The bizarre disconnect between votes and councillors in yesterday's elections
Fri 3rd
22:24
Twenty years after the Newbury by-election, Julian Davidson is defeated by a Liberal Democrat again
This Monday is the twentieth anniversary of the Newbury by-election, when Liberal Democrat David Rendel won the seat with a majority of 22,055. Only the most committed anorak remembers the name of the Conservative candidate whom David Rendel defeated. It was Julian Davidson. Today, almost twenty years after his defeat by David Rendel, Julian Davidson was defeated again by a Liberal Democrat. A glutton for punishment.... Here are the candidates and election results for the electoral division of Blackdown & Neroche Candidate Party Votes BOWER, Darrelle Anne Green Party 123 DAVIDSON, Julian Turner Conservative 988 HENLEY, Ross Longhurst Liberal Democrat 1035 Elected RUST, Clive Mark UK Independence Party 566 SPEARS, ...
And there could only be one choice...
Local elections 2013 vote shares
So in what has been a pretty terrible result for the Conservatives (and the Liberal Democrats!) the result in Bar Hill was as follows; Lord Ian Broughall (The Official Monster Raving Loony) 28 (1.1%) Norman Alexander Crowther (Labour) 352 (13.6%) Helene Yvette Davies-Green (UKIP) 570 (22%) Andy Pellew (Liberal Democrat) 219 (8.5%) John Edward Reynolds (Conservative) 1,175 (45.4%) Teal Riley (Green) 242 (9.4%) Looking at previous results despite a large drop off in votes (from the 2009 election, a high point for the Conservatives); John Reynolds (Con) ................ -58.8% Brian Bromwich (Lib Dem) ........... -146.5% Helen Davies-Green (UKIP) .......... +59.% ...
Four years ago the two Market Harborough seats were knife-edge marginals. In 2005 the Liberal Democrats won Market Harborough East with a majority of 27 and the Conservatives won Market Harborough West & Foxton with a majority of 8. Yesterday, Sarah Hill increased her majority in Market Harborough East to 307, but Phil Knowles failed to gain Market Harborough West & Foxton by 18. Well done to both of them for a great campaign. Across Leicestershire the Liberal Democrats lost one councillor but outpolled UKIP.
Those readers who know me know I love my cycling. In fact later this month I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Mapping le Tour, a book that covers the maps (another of my fascinations) of the previous 99 runnings of the longest running Grand Tour. But tomorrow sees the start of the 96th edition of the slightly younger Giro d'Italia. It is the race that contains both last years winner Ryder Hesjedal and the winner of the Tour de France last year Bradley Wiggins. But there are three other previous grand tour winners in the mix Vincenzo Nibali ...
A wonderful outcome to the elections, as far as I am concerned. All the heat is on the Tories because of UKIP emerging as the new governing party of the United Kingdom – warf, warf! Meanwhile, the story has moved away from "Lib Dems disappear down the plug hole". Excellent. In the meantime, we did quite well. I just think Neil Fawcett, being elected in Abingdon South is good enough for trebles all round. Well done, Neil. In fact, LABOUR have most to psephologically shit themselves concerning these election results. It is in fact them, according to the impeccable and ...
With next Monday being the Bank Holiday, all bin collections next week are put back a day.So, if your normal "bin day" is Tuesday , next week it will be Wednesday and .... well, I'm sure you get the idea. Next week is a blue bin week ( ie Dry recycling ) Any questions please contact Northumberland County Council
We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but worth a reminder. On Bank Holiday Monday, the Makers Market comes to Cheadle Green. The market promises "the finest and often award wining food, drink, art and craft producers in the area. The event will feature over 40 specially selected specialist's, who source, grow, rear, bake, make, and create the products they sell, which ensures their goods are unique, original and designed to inspire." But that's not all – there'll also be plans on display for the proposed improvements to Cheadle Green, so you can have your say.
Big thanks to everyone who voted for me to remain the Cornwall Councillor for Launceston Central for the next four years. I got a rather 'North Korean' 70% of the vote. I've had huge numbers of people give me good wishes and help me and the local team to campaign. So to all who signed my nomination paper, delivered leaflets for me and voted for me - many thanks. I really couldn't have done it without you. Many thanks too to Kris Roberts and Phil Tucker for standing and making it a contest. All politicians get nervous at election time, ...
I can't resist adding that I was delighted to help re-elect my councillor Jean Fooks, and to run the committee room for Roz Smith (against a strong Labour campaign), and that the splendid Neil Fawcett and John Howson have been elected to Oxfordshire County Council, too. But I realise that many good councillors have lost their seats today, through no fault of their own. Perhaps our new slogan should be 'Where we work (and the national leadership doesn't undermine us) we win'? Nick Clegg's suggestion that this is somehow an inevitable result of a process of maturing towards being a ...
Fri 3rd
19:15
What today's local elections mean - for the Lib Dems and the next election (and beyond)
Well, it could have been worse. The BBC calculates that the Lib Dems have finished these local elections with the loss of a net 124 councillors, slightly better than the projected loss of 130 according to the Rallings and Thrasher model I said the results could best be judged by. The Tories have done slightly worse (actual loss of 335 councillors compared to a projected loss of 310); while Labour has disappointed its own supprters (an actual gain of 291 councillors compared to the projected gain of 350). There's no doubt which party is the biggest winner: Ukip, by an ...
Margaret and Owen thank you for the warmth, support and friendship you have shown us on the doorstep. We're grateful to you, too, for sending Owen back to County Hall where he will work as hard as ever at listening to your concerns and issues, acting on them, and feeding back to you through leaflets and this site. And now for a well earned rest. [IMG: Election result 2013]
In the cascade of local election analysis, here are some initial results from candidates who have left the Liberal Democrats since 2010. (But, as usual, I'm not interested in those who've joined Labour or the Tories).* Green Party Allan Weeks lost his seat on Hampshire County Council to UKIP (he came third, the Liberal Democrats were fourth); while Clive Smith lost on Worcestershire County Council to the Tories (he came third, the Lib Dems were fifth). In general, the poor Green showing is notable: only 22 councillors were elected nationally, a gain of 5. Even their share of the vote ...
UKIP's relative success in the English local elections and South Shields by-election this week has met with predictable reactions across the political spectrum: from copycat politics and jealousy on the Tory right, to handwringing and downright despair on the centre left. But while UKIP has succeeded in hoovering up disenchanted Tories by the thousand, its appeal is clearly much broader. In fact, the rise of UKIP's populist anti-politics replicates a pattern played out across Europe since the crisis hit, from the Danish People's Party to Italy's Beppe Grillo. Ironically, with UKIP, Britain may now be joining the European mainstream. Early ...
[IMG: Screen shot 2013-05-03 at 18.48.21] The rapid rise of the UKIP vote and collapse of the LD vote does, I think, put the relative value of narrative and campaign tactics into sharp relief. Does anyone, for example, think UKIP activists out-worked or out-delivered the LDs in the last four years? Or even came close to doing so? I think not... Similarly some of the big historic Liberal Democrat by-election wins begin to look more about capturing the protest Zeitgeist than out-leafleting opponents.
Throughout UKIP's campaign in recent months, much has been said about the 'ConLibLab' consensus, and how they are aiming to break through. And there is no denying that UKIP have achieved spectacular results in this week's county council elections. But, as I argued in a previous article ('The War of Two Coalitions' - 8 July 2012), if there is a political 'consensus', surely it is the two-party coalition between the Conservatives and Labour which has existed since 1945 with the mutual desire of both parties to resist any genuine political change and reforms. Surely we too should aim at bringing ...
Well, that wasn't anywhere near as painful as I feared it would be. So, without further ado, here are the results; Conservatives - 35% (5 seats, down 1 - Stowmarket South)UKIP - 23.6% (1 seat, up 1 - Stowmarket South)Greens - 15.6% (1 seat, no change)Liberal Democrats - 13.8% (3 seats, no change)Labour - 11.9% (no seats, no change)Where we worked - held seats and Stowmarket South - we did well. Forty more votes and we'd have won 4 out of 10 divisions with just 14% of the vote (commiserations to Keith Scarff on coming so close again). Otherwise, we ...
Wycombe Liberal Democrats are delighted that residents have overwhelmingly re-elected both Chaudhary Ditta & Julia Wassell as their representatives on Bucks County Council. [IMG: 2013 county election group] Winning Liberal Democrat team in Wycombe Due to boundary changes and the reduced number of Councillors on Bucks County Council Wycombe Liberal Democrats are now representing more people at County Hall than before. UKIP and Labour both failed to win a single seat in Wycombe so yet again it is down to the Liberal Democrats to provide the main opposition to the Tories at County Hall. Labour also suffered a set back ...
According the The Sun's Tom Netwton-Dunn the Royal Charter cooked up in a late night meeting with Hacked Off has been shelved. BREAKING: The Govt has withdrawn its Royal Charter on press regulation from the May 15 privy council meeting – for more talks with editors. — Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) May 3, 2013 Rather ...
What do rich people have that poor people don't? I imagine that 'money' is the first answer that comes into your mind. Well, yes, but let's break this down. What does money give you? It gives you choice. Farmers began co-ops in the mid-19th century because they were being sold expensive, rotten food by private food sellers. Because co-ops were providing better produce at cheaper rates, other private food sellers had to up their game. Farming co-ops weren't non-profits; they were a different type of capitalism. The free-market doesn't just mean the consumer wins because they have a choice of ...
I have just received the results for this ward. Lesley Rickerby (LD) 697 * Alisdair Gibbs-Barton (LD) 594 * Labour 278 Labour 267 Conservative 172 So I got elected in this half of the estate. So far we are two of only 3 Lib Dem councillors to be elected to Blyth Town Council, and given the County results in the remaining wards I expect us to be the only three! . There are some new ( and not so new ) faces on the Town Council
130652: Listed building application for signage, East Hill. 130772: Change of use from retail (A1) to restaurant (A3), Short Wyre Street. 130799: Listed building application for advertisement consent, Queent Street. Please note that I am a member of the Council's Planning Committee for this municipal year. This means that I'm required to act in a 'quasi-judicial' manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can't make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then have pre-judged them before they come to Committee. I can give advice on planning issues and what to do if ...
The new Police Commissioners started work nearly six months ago. By law they have to record the formal decisions they have taken. So how has our Police Commissioner for Merseyside, Jane Kennedy, been getting on? The answer is that according to an official PCC web site, Jane Kennedy has taken just six decisions in her first five months in the job - a rate of just over one decision a month. That compares with 85 decisions taken by the busiest Police Commissioner, Ian Johnston of Gwent in Wales. Analysis of all published decisions taken by each Police & Crime Commissioner ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Nick Clegg MP writes... The Labour and Tory exodus (79 comments) by Nick Clegg MP While David Cameron and Owen Jones unite in favour of universal benefits, I want us to get explicit about why redistribution matters to society (27 comments) by Stephen Tall What will happen to the Lib Dems in Thursday's local elections? (25 comments) by Stephen Tall Former Lib Dem by-election candidate Elizabeth Shenton defects to Labour (26 comments) by The Voice Ukip set ...
Saturday: Sorry for the delay. Sometimes you just end up stuck for what to think. "Hide" is a really terrific spooky story that, even on repeat watchings, plays with the tropes of the haunted house mystery to stay tense and scary even though you know what is coming. And boy does that make a difference because, right at the last minute, it pulls the most astounding, genre-smashing hand-brake turn. It was that ending that left me, mouth flapping open like a fish, without a real handle on the episode. It's just so... outré! And yet very, totally, brilliantly Doctor Who. ...
Isn't it annoying that the annoying candidate from insert generic place name was elected? He or she was really full of hate, said that exercise prevented people from being gay, and barely leafleted the ward once... The odds are that you've heard something like this on Twitter, or in passing conversation today. This is because national issues, or national swing as the political scientists refer to it, affects how most of us vote at a local level. Hundreds of councillors across the country will have lost their jobs today; this was regardless of anything that they had, or had not ...
Chris says: 'My thanks to everyone who supported me and helped in my re-election. I am of course elected to serve all the residents of St Albans Central, so please get in touch if I can be of assistance.' The full results are set out below: Conservative 796 Labour 689 Green 837 Liberal Democrat Chris White 1369 Majority 532
Clearly Bill Esterson has been taking lessons at Mark Dowd's school of charm and open accountability on how to handle bad news- talk loudly about anything else to try and drown out the story. Don't apologise,don't explain. The fact the man has a little 'previous' must also be ignored. I have a small wager about how The Champion will report the story-if at all. Remember the stick James Parnell-who we should acknowledge was a politician of real substance-was treated for a similar offence http://billwith.blogspot.co.uk/p/about.html LABOUR IN PHOTOSHOP SCANDAL! Bill Esterson is the Labour Member of Parliament for Sefton Central. In ...
Writing this in the wake of running an election campaign in Worcestershire I can say with little doubt that money is absolutely vital for the smooth running of a campaigning force and Liberal Youth desperately needs to become a better campaigning force. But first a little about myself, I have been involved in politics for a number of years now and have been involved in a full campaign a year since joining the party at Aberystwyth University in 2009, a trend that looks as if it will not finish anytime soon. As well as this I have held positions in ...
So UKIP have had an amazing set of council elections. The results are still being counted but they are on course for well over 100 seats (they had 8 last time these seats were contested) and roughly a quarter of the vote. Cue much consternation within the political classes with politicians from all the major parties coming onto the media to "explain" what is happening and what they intend to do about it. The "explanations" range from the standard "mid term blues" argument that I have heard from the likes of Simon Hughes and Grant Shapps, to people being frustrated ...
I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats since the end of 2005. Despite this, I had no serious involvement with Liberal Youth until early 2012. Liberal Youth was not an effective organisation nationally, and in my area it was non-existent. A huge amount of progress has been made. Liberal Youth's contribution to the campaign in Eastleigh has been widely recognised. The momentum has been continued through the Gold Guard project, with action days in key seats around the country and a huge membership engagement push at every level of the organisation. More must be done, but there has ...
Look how the votes have changed this year compared to last (using the BBC's national equivalent vote share projections, i.e. this is comparing like with like as it adjusts for the different range of seats up for election): [IMG: Local elections graph - Labour are biggest losers]
[IMG: Rich Clare] It's that time of year again - time for the young Liberals to choose their executive. I'm standing for Convenor of LY England and I have two main aims: to protect and expand Liberal Youth's resources by promoting us within the Federal and English parties, and to turn us into more of a campaigning force across the country. Although I have two years' experience as branch chair in Sheffield Hallam, I am not part of the LY 'clique' - if I become the new Convenor, I will be a fresh face on the English executive. Personally, I ...
[IMG: image] Well done to the Oxfordshire Lib Dem team! In particular, well done to Neil Fawcett and team, gaining Abingdon South! I phone banked for Neil on Wednesday evening. It was an enormous pleasure to support Neil, who I have known for 20 years through campaigning events, and who is one of the wisest, hard-working and most earnest people I have ever met. Photo:Some rights reserved by Mark Pack [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
[IMG: Callum Leslie reclaim the night] For the past 18 months, I've been wrestling with the possibility of leaving the party. As the party leadership continues to ignore party policy and members' wishes, we have to sit through the bedroom tax, secret courts, the NHS debacle, shares for rights, tuition fees and more. The position of conference as the sovereign body of the party by which all are bound is all but extinguished. About two weeks ago, I came to a realisation. Having been a party member since I was 14 and a candidate twice, I'm not someone who can ...
Yes, I know, Lords European Union Select Committee, Sub-Committee D... doesn't exactly trip off of the tongue, does it? But perhaps we ought to pay more attention to it... Sub-Committee D is responsible for the scrutiny of European Union proposals on Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Energy (it also deals with animal health and welfare), so includes such joys as the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy - big things in terms of EU spending and highly controversial in some Liberal Democrat heartlands like the South West of England. Today, it published the results of its enquiry into the ...
Liberal Youth have worked hard this election. Across the country, young Liberal Democrats have been phoning, delivering and canvassing to ensure as many Lib Dem councillors as possible were elected. In 2015, our party will face a bigger challenge, and Liberal Youth can make a huge difference. My candidacy for Chair is based on what we need to do to help win in 2015: plan, recruit and train. Plan: I will work with the membership to lay out our key goals up to 2015, liaise with the Federal Party and Strategic Seats to plan our on-the-group campaigning and expand the ...
At lunchtime today, along with two of my ward colleagues and a group of enthusiastic supporters, volunteers and staff of the Brittle Bone Society, I took part in the society's Wishbone Day awareness raising celebrations. Despite the rather rainy weather, the event went really well and it was a good opportunity to highlight the good work of the society in helping people with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. The photo (right) is of us at the event today.
Congratulations to the "clowns" and "fruitcakes"!!! That worked!! — Lord Ashcroft (@LordAshcroft) May 3, 2013 Ouch.
RT @extrabold: Lib Dems hold Sheffield Fulwood with 4.35% swing from Labour. LD 2563 Lab 1135 Con 876 UKIP 501 Green 379 <In Clegg's seat — Mark Pack (@markpack) May 3, 2013
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking part in the panel judging projects submitted by teams of third year environmental design students at the University of Dundee's Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. Professor Gareth Fisher and me with a group of the students The design competition was to design the area around where the Tree of Liberty now sits - between the Matthew and Crawford buildings at Duncan of Jordanstone - creating a public space and seating area that is relevant and sympathetic the the Tree of Liberty story, an important part of Dundee's history. The eight teams of ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Local elections: seven early thoughts on what they mean Typically perceptive @RafaelBehr piece > Local elections: seven early thoughts on what they mean http://bit.ly/13Ri6ow Local elections 2013: Summary of overnight Council results My LDV Co-Editor @caronmlindsay has an excellent #vote2013 low-down here > Local elections: Summary of results http://bit.ly/ZDMt2g Polling Observatory #24: Blue revival, purple advance | Ballots & Bullets Sensible look at the UK polls » Polling Observatory #24: Blue revival, purple advance http://bit.ly/121AM3y Stuart Hall – editors point to need for arrested suspects to be named | Media | guardian.co.uk ...
Ed Miliband's Labour Party have had a councillor elected in the Wensleydale ward of Northumberland County Council. Wensleydale is, of course, the favourite cheese of plasticine Miliband look-a-like Wallace. Put the kettle on Gromit, that victory needs a cuppa.
The Liberal Democrats have take a bit of a hammering in elections to Northumberland County Council I'm afraid. Seats held by Lib Dems have been lost to Labour and the Conservatives all over the county. Locally I'm pleased to see that Jeff Reid and Lesley Rickerby have both been elected ( to Plessey and South Blyth divisions respectively) , but the days of the Council being led by Lib Dems have gone. Perhaps we can hold the balance of power ....? One thing, UKIP haven't won any of the four seats they were contesting in Blyth ( including the one ...
Planning for the future predicted by our current data leaves us vulnerable to unexpected derailments. Embracing uncertainty and preparing for the implausible gives us the chance to choose a better world Prediction can feel like shining a torch forward into the terrifying, dark unknown. The narrower and more focused the beam, the brighter the light, and the more detail can be perceived - but only along that one thin pathway. The light may help you prepare for tricky patches ahead, but it cannot reveal or protect you from everything. Unforeseen obstacles or events may force you to take an alternative ...
Today much of the mainstream media is getting into a blather about UKIP, but there is another party who really needs to worry. We have heard next to nothing from the Greens, seemingly for months now. The post 2010 high point seems to have been a third place finish in the London 2012 elections, boosted ...
This is a copy of the new rules in respect of jailings for contempt of court. There are two key elements that are new: a) That all hearings will be listed, so that people know they are happening and, b) That a public judgment will be published on Bailii. b) particularly is the key element although a) is important. b) is what was in my private members bill Section 8 (2). Result! This is a
Many thanks to all who voted for me, thanks to Team Tring, to my wife Rosemarie and to the Returning officer and staff at Dacorum Borough Council. The result for the Tring & the Villages Hertfordshire County Council Division was announced at about 3.00 a.m. this morning. Conservatives 1070 24% (-14%) Green - (-7%) (did not stand) Labour 348 (8%) (+5%) Liberal Democrats 2193 (50%) (-3%) Nick Hollinghurst elected UKIP 816 (18%) (+18%)
Fri 3rd
11:38
Local elections initial thoughts. UKIP do well. Party activists throw a tantrum and why its good for...
I have already read on Twitter that UKIP voters are essentially inbred, bigoted, racist thicko's who goose stepped their way to the polling stations but don't understand what Councils are for and will be very upset when Lincolnshire does not declare UDI from the EU by Monday. I exaggerate a little for effect but not by much and as a strategy for persuading the electorate to vote for you next time it is certainly novel! It is obvious that UKIP are going turn in a decent showing by the close of play today and that they will turn their polling ...
The sky is blue, birds are singing, bees are buzzing and the heady scent of the yellow primulas hangs in the air... catch up with what is growing now in the garden over at my flickr site . (Spirea starting to flower) Time to deadhead the daffodils and cut the grass more regularly, prick out the seedlings and harden off the vegetable seedlings outside.
I raised in the Senedd eleven days ago my own concerns about a private company targetting the Swansea area with the single measles vaccine and in particular the fact that their website continues to link MMR with autism despite that fact that there is no evidence for that claim. It was interesting therefore to see that the British Medical Journal is now covering this story. Like me they have noted that in the midst of the measles outbreak in Swansea, the Children's Immunisation Centre, a private company with clinics in several UK cities, set up a temporary clinic in the ...
In what I hope is an omen for the county elections, where the count will start later this morning, the Liberal Democrats comfortably held a Harborough District Council ward in a by-election. Thurnby & Houghton Peter Elliot (Lib Dem) 1341 Simon Whelband (Con) 785 (turn out - 38.5 per cent) The by-election was caused by the death of the Liberal Democrat councillor Jan Tooley.
Miliband's turn as a street preacher is hampered by his lack of disciples (tags: ) Capita and the Outsourcerers: And Poof! Goes the Welfare State | Scriptonite Daily (tags: ) Make your own custom coloured cotton for mending/making clothes This is a really cool thing. Tiny printer sits on top of the sewing machine and prints the right colour directly on to white thread :) (tags: ) Ukip Not Worthy Of 'Fruitcake' Description, Says The Monster Raving Loony Party (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
09:56 Caron: And we start off with some good news from Ashfield. Simon Hughes has just said on BBC Breakfast that it looks like we have held our seats and got the youngest councillor in the country elected. 10:10 Stephen: Ukip rise really isn't hard to explain: only way to register anti-government protest when 3 main parties all been in govt in last 3 years. — Stephen Tall (@stephentall) May 3, 2013 10:26 Caron: Congratulations to Lib Dem Voice's Sara Bedford on her election as County Councillor for Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire. 10:29 Caron: The Telegraph has its own spin ...
I spent the hour between 11 am and 12 noon yesterday being grilled by Vanessa Feltz (from 2.03) live and on air on BBC London, with occasional contributions from callers. The subject: the middle classes. The occasion: well, the publication of my book Broke: Who Killed the Middle Classes? As the hour rushed by, I began to get the hang of not listening too closely to Vanessa's cascade of words in case it made me forget what I was about to say. But, do you know, the whole experience made me think. I have been arguing all this time that ...
The extent to which county council election results tell us about the state of politics in the country is without doubt significantly overstated. Only a fraction of the population voted yesterday, and in places that are not representative of the country as a whole. But the results can tell us some things, and here is what I am looking out for. 1 – How do votes translate into council seats won? As all Liberal Democrats know, winning votes is little fun at all unless it also means winning seats, and those two things are far from the same in a ...
Southwark Labour have proposed changes to the protocol councillors have to follow else they received sanctions. Amazingly counter democratic proposal "...members (except when accessing services as a residents of the borough) should always advise the relevant chief officer in advance of such visits". Sounds innocuous enough but it would mean council would always be prepared for visits. Little opportunity to really tests services. It also precludes helping residents in person when they need. Help as we wouldn't be able to brief the chief officers in advance. See the reports page 24. The Labour chair said many things including "I don't ...
A lovely day, for the counting of votes cast in the county elections, an interesting day I think for politicians as public think for themselves. More later. From looking at the ballot papers as they spill onto the tables it's not looking good for Labour Tory or Libdem
... and the vote count begins in about an hour. Results will be posted here as soon as they are available. The previous results (from 2009) were; Electorate: 7282 John Reynolds (Con) ................ 1866 55.7% Brian Bromwich (Lib Dem) ........... 540 16.1% Helen Davies-Green (UKIP) .......... 340 10.1% Teal Riley (Green) ................. 320 9.6% Christopher Jones (Lab) ............ 284 8.5% Turn out: 3370 (46.28%)
A survey into the NHS that has revealed only 52% of staff said they would be happy for family and friends to receive the standards of care in their organisation is shocking. If ever there was testimony that summed up quite how badly this Welsh Labour Government has mismanaged our NHS, then the feedback from this survey is surely it. It is absolutely shocking that only just over half of NHS staff would be content for their family or friends to receive the standard of care that their own organisation provides. The question has to be, how on earth has ...
Two more shootings in Bootle this week mean that Sefton's gun crime problem is still sadly very much alive and well but who is doing much/anything decisive about it? Obviously we look to two major figures on Merseyside to lead the battle against violent crime - The Police Commissioner and the Chief Constable - but what game changing moves are they making? I can't really judge what the Chief Constable is doing but I can look at what the Police Commissioner is doing since she was elected 5 months ago. At face value not a huge amount can be the ...
Stephen Tall has the South Shields analysis for you here. I'm rounding up the council results. Lib Dems win by-election with swing from Labour in Sheffield Let's start with some very good news. We can still get a respectable swing from Labour to us in the north. Sheffield Liberal Democrats successfully defended Fulwood ward in a by-election caused by the sad death of Cllr Janice Sidebottom in March. New Cllr Cliff Woodcraft won with a majority of 1428 (compared to 800 when the ward was contested last year). This is significant because Fulwood is in Nick Clegg's seat. There was ...
I have touched on this before but what is really behind the seemingly low level of response to the cuts in public services from the nation's public sector trade unions? Indeed, this is a question I have heard being rehearsed recently by folks both inside and outside of the trade union movement. Let me be clear here, I am not talking about big speeches from trade union leaders threatening all kinds of retributions, of which we have all probably heard many, but on what the trade union movement has actually been doing. Over the past couple of years as the ...
Fri 3rd
07:35South Shields by-election: Labour hold solid, Ukip surge, Tories fall and Lib Dems... plummet to 7th...
[IMG: polling day] The South Shields by-election — triggered by David Miliband's exit from British political life — has resulted in a solid hold for Labour, which polled just over half the vote, only fractionally down on its 2010 position. But it's Ukip which has most to celebrate: in a seat they haven't contested since 2001, they stormed to a strong second, winning almost one-quarter of the vote. The Tories lost almost half their vote, slipping to third. Meanwhile the Lib Dems' valiant Hugh Annand lost his deposit, trailing in seventh place behind the BNP. Full result below: Labour Emma Lewell-Buck 12,493 (50.4%, ...
Every campaign season (yes I know Lib Dems campaign all year around, not just at election time!) from May 1998 - May 2011 when not doing the day job my days and weekends would be filled with delivering leaflets and knocking on doors. At my delivery peak I would be delivering around 6000-8000 leaflets a week (Once I worked out I topped 10,000 leaflets in a week) The result? Apart from electoral success (2011 doesn't exist :-) ) every year around this time I wouldn't be able to walk properly due to various foot related injuries which would be promptly ...
I advised back in February that residents in Shaftesbury Place had contacted me about the lack of a lantern on a street lighting column at the east end of the street. I am pleased to advise that the council's street lighting partnership has now advised: " ... the Street Light in Shaftesbury Place is now complete and the lantern is attached and working."
These are the results for Colchester in the Essex County Council elections. Full results can be found on the Essex County Council website. Abbey: Lib Dem (Margaret Fisher) 1273, UKIP 786, Labour 519, Green 467, Conservative 395. LD hold Constable: Conservative (Anne Brown) 2075, UKIP 1471, Labour 504, Green 387, Lib Dem (Carolyn Catney) 303. Con hold. Drury: Conservative (Sue Lissimore) 1957, Lib Dem (Nick Cope) 1127, UKIP 951, Labour 527, Green 314. Con hold. Maypole: Labour (Dave Harris) 1665, Lib Dem (Lyn Barton) 933, UKIP 573, Conservative 475, Green 143. Labour gain from Lib Dem. Mersea and Tiptree: Conservative ...
Anyone who wrote a piece in 2010 forecasting the rise of UKIP should probably tweet it now. — George Eaton (@georgeeaton) May 2, 2013So the editor of the New Statesman's Staggers blog tweeted this morning. I can do one better than that: I forecast the rise of UKIP in 2009. After noting that leading Conservative bloggers were queueing to express their support for Nigel Farage, who had just announced he was standing against John Bercow in Buckingham, I wrote: All of which reminds us what a hard job David Cameron continues to have in keeping his party in the political ...
...but trailed in 7th place with 350 votes - sadly half what the BNP and Trots pollled.
