM

I assume you mean the other Lib Dem in my ward. She actually beat two Greens

Posted by: coi 3rd May 2019, 08:51 PM

Wow, I didn't spot that! Great achievement that!

Posted by: coi 3rd May 2019, 08:58 PM

A Lib Dem beating a Green candidate is a lot less of an achievement here, we have candidates from the five main parties but the Lib Dems still sweep up more than 50% of the vote!

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 08:59 PM

Did you stand SH? Or did I read something wrong somewhere?!

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 09:08 PM

I think the European elections in a few weeks will show us the state of this question!

Posted by: Harve 3rd May 2019, 09:12 PM

Yep. Laura Kuenssberg also saying on her podcast that the Labour and Tory results are equally terrible (they're not), but excusing the Tories' results because 'it's normal for a sitting government to lose ground mid electoral cycle' (it is, but the scale of the defeats are is absolutely extraordinary and far worse than the end-of-days Gordon Brown elections of 2008 and 2009) whereas the Labour results are 'even worse' because the opposition should be gaining ground (they should, but their stagnation is nowhere near as bad as the Tory rout).

Posted by: Suedehead2 3rd May 2019, 09:27 PM

Brighton and Hove is one of the few places in the country where a Lib Dem candidate beating a Green candidate is vaguely newsworthy!




Yes.



But the scale of the Tories' losses makes Labour's results look particularly bad. The governing party lost over 1,300 seats but the main opposition party also managed to suffer net losses. That is a failure on a pretty spectacular scale.

Posted by: coi 3rd May 2019, 09:35 PM

Indeed, I assumed that much from Brighton having the only Green MP. Having said that, there's only so much you can compare local elections to general elections. The Lib Dems dominate the councils here but the Conservatives had more than half of the vote in our constituency for the last general election.

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 09:53 PM

In pathetic minor party news: the continuity Liberal Party has won 7 council seats, comprehensively outperforming the continuity Social Democratic Party, who, despite endorsements from Rod Liddle in the Spectator and Giles Fraser in the Cow Website, won zero.

Posted by: Steve201 3rd May 2019, 09:55 PM

Congrats for standing - I take it you stood as a LD?

Posted by: vidcapper 4th May 2019, 05:16 AM

That doesn't seem too outlandish to me - all it would take is a lot of Tory/Leavers staying at home. If there had been elections where I am, that certainly would have been my motivation.

However, the Euro elections should tell us far more...

Posted by: Popchartfreak 4th May 2019, 08:12 AM

But it will look great on your JD - "officially more popular than a Green in Brighton"

Well done anyway!

Posted by: Popchartfreak 4th May 2019, 08:18 AM

It's panic and desperation. They are trying to turn a kicking into a threat to the ERG that if they don't do what they promised to do they are going down and may not get Brexit at all, while simultaneously trying to calm down all the angry Tory voters who didn't vote for them.

Claims that ardent Brexiters voted Green or LibDem to "send a message to get on with it" is to blatantly lie yet again, or else it's admitting that their supporters are so stupid they can't tell the difference between Brexit and Remain. There is no other alternative explanation.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 4th May 2019, 08:23 AM

So you're claiming that people who don't vote show that means supporting Brexit?

Well, in that case, I'm claiming the large proportion of people who didnt vote in the referendum didn't bother because they thought it was shoo-in we'd stay in the EU and it wasn't necessary to vote.

There was a UKIP candidate on my ballot sheet and she won comfortably.......

Posted by: Popchartfreak 4th May 2019, 08:49 AM

James O'Brien

"Corbyn & May would both have described a good result as vindication of their Brexit policy.
Corbyn & May are both describing a terrible result as vindication of their Brexit policy.
Have a lovely weekend!"

Drops microphone and walks off stage.....

Posted by: vidcapper 4th May 2019, 09:47 AM

No, all I was claiming was that that would have been *my* motivation.

Posted by: Iz~ 4th May 2019, 10:31 AM

Well, that's the sort of thing you'd need stats to support. Because the only stats I see are pro-Remain parties gaining seats and parties against staying losing seats.

Without those stats, declaring the narrative of these results as a need to 'get on with Brexit' (whatever that means, get onto where, down the next disastrous Tory strategy?) is nonsense.

Posted by: Suedehead2 4th May 2019, 10:31 AM

Except that the figures don’t really support that theory.

Posted by: Suedehead2 4th May 2019, 10:34 AM

She makes a big difference. Caroline Lucas is very popular throughout Brighton and Hove.


Yes.

Posted by: TheSnake 4th May 2019, 03:11 PM

The Residents Association also did very well. I don't know much about their political stance but I am guessing they are left wing as a residents association does sound like a socialist endeavor.



UKIP despite the two factors of a. not fielding as many candidates and b. their recent controversies should still have done better than they did I think, especially without the Brexit Party as competition - it would be expected that many disgruntled Brexiteers would hold their nose and vote for them as a protest despite the direction they are going under Batten. The main election success obviously belonged to the Remainer vote, which begs the question, perhaps as Suedehead is saying that perhaps the Brexiteer vote isn't quite as high as many think. The European elections will be the test of that though.

Posted by: Suedehead2 4th May 2019, 03:13 PM

Residents Association candidates tend to be Tories in all but name.

Posted by: vidcapper 5th May 2019, 04:48 AM

Hence the reason for the 2nd part of my previous post.

Posted by: Suedehead2 15th May 2019, 08:28 PM

In a parish council in Swindon the Tory candidates all managed to win more votes than the number of ballot papers issued. As nobody seemed to notice at the time, the declared result is legally binding.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/highworth-council-election-count-petition-high-court-local-elections/

Posted by: vidcapper 16th May 2019, 04:46 AM

Farcical!

Posted by: Suedehead2 9th June 2019, 01:28 PM

It's too early to start a thread about next year's local elections, but here's a side issue relating to them.

The government has announced that next year's early May bank holiday will be on Friday 8th rather than Monday 4th. This is to fit in with the 75th anniversary of VE Day. I had been wondering about this date since the 2015 election, After all, if we hadn't had an unnecessary election in 2017, 7 May 2020 would have been the date of the general election. That would have caused some complications, not least relating to who would attend various events as Prime Minister.

However, 7 May is still the date for local elections on many places as well as the London mayor and Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales. If the count is held on the Friday, that mean paying staff bank holiday rates. Perhaps more significantly, many councillors would expect to attend both the count and VE Day events. I'm sure the London mayor will be due to attend something.

This all means that the logical thing to do would be to move the elections to either Wednesday 6 May or Thursday 14 May. If that happens, I hope it is done in time to avoid some of the problems encountered with the European elections.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 9th June 2019, 04:08 PM

I think Salford are due an all up election due to a set of boundary changes which could be interesting.


Scotland have nothing on the cards, 2020 is our rare election-free year! Well, until Sturg puts the date for IR2 in 2020 that is.

Posted by: Suedehead2 22nd June 2019, 08:37 AM

In the last couple weeks there have been a few contests postponed from May following the death of a candidate. The Lib Dems have made further gains with the Tories losing a few more seats.