English Local Elections
Well I must admit I am slightly disappointed in the overall increase in the number of Liberal Democrat councillors and Councils as I had hoped for net gains of 30 and 3 respectively. I expected that we would lose some seats to the Tories but had hoped we would gain far more Labour seats. On closer analysis I note we lost 12 seats to Labour in Islington. This one Council, therefore, accounts for the bulk of my disappointment. Then I notice we gained 16 seats from the Tories in Richmond-on-Thames! Clearly there are particular circumstances in these councils for this to happen. Indeed the closer you look the more local variations you see. This suggests to me that the local elections were more 'local' than the BBC and the rest of the media portray. Perhaps Local Democracy is not yet dead after all.
Of course the national swing is still important but it is encouraging to note that effective Councils, Councillors and candidates can still buck the trend from whatever party they come from. The coverage hear in Scotland has been very basic, 'Politics Scotland' tonight had Scottish Labour MPs queing up calling for Tony Blair to set a date for his departure with the implication that it should be before the Scottish Parliamentary Elections next year.
Of course the national swing is still important but it is encouraging to note that effective Councils, Councillors and candidates can still buck the trend from whatever party they come from. The coverage hear in Scotland has been very basic, 'Politics Scotland' tonight had Scottish Labour MPs queing up calling for Tony Blair to set a date for his departure with the implication that it should be before the Scottish Parliamentary Elections next year.
posted by Trevor at 8:07 pm
3 Comments:
Its certainly interesting, the Islington result seems to have been very much local circumstances (indeed many LibDems seem to be celebrating the LibDem leader's loss of his seat).
Camden and Harringay both had large gains from Labour. Here in Waltham Forest we have gained one ward from the Tories (after 61 years of Tory rule) and gained one from Labour (being as little as 3 votes behind elsewhere in the borough).
islington read my blog
My view of our results in Rochford is that the hot weather and the political news stories of the previous fortnight brought people out to vote, e.g. turnout in Downhall was up from 26 percent to 37 percent.
Mostly, people wanted to give the Labour government a big kick, and thought they could do that best by voting Tory. But although I saw an increasing dislike aand contempt of Labour, I didn't see an increased admiration for the Tories.
This showed up where the Tories were trying to unseat sitting councillors with decent reputations- Maureen Vince (Lab) , John Mason (Residents) Chris Lumley and , ahem, myself (Lib Dem). They hit obstacles.
Maureen nearly held on (lost by 95), John Mason won by over a hundred, although the Tories - with some unusual virulence in their description of him thought they had beaten him, and the Lib Dem Chris's increased our majorities.
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