What will influence your vote this May?

I will never vote for a candidate who is ‘parachuted’ in and has no local connection. That applies to my current MP and often to candidates in both major parties. Thankfully we have a local candidate this time and I will definitely vote for him, despite my reservations about the party.

Sorry that was about the GE not local elections. Must pay more attention!

I can't find any policy statements from any of our candidates, except for one Independent, and his priorities are OK but not mine.

In a local election I will always vote for the person who I think will do the best job, regardless of political party. My focus is always very much on local issues, A bit of research is required, but well worth the effort. Different rules apply where a General Election is concerned.

I'll vote for the candidate who will help the homeless and refugees; who will prioritise environmental issues rather than big business; who will prioritise local housing rather than second homes.

I've sent in my postal ballot already. It's a 2 horse race in our area. My decision was based on local waste and recycling collection as the parites have different views and I only agree with one.
I base my County election vote on roads and potholes etc.
Not made up my mind about a General election yet but it won't be Tory. We need a change even though they're all as bad as each other IMHO.

I always vote, general or local election. My dilemma is that the most efficient Borough Councillor who is standing for re-election is very political (Tory) and makes everything that goes wrong (potholes for example) to be the fault of the County Council (new majority is Labour, previously Tory controlled) He is a good local councillor, but very critical of his opponents, so for that reason I shall not vote for him. LibDem have put up a nonentity as a candidate, as have Labour which is very irritating, these may split the opposition with the Green Party candidate (local man) and we will, inevitably, end up with the Tory candidate elected by 3 men and a dog. As long as they have ID.

Potholes will certainly get me excited. If a party can't be trusted with smaller issues, why would I trust them with large ones? Not that I believe a single word written in manifestos. Promises, promises..........

DaisyAnne

Freya5

maddyone

I vote in general elections but not usually in local elections. There’s no point in anyone being influenced by the strikes when they cast their local election vote as local councils aren’t in any way responsible for any of the things causing these strikes.

Local elections though have an affect on where you live, local councilors may, decisions that do make a difference, or not.

They may have even more effect if Labour get into government and devolve more as they have said they will.

Well if our last Labour Council was anything to go by, no thanks.

Any candidate who is prepared to fight to keep our local libraries open and provide a refuge tip in our area. The mending of gigantic pot holes would be an added bonus. If they also promise me they won't go on the council jolliess spending ratepayers money on stupid mindbendingly expensive trips abroad that bring nothing into our rund down area he or she will have my vote.

I would look for sensible planning for housing and affordable property together with social housing. Particularly for young families.

Good quality leisure centres.

But most importantly I want the social care system put into good order which of course means government funding at an adequate level.

I’ll vote Labour. I know the candidates. The tories are killing our town

Freya5

DaisyAnne

Freya5

maddyone

I vote in general elections but not usually in local elections. There’s no point in anyone being influenced by the strikes when they cast their local election vote as local councils aren’t in any way responsible for any of the things causing these strikes.

Local elections though have an affect on where you live, local councilors may, decisions that do make a difference, or not.

They may have even more effect if Labour get into government and devolve more as they have said they will.

Well if our last Labour Council was anything to go by, no thanks.

Any council can only deliver based on their allocation of funding from central government. At the moment, whichever party is in control of a local council has no chance of delivering, because the allocation they receive is pitiful.

casdon yes I guess the most we could hope for is for the council to keep its head above water

We have an excellent local candidate. Fortunately she is also from the party I support, but I think I would vote for her no matter what party she was in. In her 3-4 years in office she has sorted several intractable local problems - at least they were intractable until she started sorting them.

I always vote. For the local elections I look up the individual candidates and see if they’re someone I can trust. This time I’ll be voting for our sitting councillor as she’s done a good job. Local concerns are things like fly tipping, vandalism, dog wardens. Not the same as for the general election really.

Pretty much a Tory stronghold here in East Herts both locally and national government and they are very busy giving planning permission for Green belt land to be built on without any consideration to the local infrastructure, i.e. schools, roads, doctors, community support.. The Greens try their best and have had some local councillors elected recently.

I will research the candidates carefully for our local elections and vote for those who seem to consider the best interests of the whole community and not just the developers and those who can afford the outrageous prices of the new houses that are springing up everywhere with no thought to young local first time buyers, young families etc.

I'll vote for whoever is most invested in helping my local community in the local elections.. and for Green as wehave Caroline Lucas as our local MP, in the GE

Our council has an overwhelming Labour majority and has done for as long as I can remember. In the twenty plus years I have lived in this house not once has a candidate or councillor from any party appeared on my doorstep, or at any local forum. Last time only the Lib Dem candidate even bothered to send out any election literature. It’s as though the Labour candidates are so confident they feel they don’t need to make the effort while the Conservatives assume they will be well beaten so don’t even bother campaigning in this ward. In the meantime the council have nearly bankrupted the town by investing rashly in an unsound energy scheme. Few councillors opposed this investment so I will be voting for whoever seems to have the best chance of ousting the sitting incompetents. The trouble is most people have no awareness of the financial dire straits we are in and no intention of voting so I guess the status quo will be maintained. We are paying the price for our disinterest.

We are part of the boundary changes so in the next election our 'seat' will cease to exist. We will be part of a new constituency, I know very little of the current MP. I will vote labour.

NanaDana

In a local election I will always vote for the person who I think will do the best job, regardless of political party. My focus is always very much on local issues, A bit of research is required, but well worth the effort. Different rules apply where a General Election is concerned.

This is what I do

There's no election here but I usually vote for the Green candidate - for looking after local concerns. In general elections I vote Labour, in the hope that they'll look after the country. I don't understand why people don't bother to vote (then they complain about things).

For the local election, I voted for the candidate who was organising free jazz concerts in the area. When he asked me why I was voting for him, I replied that I like jazz so that is a good reason. This surprised him. Well seems obvious with essential services collapsing all around us, might as well enjoy the music.

Voted and posted.

I’ll be voting Labour in both local and general elections. No competition IMO.