The local elections in England - what's it all mean?

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Well, I'm depressed for starters as I now live under a council with a BNP councillor. I didn't move to the suburbs for that to happen. And the tories have taken overall control, not that that will make much difference as they've been in making all the decisions (with the lib dems help) up till now anyway.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 05:30 (eighteen years ago)

Anyone got the turnout figure?

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 05:42 (eighteen years ago)

According to the beeb "Spoilt ballot papers have been recorded across the country, with fears that the national figure could exceed 100,000". This does not surprise me.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 06:55 (eighteen years ago)

In Scotland, at least, that's true.

And us, with real issues to talk about too!

― Dalzinho, Friday, 4 May 2007 07:06 (eighteen years ago)

bloody hellfire. that is singularly depressing, ned. the only solace you can take, i guess, is that - judging by the "rotten boroughs" page in private eye - the fuckers tend to be so inept that they'll make themselves a laughing stock within months.

commiserations, though.

― grimly fiendish, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:06 (eighteen years ago)

It was the first time in 10 years I didn't spoil my paper. And we still lost. :(

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:07 (eighteen years ago)

You could also take the solace of finding out where he lives and burning it down.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:08 (eighteen years ago)

It's a she. Catherine Duffy. It seems pretty strange that she won this seat. It's a new-ish (1960s) rural village, not particularly depressing or anything, they've just got the by-pass they've been wanting for years, and they've voted her in over the tories (who gave them the by-pass). The ward is a couple of miles away from mine but she lives in the next village, Rothley, which already has the distinction of being home to this fellow standing next to Griffin.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 09:40 (eighteen years ago)

Still no voter turn-out numbers?

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

I didn't even get sent a fucking polling card!!

― the next grozart, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:14 (eighteen years ago)

me neither. doesn't matter (see the scottish thread).

― grimly fiendish, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:18 (eighteen years ago)

i was very pleased to see my old PE teacher (blair's election agent and local councillor) talking to dimbleby last night, he looked well. i predict this won't be the last of him we'll see on telly over the next week or two...

― CarsmileSteve, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:30 (eighteen years ago)

OKay, I admit that I'm new to this voting thing (shouldn't be but buggered it up in 2005) but I really don't understand why people are turning to the Tories. How to all these people that have been voting Labour for however many years square that away in their own heads? Is it simply because they're NOT Labour? Surely spoiling the ballot is a better form of protest vote than sticking a cross in a box next to those smarmy shites?

(I didn't do that btw, two lib dems and a green for me. absolutely no basis for decisding which iones though)

― Uptoeleven, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:34 (eighteen years ago)

How to all these people that have been voting Labour for however many years square that away in their own heads?

they voted tory for 18 years, then found a non-threatening alternative, then realized they were shit and returned to default mode.

― That one guy that quit, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

not rly because if almost everyone spoilt their ballot papers, there would still be some votes to count and it wouldn't matter.

also local elections (despite the media's best attmepts) RLY shouldn't be read as indicative of national politics, 9 times out of 10 most of the changes are to do with poorly performing councils than national moods...

― CarsmileSteve, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:39 (eighteen years ago)

so people just switch back and forth between the two then? and actually, the ideology (that totally feels like the wrong word but y'know what i mean) of either party is irrelevant?

― Uptoeleven, Friday, 4 May 2007 10:47 (eighteen years ago)

to a lot of ppl, yes.

also, given the dive for the centre by pretty much everyone there's not much ideological ground to cross...

― CarsmileSteve, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

so people just switch back and forth between the two then? and actually, the ideology (that totally feels like the wrong word but y'know what i mean) of either party is irrelevant?

-- Uptoeleven, Friday, May 4, 2007 1:47 PM (18 minutes ago)

yeah. the tories only won in 1979 by picking up traditional labour voters. labour only won in 1997 by picking up traditional tory voters. both parties come to resemble each other -- the ideological gap is teeny-weeny now.

― That one guy that quit, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:07 (eighteen years ago)

ALSO, can anyone track down ward by ward results yet? specifically for Sedgefield as it was mentioned last night that one tory (in blair's ward apparently, which will have "trimdon" in its name) had got actually NO VOTES AT ALL (i guess tony didn't vote then etcetc)

― CarsmileSteve, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:10 (eighteen years ago)

Then, I should really have less of an ideological objection to voting tory than i do. Or at least, i should have no more of an ideological objection to voting tory than labour. which i don't do either.

this is a little depressing.

― Uptoeleven, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:17 (eighteen years ago)

Normally, the results should be on the respective council's own site.

I did not win in my seat, which was no surprise. I did however win £1200 on backing Tommy Sheridan to lose at 16-1. yay me!

― The Boyler, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:39 (eighteen years ago)

A "bad but not disastrous" result for Labour is looking like more and more of a drubbing as the results continue to roll in. Hung Parliament at the next election with the LibDems holding the balance? Could be interesting.

― Matt DC, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

I did however win £1200 on backing Tommy Sheridan to lose at 16-1. yay me!

blimey

― blueski, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:09 (eighteen years ago)

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

I try not to get riled but then I see pictures like this...
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42876000/jpg/_42876073_cameronrugby203_pa.jpg

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)

Do you really think the Lib dems would go into government with the Tories? They are actually to the left of labour on many issues now (despite orange book shenanigans), so it seems unlikely. Anyway, wouldn't PR be their "price" and I can't see the Tories going for that, whereas Labour could probably be persuaded.

A minority government more likely, followed by another election quite quickly.

― Jamie T Smith, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:18 (eighteen years ago)

Aghhrrr, I missed out a question mark!

― Jamie T Smith, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:19 (eighteen years ago)

18 out of 19 Tory seats gained at expense of LibDems? ;_;

― blueski, Friday, 4 May 2007 18:42 (eighteen years ago)

I tried to do some quick wikiing, but I can't mess about to much on wikipedia @ work today... I'm from Canada so I dunno the parties much. Is it sort of, from left to right, LibDem > Labour > Con? Because if so, it's turning out a lot like Canada (the middle one gets picked because nobody could handle the other two, but the middle one fucks everything up, and everyone takes it for a decade or so, finally gets tired of it, makes a minority gov't that completely shafts the leftest party, etc). Same with the Quebec gov't, too :(

See, what happens next is the middle party gets more and more 'right' to win back conservative votes and the left party gets further shafted because left supports of the middle party would never vote for the further left party because that's a wasted vote, etc. and democracy gets owned in the face.

― Will M., Friday, 4 May 2007 19:32 (eighteen years ago)

Look locally and you will see the LibDems are more than happy to share with the Tories (well not happy but it's POWER you see - and that they love more than butter).

― Ned Trifle II, Saturday, 5 May 2007 08:52 (eighteen years ago)

from left to right, LibDem > Labour > Con

This makes some of us very, very sad. It's been true since Blair, certainly.

― aldo, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:00 (eighteen years ago)

I'm from Canada so I dunno the parties much. Is it sort of, from left to right, LibDem > Labour > Con?

no. the lib dems are an incoherent mess and no-one knows what they're about, even themselves. they will change their stances on a constituency-by-constituency basis just to get a win.

― That one guy that quit, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:03 (eighteen years ago)

This is true and yet I still voted for them because the choice was tory or bnp otherwise and fuck both of them.

― Ned Trifle II, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:11 (eighteen years ago)

i voted lib dem in the past cos it was a chance to get labour out (in hornsey) and that felt worth doing. that said, since ming took over they're more unguessable than ever. i didn't vote on thursday.

― That one guy that quit, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:24 (eighteen years ago)

Basically yr average Lib Dem candidate wd fist their grandmother to get elected, with ideology coming a v. poor second to that urge. To quote something I heard as a kid: "a Liberal's nowt but a Tory wi'out his kicking boots on".

― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:38 (eighteen years ago)

Good news (as far I'm concerned) in Leicester, bucking the trend. On a purely local level they deserved to win, having kickstarted the regeneration of Leicester and watched while the tory/libdem coalition took the the credit while fcking up just about everything else (basically because they seem to make policy based on their reading of the letters pages of the local newspaper).

― Ned Trifle II, Saturday, 5 May 2007 12:08 (eighteen years ago)

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