• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

UK Local Elections

The Don

Penultimate Amazing
The Don
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Messages
39,885
Location
Sir Fynwy
Today I used my democratic mandate and cast my vote in the local elections.

With nearly 5,000 councilors being elected throughout England, Scotland and Wales, it'll be an early indication of possible success and failure.

At least I was spared the agony of deciding who to vote for. I've repeatedly said that I cannot support the Corbynite Labour Party and there's absolutely no way I can vote Tory and that Lib Dem or Plaid vote is a "wasted" vote in my constituency in a national election.

Fortunately the landlord of my local pub was standing as an independent candidate so I voted for him instead.

The Labour Party already was at a very low ebb electorally, I can foresee them plumbing new depths in the next 24 hours.
 
I imagine that Glasgow City Chambers resemble the Fall of Siagon, with senior Labour members waiting on the roof for helicopters.
 
The Don said:
Today I used my democratic mandate and cast my vote in the local elections.

With nearly 5,000 councilors being elected throughout England, Scotland and Wales, it'll be an early indication of possible success and failure.

At least I was spared the agony of deciding who to vote for. I've repeatedly said that I cannot support the Corbynite Labour Party and there's absolutely no way I can vote Tory and that Lib Dem or Plaid vote is a "wasted" vote in my constituency in a national election.

Fortunately the landlord of my local pub was standing as an independent candidate so I voted for him instead.

The Labour Party already was at a very low ebb electorally, I can foresee them plumbing new depths in the next 24 hours.
Click to expand...

Does your independent have a chance of winning?

I haven't voted as yet. Not up to speed on the candidates to be honest.
 
The Don said:
Today I used my democratic mandate and cast my vote in the local elections.

With nearly 5,000 councilors being elected throughout England, Scotland and Wales, it'll be an early indication of possible success and failure.

At least I was spared the agony of deciding who to vote for. I've repeatedly said that I cannot support the Corbynite Labour Party and there's absolutely no way I can vote Tory and that Lib Dem or Plaid vote is a "wasted" vote in my constituency in a national election.

Fortunately the landlord of my local pub was standing as an independent candidate so I voted for him instead.

The Labour Party already was at a very low ebb electorally, I can foresee them plumbing new depths in the next 24 hours.
Click to expand...


We use the STV system for council elections and there has been a lot of discussion about how best to vote. In fact the smart move is to use all your preferences and think about the lowest ranking as voting against that candidate, but some people are still reluctant to put any mark against a candidate they don't like.

Some of the guides about how to do it are quite funny, with the #votetillyouboak twitter hashtag appropriated from the Irish elections a month or two ago.

Best guy ever
Really good guy
Quite good guy
Meh
Wank
Even wankier
Satan's lovechild
Actual Satan

Trying to explain to people used to FPTP and AMS that the bigger the number the bigger the insult and if you really hate that Tory then get ranking so you can give him the biggest possible number is an uphill struggle though.

 
I voted earlier, we had four candidates. LibDem, UKIP, Labour and Tory. I didn't get any leaflets from the first two but I got leaflets from the latter two.

The Labour leaflet says the candidate is: opposed to the proposed fracking locally, opposed to the proposed building on the greenbelt around the town, working to save local bus services and working to bring jobs to the town.

The Tory leaflet says the candidate is: opposed to the proposed fracking locally, opposed to the proposed building on the greenbelt around the town, working to save local bus services and working to bring jobs to the town.

I wish we had PR of some sort in England.
 
I've just noticed my sig line, which I've had since 2012. This afternoon I was checking one of the local polling stations and who should be voting at that time but Aonghas MacNeacaill's wife (Gerda Stevenson) and daughter. Galina, the daughter, has Down's syndrome but managed to cope with the STV ballot. Her mother was talking to her as she was voting and suggested that she might put down more than one choice, but I think she stuck with one.

She managed better than many normal adults I've encountered.
 
I got leaflets from all four, they all said pretty much the same thing. I obviously discounted UKIP out of hand, Labour supported Brexit so screw them. Apart from being a member of the Witch's coven, the local Con had pictures of himself at many different spots around the village, smiling inanely wearing the same clothes in each, so he obviously decided to pretend he rubs shoulders with the rabble, at least for a day.
Leaving the Lib Dems, no hope, but it was an easy choice as I always vote for them, yellow being a happy colour.
I could hear Little Orphan Annie singing as I voted.
 
My local polling station has had 28 voters in all day, for a turnout of under 30%. There was a 65% turnout for the last council elections, apparently. Extrapolating this around the country.......(!)...........means we should know all the results by midnight. :) I like the fact that there were more independent candidates on the ballot than there were with party affiliations.
 
Last edited:
Over 500 people had voted in my village by tea-time. The count is automated and worked out by computer so they won't start till tomorrow.
 
From BBC, presumably about 2:00 in the morning:

Political scientist Professor John Curtice says a very clear pattern is beginning to emerge in the early overnight declarations from the county council elections in England.

For the most part the results are clearly confirming the message of the opinion polls, he says.

In summary:

There is a very substantial swing from Labour to the Conservatives which is currently averaging some nine points. If this continues this will point towards a strong double-digit Conservative lead over Labour across the country as a whole
The UKIP vote is collapsing heavily and so far is down on average by 15 points in wards they fought this time and last time
The Lib Dem performance is very patchy but at the moment suggests that the party may not be doing significantly better than they did in 2013. There is little sign here of the much touted Lib Dem revival
These voting patterns are clearly reflected in the pattern of gains and losses so far with Labour losing more than half the seats it's trying to defend - while the Conservatives have already made net gains
The Lib Dems have lost six seats in England, while UKIP had lost every single one of the 9 seats it was trying to defend
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have won control of Warwickshire and look likely to do so in Lincolnshire
Click to expand...
 
Why would anyone vote UKIP these days ? With their diamond-hard Brexit approach and right wing leanings, the Tories are rapidly becoming UKIP.

I'm surprised that the LibDems aren't making gains from Labour.

It looks like Corbyn's attempt to chase the UKIP vote has predictably failed
 
Although Labour hasn't done as badly in Wales as some predicted, it is still very bad for them, rather than catastrophic. Read this carefully, twice:

Labour lost control of Blaenau Gwent and Bridgend.
Click to expand...

The Labour leader of Blaenau Gwent couldn't even hang on to his seat. There are graveyards all over the Welsh coalfields where corpses are churning at that news.

Otherwise, the story of the night is entirely about Conservative gains, with huge swings to them from Labour and Ukip, and little sign of a Lib Dem revival. This is mid-term, some 7 years into "austerity", and completely against the conventional wisdom of governing parties getting hammered in mid-term elections. Ukip, if they could be said to have "heartlands", have been wiped out in them. A single issue party is irrelevant once that single issue is decided.
 
Last edited:
MikeG said:
Although Labour hasn't done as badly in Wales as some predicted, it is still very bad for them, rather than catastrophic. Read this carefully, twice:



The Labour leader of Blaenau Gwent couldn't even hang on to his seat. There are graveyards all over the Welsh coalfields where corpses are churning at that news.

Otherwise, the story of the night is entirely about Conservative gains, with huge swings to them from Labour and Ukip, and little sign of a Lib Dem revival. This is mid-term, some 7 years into "austerity", and completely against the conventional wisdom of governing parties getting hammered in mid-term elections. Ukip, if they could be said to have "heartlands" have been wiped out in them. A single issue party is irrelevant once that single issue is decided.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I expect that UKIP has no reason for being anymore. And the Lib Dems must have done terminal damage to themselves after their run in coalition. As for Labour, I expect there is a flat trough below which their support is unlikely to go even with Jeremy Corbyn as leader. In fact, the left-wing of the Labour party probably still like him.
 
angrysoba said:
Indeed, I expect that UKIP has no reason for being anymore. And the Lib Dems must have done terminal damage to themselves after their run in coalition. As for Labour, I expect there is a flat trough below which their support is unlikely to go even with Jeremy Corbyn as leader. In fact, the left-wing of the Labour party probably still like him.
Click to expand...

This may be why the result in Wales is likely to only be awful, rather than catastrophic, for Labour, according to the BBC's Ross Hawkins:

many in Welsh Labour are saying "Carwyn not Corbyn", highlighting Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones rather than Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Click to expand...

It's going to be precious listening to the Corbynistas explaining this result away.

I'm hoping that the damage to the Lib Dems isn't terminal. What their time in government has done, though, is strip the party of the ability to present themselves as all things to all people, which was their schtick before. Lib Dems in London or Liverpool could (and did) say the complete opposite of Lib Dems in Cornwall, and suffer no consequence. Those days have gone.
 
Last edited:
MikeG said:
It's going to be precious listening to the Corbynistas explaining this result away.
Click to expand...

Well, I think we've seen the core of it here in other threads. The problem isn't with Corbyn or his policies but instead with the (right wing) media's portrayal of Corbyn. The man is a towering intellect and inspirational leader with true adherence to his political principles but the media ignores this and instead portrays him as a bumbling doofus fighting the political battles of half a century ago and leading his party around in circles like Pooh on the Heffalump hunt.

If only the media would show the real Jeremy Corbyn, then the UK electorate will be swayed in droves :rolleyes:


MikeG said:
II'm hoping that the damage to the Lib Dems isn't terminal. What their time in government has done, though, is strip the party of the ability to present themselves as all things to all people, which was their schtick before. Lib Dems in London or Liverpool could (and did) say the complete opposite of Lib Dems in Cornwall, and suffer no consequence. Those days have gone.
Click to expand...

I too hope that the LibDems will have a resurgence as a political force. I'm particularly unhappy about the way that it seems that coalition is off the cards for the foreseeable future for any political party. Whether it's the fault of the Tories for screwing the LibDems over, the LibDems for allowing themselves to be screwed over, the electorate for failing to understand what coalition really means for the smaller party or some combination of these or other factors - I'm not sure.
 
The Don said:
Well, I think we've seen the core of it here in other threads.
Click to expand...

Have you? Because not one person has said what you go on to claim they have as far as I can see.

The problem isn't with Corbyn or his policies but instead with the (right wing) media's portrayal of Corbyn. The man is a towering intellect and inspirational leader with true adherence to his political principles but the media ignores this and instead portrays him as a bumbling doofus fighting the political battles of half a century ago and leading his party around in circles like Pooh on the Heffalump hunt.
Click to expand...

Can you show who claimed the man is a towering intellect or an inspirational leader?

If only the media would show the real Jeremy Corbyn, then the UK electorate will be swayed in droves :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

They would certainly be more swayed.

I too hope that the LibDems will have a resurgence as a political force. I'm particularly unhappy about the way that it seems that coalition is off the cards for the foreseeable future for any political party. Whether it's the fault of the Tories for screwing the LibDems over, the LibDems for allowing themselves to be screwed over, the electorate for failing to understand what coalition really means for the smaller party or some combination of these or other factors - I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Well it's quite simple. The Lib Dems got into bed with the Tories when they could have got into bed with Labour and destroyed their credentials as anything other than a hiding place for Tories without the balls to show their true colours.

Farron is also absolutely as bad a leader as Corbyn is but get's hardly any of the same level of vitriol because his party is largely an irrelevance and has at least shown they have no plans to ever challenge the Tory establishment on anything meaningful.

They have a long way to go to win back any faith in those of us who supported them in 2010.
 
Archie Gemmill Goal said:
Have you? Because not one person has said what you go on to claim they have as far as I can see.
Click to expand...

The specific words, no - that was a bit of hyperbole - but there have been many claims that opposition to Corbyn isn't a result of the man or his policies but rather a media smear campaign.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom