There's still quite a lot of council seats to be declared, but so far, the trend has been -

 

Conservatives, Greens & Plaid Cymru have made gains so far, as have Independents in Wales.

 

Labour have suffered big losses, and surprisingly, so have the Liberal Democrats.

 

Ukip have lost every seat that's been declared so far. A complete wipeout of declared seats is looking possible.

BBC are saying that Independents typically do very well in rural Wales.

 

Mayoral turnout looking low, BBCNW saying less than 29% for Manchester.

I wouldn't use the term "big losses" with Lib Dems. "Losses", yes. But not "big losses".

I had meant to say that Lib Dems have suffered losses, not huge losses. Clearly I need to brush up on my use of syntax, I must have thought the use of the comma made that clear.

 

According to the BBC, Independents have taken control of 2 councils. To me it seems a bit like an oxymoron - isn't the point of indies that they aren't under the control of a whip, and therefore it shouldn't be taken as a given that they will all follow the same line of thinking, or necessarily act as one big grouping. You could have an Old Trot far-left independent councillor and an ex-National Front far-right independent councillor on the same council, and it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to join the same grouping and vote the same way.

Yes, it's always seemed rather strange that supposed independents then work as a bloc.

BBC are saying that Independents typically do very well in rural Wales.

 

Mayoral turnout looking low, BBCNW saying less than 29% for Manchester.

That is fairly low but not as low as I feared. 38% in the whole of Trafford compared to 44% in the one ward which had a council by-election (which we held with an increased majority, somehow).

The Rubbish Party, a party who's sole goal is to get rid of rubbish, has currently won more local seats that Ukip.

High turnout in Trafford though isn't good as it's the main Tory stronghold in GM. My second preference went Burnham so I'm really hopeful he'll get elected as he'll be far better for Manchester than the Tory

MEN are reporting that it looks like Burnham will take it without the need for a run off. Labour are reportedly feeling rather good.

 

 

Looks like Lancashire is holding up better than they anticipated too

You know it's Council Results day as it's the only day of the year that you notice the Mebyon Kernow party. Cornish independence is very much still a niche issue.

Labour take Liverpool & Merseyside mayor on first count meaning more than 50% of votes

You know it's Council Results day as it's the only day of the year that you notice the Mebyon Kernow party. Cornish independence is very much still a niche issue.

 

As far as I know, I know some people in my family know one of the MK councillors, they'll be locally popular for much the same reasons independents are (I mean, their unfortunately named leader stormed his seat and was the first result announced down here because it was so obvious). They're basically just Cornwall's Plaid or SNP but with zero chance of ever being relevant enough to enact their nationalism.

SNP got the most votes and seats but looks like Aberdeen will be controlled by another Unionist coalition :mellow:

Edited May 5, 20178 yr by Andrew.

The Tories just won the Tees Valley mayoralty. Christ.

SNP got the most votes and seats but looks like Aberdeen will be controlled by another Unionist coalition :mellow:

Absolutely ridiculous that Scottish politics is being divided by nationalist/unionist divisions at all levels. Councils have nothing to do with the independence question and Labour have much more in common with the SNP.

There's a lot of tactical voting going on at the moment in Scotland. You look at the actual leaflets being pushed through the door are very starkly divided with SNP focusing on local issues and the unionists on indyref alone.

 

Its a disgrace.

 

 

 

 

It's also hard to pull trends from Scottish council elections for GE as it is STV here so tactical voting becomes very very easy to carry out and successfully pull off where the GE is going to see splits and the nationalists not overtaken on second preferences

Andy Burnham won the Great Manchester mayoral election on 1st preferences, unsurprisingly.

Burnham won by more than 50% in every council region across Greater Manchester. Smashing it in the Tory held Trafford seat too!!!

 

63% in total. A complete walkover. 359k vs 129k for Anstee of Tories (23%). LibDem get 6% and Green on 2%

There's a lot of tactical voting going on at the moment in Scotland. You look at the actual leaflets being pushed through the door are very starkly divided with SNP focusing on local issues and the unionists on indyref alone.

 

Its a disgrace.

It's also hard to pull trends from Scottish council elections for GE as it is STV here so tactical voting becomes very very easy to carry out and successfully pull off where the GE is going to see splits and the nationalists not overtaken on second preferences

Rape Clause Ruth was trying to convince people that the elections had been run on local issues.

Sky predicting a Tory majority of 48 in the GE based on today's result but as they say, a lot of things are different in a GE. It's more May v Corbyn then and bigger turnout and over 18's only in Scotland.