I know the area quite well (my sister lived there before moving to Norwich) it's quite surprising as you'd tag it as "they'd vote for a pig with a blue rosette" kinda place, then again perhaps not it's kind of "arty".
Bury have declared. Labour up, Tories down and Lib Dems out.
Shame the Lib Dems have gone. I was in their only ward up until today and they were very active.
Central Bedfordshire with independents being largest group now.
Been blue since it was formed in 2009
-931 carnage
I can’t work out whether all the Tory MPs presently popping up to say it’s not that bad are just gaslighting us, as usual, or they are genuinely that delusional.
Chris Philp being handed his arse by Emily Thornberry on politics live was particularly amusing
https://twitter.com/johnjcrace/status/1654534563429752833?s=46&t=1lK7Dw1b6RqGJyvufO-trQ
My schadenfreude meter is at 11, roll on the next GE! No local elections for us though. Idle thought, why aren't council elections across the country all held at the same time?
This was written three days ago but is remarkably relevant and insightful imo
Pretty sure funding (and for sure council tax) for local councils are devolved to Welsh/Scottish/NI governments, so that determines when elections are.
Greg Hands
Why is he cutoff mid sentence?
Edit: He wasn't asked a question which was specific to the local elections btw, he was asked "how damaging has this last year been to your party?"
Over 1000 losses so far and counting…
Chris Philp is on channel 4 news. No wonder Liz Truss liked him. He’s as deranged and delusional as she is
Much as I’m enjoying this, I’m feeling a little left out as we didn’t have any elections in Bristol. 😀
How many Tories are there in Bristol?
To be fair, good point/question. It’s not that blue a city, I’m just bemoaning the fact that I didn’t get to visit a polling station. That’s all. 😀
Not sure I’d be too cocky if I were Kier - over half of the Tory losses have gone to LibDem and Greens.
Not many! A fair few in Bristol North West, but they still have a Labour MP at the moment.
In my constituency of Bristol West, the Tories came fourth in 2015, and their vote share has continued to decline since then...
Stockport remains NOC but they’ve lost all their Tories.
Yep, my ward is now wholly LD - and Reddish South is completely Green. Wow.
West Berkshire has gone to Lib Dems from Tory
are they going to double down on their culture wars ? given this result and ONS surveys where there's no mention of woke & boats
When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues continue to be the cost of living (93%), the NHS (87%), the economy (73%), and climate change and the environment (61%)
.
are they going to double down on their culture wars ? given this result and ONS surveys where there’s no mention of woke & boats
There'll be a "period of reflection" while they continue to claim they're "listening to the people" and "delivering on their promises".
They'll no doubt be getting the big calls right, making the tough decisions, growing the economy, delivering for the people...
This will be a "sober lesson learned" that they "cannot take things for granted" and it's been some "tough times" but they continue to push ahead on "delivering for Britain".
And then they'll nick some more cash from deprived regions, sell off a bit more of the NHS and do some last minute smash-and-grab on whatever is left before getting their arses handed to them at the GE.
Although at this rate I can see Starmer getting complacent, thinking it's a done deal and letting Diane Abbot loose with more anti-semitic nonsense while continuing to claim he'll make Brexit work and actually stop the boats... and the Tories will squeak in on a knife edge and spend the next 4 years rolling around the House of Commons laughing at him...
I'm back from the count - via the pub - a bit pissed. We won locally - now 2 out of 3 Labour councillors where we'd not won in 25 years before lat year. Our neighbour Ward has 3 out of 3 from a zero base 2 years ago
My Friend won in posh commuter town - first time ever elected Labour.
Greens destroyed Tories in Wetherby - one of the Bluest wards in Leeds.
So many examples across the country
Tories have taken an absolute kicking.
I may have some more beer and a massive celebratory curry
cabinet reshuffle must be on the cards, Boris for home secretary ? 😉
-1044 now, so even by Tory spin standards it's bad. Hurrah. Looks like the infighting so starting as well, the more unstable they are the worse it will be at the GE.
Stockport is pretty spectacular too, first time in the council’s history with no Tories, even with Lab trying hard to set itself on fire.
@klunk You’d have to assume Braverman might be on her way out, Sunak’s apparently been looking for an excuse for a while, and Honest Bob Jenrick is waiting in the wings.
When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues continue to be the cost of living (93%), the NHS (87%), the economy (73%), and climate change and the environment (61%)
It’s almost as if they’ve only been listening to the concerns of rich, racist, property-owning, triple-locked-pensioners
I wonder if it’ll actually now cross their minds that most people have rather more pressing concerns
Of course it won’t
They live in a cosseted parallel universe
only been listening to the concerns of rich, racist, property-owning, triple-locked-pensioners
Many of whom apparently didn’t realise that they needed photo identification to cast a vote and so were turned away. Tories hoist by their own petard.
wonder if there'll be a clamour of tory voices for PR for local elections to circumvent the anyone but tory brigades wiping them out of councils. I don't really believe there will be but would be interesting to see if they would have done better under PR.
My district - Newark & Sherwood - has gone from tory to NOC; likely to be lab/indy coalition after exchange of favours.
My ward has moved from 1 lab & 2 tories to 1 indy and 2 lab.
Interesting times - both here and nationally.
And here in Cheshire East, the Tories lost a whole one councillor. Labour gained six, but mainly from LibDems and Independents.
*Sigh*
Well local conditions create local results. Despite an excellent result for the Greens, including the first ever majority Green council, the Green vote collapsed in Brighton and Hove and Labour now have a majority there.
Is it just me or does it look like the tories have lost the culture war? Maybe now Labour will stop fighting it and return to more traditional activities like economic security and universally accessible public services.
Not sure I’d be too cocky if I were Kier – over half of the Tory losses have gone to LibDem and Greens.
Very much so, and disaffected Tory voters may switch or not vote this time but will be back at the general election. Labour need to offer a real vision.
Is it just me or does it look like the tories have lost the culture war?
Or maybe like a fair few on here they misjudged voters?
With just 2 councils left to declare UKIP have lost 25 seats and not won a single seat that they previously held, I have heard it suggested that their further swing to the right following Nigel Farage's made them even less attractive to voters.
Whilst the more "moderate" bigots, Reform UK, have managed to increase their support by only 2, giving them a grand total of now 6 councillors.
It's been a bad day for bigots and racists.
Local conditions create local results - upto a point and a dismissive comment.
@IHN yeah incredibly depressing in Cheshire East..... conservative win in my ward, with 63% of the vote ffs.
Still, Gullis would've been my MP had I not moved here, so every cloud and all that.
Or maybe like a fair few on here they misjudged voters?
Well if there’s one thing these elections tell us it’s that this country is nowhere near as rightwing and reactionary as many of the doom-mongers would have us believe.
The independents and Residents Association have also done badly this election, so far losing 105 council seats between them.
I have a tendency, maybe unfairly, to automatically assume that independents and RA are probably either disgruntled Tories or, like the former Ratepayers Associations, just front organisations for the Tories.
@IHN yeah incredibly depressing in Cheshire East….. conservative win in my ward, with 63% of the vote ffs.
2x tories in my Cheshire West ward, but distanced by some way by a popular and active local independent. Labour took overall control so not so bad.
One thing I found out was that all candidates posted their full address on the poll card, apart from the tories who are out of the immediate district. Typical shady bastards.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that many people need real change currently and major parties offering council tax freezes is simply not enough to do the job.
But voting is becoming a begrudgingly impotent activity.
As I understand it Labour in general election terms still short of a majority.
Not hard is it. Be interesting if things start to reflect this because I can't see Sunak's lot doing the carrot-stick these days he's too much of a typically rich penny pincher.
Starmer needs to get his game in order and swiftly move away from muddled austerity logic.
Well if there’s one thing these elections tell us it’s that this country is nowhere near as rightwing and reactionary as many of the doom-mongers would have us believe.
Well it isn't the real election is it. Let's wait and see what happens in a year or so when a lot of those votes for Independent and Lib Dem go back to Tory for the actual election. Remember the BS will be strong around Tory party and the attacks on Starmer will be strong (and he is making that pretty easy)
Don't worry though, all is not lost in the New Forest with Conservative holding on strongly but at least my Green vote helped to get 3 new Green councillors (from 0). Come the election I would put a lot of money on the Tory MP holding onto his seat with his usual 60%.
Is it just me or does it look like the tories have lost the culture war?
Not at all.
This was all Meghan's fault to distract attention from the coronation. How dare she.
I shall write to the Daily Mail to express my outrage.
😉
@IHN yeah incredibly depressing in Cheshire East….. conservative win in my ward, with 63% of the vote ffs.
Yeah, Tory win in mine too, although to a local lady who, like I've said earlier in the thread, does have a deserved reputation for "doing good stuff for the community". I was genuinely torn about who to vote for - head said her as the best qualified candidate, heart said "Don't vote Tory". The heart won, but only just.
There is definitely a lot to pick through with these election results. Lots of moving parts and different factors playing through to translate into a General Election.
One thing that is sure is that pretty much every part of the country - red wall, blue wall, cities and shires - have given a strong message to the Tories. The Tories will hear it but whether they can turn it round in 18 months is the question - and can they find policies that rehabilitate their position with such a wide range of the electorate will not be easy.
Especially given how much the Tory Party is beset with factionalism
Clear and obvious lesson for labour. No great enthusiasm for labour and becoming enthusiastic brexiteers has cost them huge numbers of votes with pro EU parties doing really well
Disaster for tbe tories
I hope that its the wake up call for labour and they change the destructive brexiteer nonsense but i have little faith they will.
Clear and obvious lesson for labour. No great enthusiasm for labour and becoming enthusiastic brexiteers has cost them huge numbers of votes with pro EU parties doing really well
Disaster for tbe tories
I hope that its the wake up call for labour and they change the destructive brexiteer nonsense but i have little hope
As a remainer, I can still see why they have this stance on Brexit. In Scotland, they are predicting to win 20 seats anyway due to the SNP's issues. In England and Wales, they are trying to woo the red wall, and becoming Remain advocates will definitely not achieve that! It's not as if the remainers there will vote Tory instead.
Especially given how much the Tory Party is beset with factionalism
The main problem now is that as the different factions of the Tory party commit themselves to fighting each other, the country is looking down the barrel of another 18 months without a functioning government
From here on in its culture war and soundbites
It’s a good job there are no important issues in need of addressing
Ha ha I upset Brendan.
https://twitter.com/Bren4Bassetlaw/status/1654750409020276739?t=RRwWnZKT63-r6V0nWZi1WA&s=19
Tories completely wiped out in Lewes. They’ve gone from being the largest party with 19 councillors to having none, zero, nada, zilch!
Labour win here, 13% swing away from Tory. Hardly surprising as Alan (plastic) Mak is dispised having voted to allow sewage to be continually dumped straight to sea untreated. I know its local only but who really supports these clowns. The local morons allowed a new close of 20 houses to be built on a flood plain, with southern water refusing hook up to the existing sewerage main as its overcapacity already. So now the homes have 4 flood water pumps running to try and keep the water levels below the front doors and lorry tankers daily to remove grey water from a septic tank.
did an actual MP just write that comment on social media? do they get zero training on how to engage with the public or are they just that dim that they don't care if they insult people online? wow
No great enthusiasm for labour and becoming enthusiastic brexiteers has cost them huge numbers of votes with pro EU parties doing really well
Oh we're already blaming the local election results on brexit!🤣 Everything is because of brexit! Yeah people really thought they were voting in favour of EU membership, how could that not be obvious?!?!
FFS
Yes ernie
We know you have a blind spot on Brexit but its clear no grest enthusiasm for labour and pro rejoin parties have done very well
I know you will never accept this but its an obvious and clear correlation
Well if there’s one thing these elections tell us it’s that this country is nowhere near as rightwing and reactionary as many of the doom-mongers would have us believe.
Well it isn’t the real election is it.
This was a very real election. Far-right parties such as the BNP have always done much better in local elections than in Westminster elections. In this election even UKIP couldn't manage to win a single seat.
I know it's hard for some people to accept that voters aren't quite as right-wing and racist as they like to think they are, but sometimes they have to accept election results even if they don't fit into their preferred narrative.
I know you will never accept this but its an obvious and clear correlation
I certainly don't think that voters are so stupid that they thought they were voting in a referendum on EU membership in last Thursday's local elections.
Without even the full election results known you personally have decided why people voted the way they voted. Is this based on any analytical data or just your total and overwhelming obsession with brexit?
Edit: And FYI in last year's London local elections I voted Green, not Labour. Brexit wasn't an issue with Croydon council, but the right-wing Labour group's mismanagement certainly was.
As i said. You have a blindspot.
Pro eu parties have done very well. No enthusiasm for labour . Rejoin is now far more popular than stay out and the election results show this.
Brexit is a disaster. The majority of the public now realise this. Pro eu parties have done much better than labour
I know you will continue to deny it.
It greatly weakens the ability of conservatives to wage a successful campaign nationally, having lost so many councillors. I think labour will win the next GE, but it will be very close - we might end up with another coalition.
Brexit is a disaster. The majority of the public now realise this. Pro eu parties have done much better than labour
So brexit was the main issue in these local elections? Provide me some links which show this was the case, that should be relatively easy to do - a speech by the leader of the LibDems talking about brexit in the local election campaign, or a Green Party local election leaflet stating the roadmap to rejoining the EU.
Open my eyes and reveal the clear connection between these election results and EU membership.
Edit :
Pro eu parties have done much better than labour
And yet Labour won more council seats than the "pro EU parties" put together. Maybe "open your eyes"?
Se my posts above
I don't think there is a clear link - Lab gained everywhere, but did better in Leave areas, and the LDs regained ground in Remain areas (but slightly went backwards in Leave areas, and some of the areas they did well in were historically LD strongholds). Not sure about the Greens - any pattern you can see there @ernielynch?
Much as though metropolitan Lab would like the party to have a stronger pro-EU stance I'm not sure that's going to happen based on these results?
@tjagain There is obviously other polling that suggests a majority feel Brexit was a mistake, but I don't know if we're yet at the point where people feel strongly enough that they'll vote along rejoin lines?
@finephilly It'd be interesting to see what happens in areas where there have been significant shifts away from the Tories come the GE. Obviously momentum builds momentum and it's an article of faith in certain parties that having a decent councillor base sets you up well for campaigning for the GE (and while correlation isn't causation what pass for safe LD seats tend to be in areas where the LDs control the local council and hold the county council seats)
As I posted on the Brexit thread, that wasn't the conclusion of the Oxford politics professor
Not sure about the Greens – any pattern you can see there @ernielynch?
I believe that the Greens did exceptionally well in rural Tory areas which they had targeted but at best had hoped would help them to win an extra 100 seats. They more than doubled their target.
Its a shame if it doesn't change labours stance as repudiating brexit will be a clear vote winner uk wide. Continuing to pretend that the can make brexit work gives loads of room to be outflanked. Pro eu parties are already doing this.
Its gone pretty much as i predicted. Diaster for the tories. Meh for labour. Great results for the greens and lib dems.
Labour have narrowed their appeal
"Far-right parties such as the BNP have always done much better in local elections than in Westminster elections"
That's because the Conservatives have become a far right party ernie. You have a habit of reading election results and polling like tea leaves.
Pro eu parties have done very well. No enthusiasm for labour . Rejoin is now far more popular than stay out and the election results show this.
TJ you're making stuff up. Labour did very well in leave voting areas, which tells you clearly that their policy on the EU is the right one. Lib Dem gains were in the blue wall where people would rather cut an arm off than vote labour. The boost in the green vote was almost certainly down to disillusioned labour voters fed up with Starmer's austerity mindset. It's all good for those of us on the progressive side of the political spectrum, there's no need to invent stuff that didn't happen.
@inkster Do we know if e.g. the BNP have managed to get anyone elected? In my ward, we used to have someone who ran for the NF (!) every local election but fortunately he seems to have given up.
@ernielynch They've also taken some urban votes off everyone IIRC? I think they're still the official opposition in Manchester (with four councillors...) and had a good showing in Trafford too.
Far-right parties such as the BNP have always done much better in local elections than in Westminster elections
That’s because the Conservatives have become a far right party ernie. You have a habit of reading election results and polling like tea leaves.
LOL! that's exactly what you have done!!
You have somehow and inexplicably managed to miss the fact that the Tories also did very badly this election!
I honestly don’t know why some people start clutching their pearls at any mention of carrying some sort of photo identification, it’s just a useful thing to have, even if it’s just for picking up parcels from the Post Office, where it’s always a requirement.
When government issued Police Warrant cards (press reports of serving officers not permitted to vote), HMRC warrant cards and social services ID (also press reports) are not allowed then it's obvious that something is amiss and if only a small set of ID's is acceptable then the whole idea is unacceptable.
@Sandwich Even more obvious when a young person's Oyster card wasn't valid, but an OAP's was?
I don't want to go down yet another rabbit hole but I'm going to anyway. In countries where people have a state ID card this is a non-issue and not a big deal, while people are asked for ID to vote they've got it, so no problem. Given that I carry my work photo ID, my driving license, and when I was still in the Reserves a MOD90 I really didn't see what the big deal was with carrying a state ID card.
Edit - the massive database of non-ID stuff HMG were planning to go with it was a different issue, of course
TJ you’re making stuff up. Labour did very well in leave voting areas, which tells you clearly that their policy on the EU is the right one. Lib Dem gains were in the blue wall where people would rather cut an arm off than vote labour. The boost in the green vote was almost certainly down to disillusioned labour voters fed up with Starmer’s austerity mindset. It’s all good for those of us on the progressive side of the political spectrum, there’s no need to invent stuff that didn’t happen.
So absolutely everything and anything except Brexit. Definitely not Brexit. Nothing to see here. Move along now...
Interesting that TJ is making stuff up but you have a direct line into the minds of the electorate.
No dazh. You are so wedded to labour's brexiteer stance you refuse to see the damage it is doing. Its far from a great result for labour. Despite the disaster for the tories pro eu parties made as many gains as labour did.
That does not signal good news for labour
No dazh. You are so wedded to......
I find it astonishing that someone who is so obsessed with one issue and one issue only should use language like "wedded" and "blind", there is a serious lack of self awareness.
You still haven't provided evidence that brexit was the issue which most concerned voters this election TJ. Are you struggling?
Ed Davy has publicly claimed that he doesn't want the LibDems to focus on rejoining the EU, any evidence that he changed his strategy for this election?