Not just the one election on 7th May

[T_i_B]

In addition to the general election for Parliament on 7th May there are also local and mayoral elections in many places on the same date.

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/upcoming-elections-and-referendums/english-local-government-and-mayoral-elections-2015

Please feel free to comment on any local elections in your area and the situation with local politics where you live, as well as any significant local issues in your area.

I'm in North East Derbyshire, and we have district and parish council elections on the 7th May. However, the Tory and Labour campaigning in this area has been much more focused on the Parliamentary election. And the Liberal Democrats have declined sharply from having a strong local presence to not standing a single candidate in local council elections where I live.

[LeftishBrit]

1. No local elections for Oxford City Council or Oxfordshire County Council this time

Last edited Mon Apr 20, 2015, 10:46 AM - Edit history (1)

Oxford City Council is Labour-controlled without a single Tory councillor. Oxfordshire County Council is NOC, but essentially Tory-minority-government.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. No election in my ward this time; the Lib Dems will maintain their almost complete control

of Eastleigh Borough Council (39 Lib Dem, 4 Tory, 1 vacant seat). It's more a soap opera than anything else at the moment ("top councillor love triangle!!&quot

[T_i_B]

3. Nothing that racy here

Although it is noticeable when you have a number of councilors from the same family. We have Tory and Labour examples of that where I am. The current breakdown of the district council where I am is as follows

Labour 34
Conservative 16
Independent 1
Vacant 2

Not sure how this might change though. May even end up with a 'Kipper or two on the local council!

[Ken Burch]

6. Why the extreme LibDem love in Eastleigh?

Seems truly anomalous compared to the rest of the UK.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Not quite sure; the area of South Hampshire has had strong Lib Dem support for a couple of decades

I think it started in the 80s, which was before I moved here. Whether it came from the parts of Labour that split to form the SDP, or from the Liberals, I don't know; but, according to this, the Alliance (as it then was) took control of Eastleigh council in 1987. I would guess the anti-Tory vote coalesced around them - being the south of England, but not in a large city, Labour would not have been that strong, I think. In 1994, they took the parliamentary seat in a by-election; in 1997, they took the neighbouring Winchester seat in the general election (where they've swapped control with the Tories over the past 20 years) , and in 2000, the Romsey seat in another by-election (part of which is in the Eastleigh council area).

They seem to do quite well running the councils (for instance, they were one of the best in the country for recycling for several years, though others have now caught up), and so they built a good local organisation. They did lose the Romsey and Winchester seats in 2010 to the Tories (which I think will stay Conservative this time) - perhaps that shows the "we're not the Tories" effect had worn off after Labour being in government for 13 years), but they held off UKIP in Eastleigh in a 2013 by-election (the Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne had been convicted of lying to the police about a driving offence).

I think Labour has tended to concentrate local effort on neighbouring Southampton, a larger city where they have generally held both Westminster seats recently.

[non sociopath skin]

4. Nothing here. The Northumberland Unitary has full elections every four years.

Partial elections in Tyne and Wear. Will be interesting to see whether the Lib Dems' plummet to the bottom has been halted. If not, the Kippers may pick up part of the "Sod 'em all" vote.

The Skin

[Anarcho-Socialist]

5. Medway Council (unitary authority) elections

In 2011 the Conservatives held a solid majority:

CON 35
LAB 15
LDM 3
IND 2

Since then the two independents (ex-Lib Dems) defected to Labour and UKIP gained four defections from the Tories.

CON 31
LAB 17
UKIP 4
LDM 3

The Lib Dems are expected to lose all their seats to Labour. UKIP are expected to take some seats from the Tories and end up with around 7-9 councillors. Labour don't expect to win a majority but are hoping to come out the 2015 elections as the largest party. The Council will probably go NOC.

Labour think that they will be able to govern in a minority administration based on the assumption that relations between the Tories and UKIP are so poisonous (given Mark Reckless' and the four councillors' defections) that they wouldn't work together. However when it comes down the council patronage and pork barrel the Tories and UKIP will probably do a deal to keep Labour out.

My prediction will be that the Tories will hang on as the largest party and govern as a minority administration.

[Ken Burch]

7. It would be more in Labour's long-term interest for a Tory-UKIP alliance to run Medway.

Labour governing there with even tacit UKIP cooperation would be, I'm thinking, unforgiveably offensive to most Labour supporters in the area.

(Then again...ever since Thatcher's ratecapping in the late Eighties...how much does it really matter which party controls a local council? Aren't they all pretty much forced to govern as neo-Thatcherites now?

[T_i_B]

9. Hmmm.....

Then again...ever since Thatcher's ratecapping in the late Eighties...how much does it really matter which party controls a local council? Aren't they all pretty much forced to govern as neo-Thatcherites now?

Now I'm sure there are others on here more knowledgeable then me, but from what I can see, the cuts to local authority budgets since 2010 have been a much greater factor here.

But even then there are clear differences between the parties at local level. Good councils and bad ones. And I don't think the likes of Brighton Council at the moment could really be described as all that "neo-Thatcherite".

The problems with Rotherham council near to me are well documented for instance. And as I've said in another thread, the Tory candidate for parliament where I live has lost my vote simply by virtue of his record on Westminster Council.

[T_i_B]

10. Election day kick

As many of us will have more then 1 ballot paper today.

[T_i_B]

11. Not much change here

Last edited Sat May 9, 2015, 06:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Still a Labour majority on the district council.

I would prefer if we elected councillors 3 out of every 4 years like they do in many other places, rather then electing all of them at once.

https://twitter.com/nedDC/status/596590271363719168

Anyone else had any change on their local council?

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. 12 out of 14 seats were Lib Dem; the Tories gained the other 2 from a Lib Dem

Lib Dem still in complete control (we have the 3 out of 4 years system).

Despite that overwhelming Lib Dem local vote, the constituency, on almost the same boundaries, changed from (2010) Lib Dem 47%, Con 39%; (2013 by-election) Lib Dem 32%, UKIP 28%, Con 25% to (2015) Con 42%, Lib Dem 26%, UKIP 16%. That result was way out from the Ashcroft constituency polls, too, which showed a 15% Lib Dem lead in Sept 2014.

(I'm in the part of the Borough Council that is in a different constituency; but our wards didn't have a local this time anyway)