The most interesting result of the Kent elections will be the UKIP vote. Last time out they polled about a quarter of the vote and ended up as the 2nd biggest party in terms of seats. My feeling is their vote will shrink but who will the votes go to?
Tories, mostly. They lost seven of the eight Thanet KCC seats in 2013, Ukip gained seven. Labour retained one, although not the same one. Due to boundary changes there are only seven Thanet seats now.
To answer the question posed by @SantaClaus, these are (mostly) county council elections in England and that is the top tier of local government, so they deal with big ticket items like roads and social services, as well as a overseeing education, although control of that is now a mess. Most of people's council tax goes to the county in Kent (Medway being an exception as a unitary authority).
The smallest issues are largely dealt with at parish/town council level, while the districts deal with waste collection, housing and local planning, among other things. It is a massively overcomplicated system, IMO. Much prefer the organisational structure in LONDON boroughs like Bexley and Bromley, where there are no elections today because they are not in Kent.
The most interesting result of the Kent elections will be the UKIP vote. Last time out they polled about a quarter of the vote and ended up as the 2nd biggest party in terms of seats. My feeling is their vote will shrink but who will the votes go to?
Much prefer the organisational structure in LONDON boroughs like Bexley and Bromley, where there are no elections today because they are not in Kent.
Tend not to go too much on the party line, more on the effectiveness, or complacency of the councillors elected. The ruling Tory party, seem to be at odds with current local issues for me, and the local councillor in Folkestone apparently defected to the Conservatives, so I voted Green. Will not be at the General election. But the local councillor attends local meetings, and I have heard that he approachable, and effective. Heard him speak at a public meeting. Couple of the independents are okay as well. The conservative's did not even send a representative, ( the only party not to do so) seems to sum up there arrogance from my limited time down here.
That's my constituency. Based on your recommendation the Greens can have my vote. BTW I was taught politics by a Shepway Tory bigwig, he was a tosser.
My polling station this time is a hairdressers, clearly expecting a massive turnout.
Prime Minister could have saved the country millions by doing local and general on the same day.
The important reasons for holding a general election hadn't become clear to her at the time (which is odd, considering JC has been Labour leader for 18 months).
Despite my polling station being inexplicably moved half a mile further away I still voted, but I imagine many people would be put off by the crap location.
Despite my polling station being inexplicably moved half a mile further away I still voted, but I imagine many people would be put off by the crap location
Farnham voters had a referendum on local planning policy as well as local council election. Voted leave, not sure if it means leaving the single market though, wasn't even mentioned. No communist candidate so supporting independent non-affiliated nobody called Andy.
I work in our local Town Council. With three levels of local government (town, borough, county) I am confident in saying that a lot of the public have no idea which is which and what services each provide. I also believe that only on the lowest level do you have true representation of local community needs. I'm off to the count today, as we are awaiting the results of our neighbourhood development plan which if passed will protect our local green spaces from development (the borough council have in recent years sold of parts of our parks for redevelopment and housing).
It looks like the Conservatives have taken seats from Labour, UKIP and the Lib Dems. May is going to steamroller the election based on last night's results
Unfortunately, reviews and reorganisations of Local Government have always been somewhat piecemeal leading to a patchwork quilt approach in England (and there is always an element of "turkeys voting for christmas", especially with regards to the County Councils). The proliferation of directly elected Mayors simply adds to the confusion of "who does what"...
There was an earlier mention of a school which was closed owing to its use as a polling station, from personal experience, I would suspect that the School would have treated this as a "Baker Day", rather than the school being closed perse.
Location of Polling Stations is always an issue, sometimes location will just come down to availability and/or suitability of a particular venue. The Electoral Commission provides advice on such matters and it is for Local Authorities to determine polling districts and polling stations. Political parties in the past used to provide lifts to "their" voters to polling stations, I wonder if this happens anymore...
In Bramley which is a small village just north of basingstoke and where my daughter lives, had two polling stations about 1/4 mile apart. One in the village hall the other at the infanct school meaning my grandaughter couldnt go to school.
Is it any suprise the Corbyn factor meant labour had a bad night.
It looks like the Conservatives have taken seats from Labour, UKIP and the Lib Dems. May is going to steamroller the election based on last night's results
Unless there's a 100% turnout then the result will be meaningless.....unless it goes against the Tories, in which case a turnout of less than 50% is all that is required for a win to be ratified and deemed a rip roaring success, of course.
Political parties in the past used to provide lifts to "their" voters to polling stations, I wonder if this happens anymore...
Being a previous member of a political party I used to get letters through before each election saying that if I required a lift to the polling station, or knew somebody who did they'd organise this. Don't know how it worked (assume they'd link me up with another nearby member) as I never needed to use it. That was 7 years ago now, but I imagine it still happens.
Looking at results in part of Wales half of Labour losses are not going to the Tories, but to Independents. This suggests to me that a significant number of disillusioned Labour voters are searching for a home for their vote. The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories. So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
The Tories will romp home, I'm not a supporter of Corbyn, but have been a Labour man all my working life. My fear is that if the Tories get a landslide victory, then there will be no effective strong opposition, which in any democratic society you need to have, if not all we will get is a right wing dictatorship with little or no checks and balances. The local council elections are going the way of the Tories and sets the political agenda for the next 5 weeks, with Labour even losing seats to Independents in Wales (which used to be their stronghold), wiped out in 2015 in Scotland, where oh where is strong effective opposition going to come from?
Looking at results in part of Wales half of Labour losses are not going to the Tories, but to Independents. This suggests to me that a significant number of disillusioned Labour voters are searching for a home for their vote. The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories. So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
You started off with an interesting analysis and ended with ridiculous hyperbole. Enjoy the upvotes from the anti Tory circle jerk.
Looking at results in part of Wales half of Labour losses are not going to the Tories, but to Independents. This suggests to me that a significant number of disillusioned Labour voters are searching for a home for their vote. The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories. So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
You started off with an interesting analysis and ended with ridiculous hyperbole. Enjoy the upvotes from the anti Tory circle jerk.
Except you missed the word 'may'. Perhaps you could help me by explaining what Conservatism actually means beyond being self serving.
Looking at results in part of Wales half of Labour losses are not going to the Tories, but to Independents. This suggests to me that a significant number of disillusioned Labour voters are searching for a home for their vote. The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories. So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
You started off with an interesting analysis and ended with ridiculous hyperbole. Enjoy the upvotes from the anti Tory circle jerk.
Except you missed the word 'may'. Perhaps you could help me by explaining what Conservatism actually means beyond being self serving.
The Tories are an ideological mess of one nationers, small state (small 'l') liberals, corporatists and hang em and flog em law and order fanatics. They're not my cup of tea but I don't think they want to stamp on people's faces or for that matter eat anyone's babies.
Looking at results in part of Wales half of Labour losses are not going to the Tories, but to Independents. This suggests to me that a significant number of disillusioned Labour voters are searching for a home for their vote. The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories. So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
This is more or less what happened at the last election. Many voters didn't see Ed Milliband as Prime Minister material and were not completely convinced with Cameron and the Tories either, so you had a situation where the vote was split among the other parties, and as a result Cameron got a small majority. 12% of the vote last time around went to UKIP, this time around it could be more interesting because judging by the latest results of the local elections, UKIP may struggle. If the general election follows the same pattern as the locals, where UKIPs share of the vote goes could well have a huge impact on who wins. The Tories certainly seem to have benefited from UKIPs losses overnight.
Comments
To answer the question posed by @SantaClaus, these are (mostly) county council elections in England and that is the top tier of local government, so they deal with big ticket items like roads and social services, as well as a overseeing education, although control of that is now a mess. Most of people's council tax goes to the county in Kent (Medway being an exception as a unitary authority).
The smallest issues are largely dealt with at parish/town council level, while the districts deal with waste collection, housing and local planning, among other things. It is a massively overcomplicated system, IMO. Much prefer the organisational structure in LONDON boroughs like Bexley and Bromley, where there are no elections today because they are not in Kent.
You Country bumpkin
You have service being taken back from country councils by the rise of unitary authorities
But then you have these new Mayors who will have control over regions (like the new West Midlands one)
Prime Minister could have saved the country millions by doing local and general on the same day.
I bet you bloody drove there anyway.
I got a lift.
https://gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/types-of-council
Unfortunately, reviews and reorganisations of Local Government have always been somewhat piecemeal leading to a patchwork quilt approach in England (and there is always an element of "turkeys voting for christmas", especially with regards to the County Councils). The proliferation of directly elected Mayors simply adds to the confusion of "who does what"...
There was an earlier mention of a school which was closed owing to its use as a polling station, from personal experience, I would suspect that the School would have treated this as a "Baker Day", rather than the school being closed perse.
Location of Polling Stations is always an issue, sometimes location will just come down to availability and/or suitability of a particular venue. The Electoral Commission provides advice on such matters and it is for Local Authorities to determine polling districts and polling stations. Political parties in the past used to provide lifts to "their" voters to polling stations, I wonder if this happens anymore...
Is it any suprise the Corbyn factor meant labour had a bad night.
The FPTP system in a General Election won't reflect gains created by the disillusioned but probably open the door for the Tories.
So we may really be entering an era where you have to stand on your own two feet or f**k and die. With the extra frisson that the in power Tories won't have to stand on their own two feet, but can tread on our faces for their leverage.
The local council elections are going the way of the Tories and sets the political agenda for the next 5 weeks, with Labour even losing seats to Independents in Wales (which used to be their stronghold), wiped out in 2015 in Scotland, where oh where is strong effective opposition going to come from?