Some election results

We've had a letter in the post from one of the candidates standing in our ward. It was addressed to us both, by name, and to another person, who lives, not at number 16 like us, but at Flat 16 of a building further along the road. If the candidate is as useless at reading the Electoral Register as that, she won't be much good as a councillor, I would think. Not to mention the data protection/privacy implications.

Clever, Wwmk2 ?

?

My nearest town is plastered with Labour banners in peoples windows and front gardens, there are at least 30 between here and town on the road in. I’ve seen one Tory banner, which is in a field near my house, and one for Plaid in the chip shop. I haven’t seen any for Lib Dem yet, which is surprising as they are normally prevalent. Our county council is predominantly independent, currently in collaboration with the Conservatives, who have less seats than the Lib Dems.

As always we have had leaflets from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. None from anyone else.

Driving round our area there are many LibDem posters displayed but not a single Conservative poster.

This is the first election ever since the 1970s that the Conservatives have not put up posters.

My OH today had a chat with a local Conservative bigwig who told him they had decided not to put up posters because the LibDems would tear them down - something that to our knowledge has never happened in the last fifty years.

No up and coming Election in my area , so not all areas going to the poles.

Oops…

I have had election material from both Independent candidates and the Conservative candidate, non whatsoever from Liberal Democrats, Labour or Greens.

The only posters in windows or boards in gardens are either Independent or Conservative, not sure which way our local council will go.

I have had election panfle

?NEW: Local Election Voting Intention, LONDON

?LAB: 50% (+6)
?CON: 23% (-6)
?LDEM: 12% (-1)
?GRN: 9% (=)

I just hope that all those voters who are disgusted with the Conservative party pay attention to the situation in their local area and realising that FPTP often favours them, vote tactically for the candidate best placed to defeat them, whether Liberal Democrat, Green or Labour.

The Vale of Glamorgan will be interesting, but I’m not sure what it will do to reflect results elsewhere. They have a Conservative MP, a Labour MS (both there for many years), more Tory seats on the Council by 1, but a Labour/Plaid coalition leadership of the council. 10 former councillors aren’t standing, and there are hotly contested seats everywhere. I think it would be fair to say that it will be a very personality driven choice for most of the electorate, so who knows what will happen!

It will be interesting to see what Johnson's reaction will be.

He's insisted he's not going to resign and will be "getting on with the job". But for how long can he keep up this arrogant bravado?

Is the voting against him or the party - or both? Or against Sunak's economic policies? Are Brexiters who lent their votes to the Tories not happy with the Brexit they've got so far... which is a bit different from the one they were promised?

The heinous hikes in energy prices could have been tempered with intervention to mitigate the impact but government has chosen not to do that. I think this has upset an awful lot of people. I won't even mention the "Loan"...

This is what I think will happen. I don't think they will lose anywhere near the 800 councillors predicted, but lose some they will. They may also even gain some.

... and Johnson will declare the result "disappointing" but not catastrophic. There will be some bumbling rhetoric about having "listened to the people" and he will then focus on pulling something out of the hat that will appeal to his fans. His anti EU stance (hostility) is quite popular, as is his position on Ukraine... and he's not lost sight of the fact that immigration is a real bone of contention. And, of course, he's now threatening to "privatise the a*se off the Passport Office" - but how popular that will be as a vote winner is yet to be seen. I do wonder why, if privatisation is such a good thing, he's using it as a weapon - as a warning... if it was such a good enterprise, why hasn't he done it already instead of using it as a 'punishment'?

I suppose ultimately, it will depend on how much damage the party thinks he's done to it...

Elmbridge, Havering, Pendle, Vale of Glamorgan and Worcester, will be interesting.

The Times have reported a false story saying that the Tories will lose up to 800 seats in the local elections.

They will lose nowhere near that amount according to Rory Stewart. Perhaps 300, but it is to make their eventual losses not look so bad.

Voting intention in London

Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
Local Elections Voting Intention (London):

LAB: 45% (+1)
CON: 25% (-4)
LDM: 12% (=)
GRN: 10% (+2)

The purdah applies six weeks before any election in a local area, so they will have had it before the by election in that patch only. These are places where there is no election in May, so they can hold their by elections on dates to suit their local needs.

I'm not sure how the purdah rules apply to by-elections held outside the election "window".

Thanks, Growstuff, re them all being this week. I'd thought they weren't allowed during election purdah but obvs OK in areas where no elections. Didn't think of that.

Thank you Whitewave

I just wish we could have a by-election in Somerton and Frome, where the local Tories are trying to distance themselves from David Warburton, accused of sexual harrassment by three different women, seen to be using class A drugs and borrowing a lot of money from a very dodgy Russian.

How do we get rid of this dishonourable member?

I wish the Lib Dems all the very best wishes.

"Boris on the brink as Blue Wall set for knife-edge local election battle against Lib Dems

BORIS JOHNSON's political career is on the brink as the Liberal Democrats plot to take advantage of ex-Conservative voters turning against the Tories in the 'Blue Wall' following 'partygate'."

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1596721/boris-johnson-conservative-party-liberal-democrats-local-elections-surrey-woking-ont

I love the use of the word "plot" here - classic Daily Express hinting that the LibDems (who they rarely ever mention) are "plotting" something very sinister

It seems that the local Tories see Johnson as such a liability, that they are airbrushing him out of their election literature.

Some predictions

They were all this week.

Interesting! Please could we have the dates (months)?

West Auckland (Durham) council by-election result:

LAB: 56.3% (+12.2)
CON: 32.6% (-10.2)
IND: 11.0% (+11.0)

No other Ind (-13.0) as prev.

Votes cast: 1,697

Labour GAIN from Conservative.