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Local elections and political parties

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pemma

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I've noticed in Cheshire East the main parties are losing seats on town and borough councils to independents and independent groups.

For instance, the previously Lib Dem Macclesfield East seat on Cheshire East council has gone to an Independent.

However, it's not just the unpopular parties losing seats. The Conservatives are very popular in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, yet two Independent groups called Alderley Edge First and Residents of Wilmslow have taken seats from the Conservatives.

Is this kind of thing happening nationwide or is it only happening in a small number of towns?
 
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W-on-Sea

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It's not unknown, but I don't think it's that common either - the London Borough of Havering and the unitary authority of Southend-on-Sea are two places I know where local independent groups have had fairly significant representation. Maybe it's a growing trend, but it's not really that common as far as I know.
 

TheNewNo2

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In quite a lot of places local council elections and European elections are essentially used as protest votes against the national government.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I've noticed in Cheshire East the main parties are losing seats on town and borough councils to independents and independent groups.

For instance, the previously Lib Dem Macclesfield East seat on Cheshire East council has gone to an Independent. However, it's not just the unpopular parties losing seats. The Conservatives are very popular in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, yet two Independent groups called Alderley Edge First and Residents of Wilmslow have taken seats from the Conservatives.

Is this kind of thing happening nationwide or is it only happening in a small number of towns?

My wife has two elderly friends who are resident in the Heald Green ward of Stockport council and they say that in that area, it matters not a jot which major political party holds sway in General Election and Council Election, for it seems that since time immemorial, Heald Green always returns the Ratepayer candidates who seem to be extremely hard working on behalf of the residents there on a very wide range of issues.
 

pemma

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In quite a lot of places local council elections and European elections are essentially used as protest votes against the national government.

Agreed but people are in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge likely put an X next to George Osborne's name on Thursday on one paper and then voted for the non-Conservative candidates on another paper.
 

GrimsbyPacer

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In North East Lincolnshire (Great Grimsbyshire) council election very little has changed at all.
The only change is in my Eadt Marsh ward where an Ukip councillor was elected for 1 year only for a seat that was vacant.
Although I support Labour nationally, I dislike the Labour council as it plans to demolish the shopping centre on my profile picture. They still have control.

Many others have a similar view and Labour was punished at the last local election beforehand. But it looks like many got confused because of the general election influencing them.
Also many must have forgot they had two votes as two Labour candidates stood and only one got in.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Agreed but people are in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge likely put an X next to George Osborne's name on Thursday on one paper and then voted for the non-Conservative candidates on another paper.

Even in our area of Prestbury, certain "mutterings about UKIP" were heard but the local Conservative candidate in the local authority election there polled ten times as many as the UKIP candidate and eleven times as many as the Labour candidate.

Mind you, it is often said that our ward resembles the mythical area of Ambridge in "The Archers" long-running BBC Radio 4 series...:D
 

Busaholic

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Even in our area of Prestbury, certain "mutterings about UKIP" were heard but the local Conservative candidate in the local authority election there polled ten times as many as the UKIP candidate and eleven times as many as the Labour candidate.

Mind you, it is often said that our ward resembles the mythical area of Ambridge in "The Archers" long-running BBC Radio 4 series...:D

I see you as the Brian Aldridge figure??:lol:
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I see you as the Brian Aldridge figure??:lol:

How most astute of you, as Brian, like I, has attained the age of 70. The term "gentleman farmer with still a twinkle in his eye", suits me well. There are those RailUK forum members whom I was with some time ago on a forum day-out who may still remember that I was wearing my brand new Harris Tweed hat that day...and abandoned me on Liverpool South Parkway station...:oops:

My good lady wife Patricia with whom I celebrated our recent Ruby Wedding anniversary is most unlike Shula, though, and fortunately for me and the few local farmers, and even less like Lynda Snell (thank God)...:D
 

yorkie

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In York, we only got 2 independents, and there were gains for Conservatives, Greens and Lib Dems at the expense of Labour.
...and abandoned me on Liverpool South Parkway station...
This is off-topic so any further discussion must be in a new thread (or via PM) but I feel I should set the record straight for those wondering. Some members stayed on to double-back to Lime Street, while some members got off to make a tight connection as they'd not yet had breakfast and wanted more time (to eat) at Crewe. You and another member tried to make the tight connection when you'd have been better off sticking with those who doubled-back, but it made no material difference as you met those members on the next train back, and the rest of the group at Crewe. I hope you will join us on Saturday 18 July. :)

Anyway back on topic, I think for independents to be likely to succeed they probably need to be already well-known figures in the community. That was certainly the case for one of the York independents.
 

DownSouth

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Agreed but people are in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge likely put an X next to George Osborne's name on Thursday on one paper and then voted for the non-Conservative candidates on another paper.
No, but if the local election was held six months later (just late enough for voter's remorse to set in) they might do that.

Stacking up multiple elections on the same day is, in my opinion, not good for a healthy democratic process - for three reasons.
  1. The tendency of the media to not give equal coverage to each election, allowing candidates and policies to get in without the appropriate scrutiny.
  2. It promotes voting on party lines in local politics (even if the best national policies and best local policies belong to different parties) instead of promoting bottom-up representative democracy.
  3. A larger number of staff need to be hired to conduct the elections, increasing the overheads associated with recruitment and administration, instead of using the same smaller number of staff multiple times.
 

bussnapperwm

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I noticed that in Thanet, although Farage did not get a seat as MP, UKIP do hold control of the council.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I noticed that in Thanet, although Farage did not get a seat as MP, UKIP do hold control of the council.

Local authority councillors would normally face totally differing matters to deal with than Members of Parliament, so it is a matter of "horses for courses".
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
This is off-topic so any further discussion must be in a new thread (or via PM)

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
 

Amberley54

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I've noticed in Cheshire East the main parties are losing seats on town and borough councils to independents and independent groups.

For instance, the previously Lib Dem Macclesfield East seat on Cheshire East council has gone to an Independent.

However, it's not just the unpopular parties losing seats. The Conservatives are very popular in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, yet two Independent groups called Alderley Edge First and Residents of Wilmslow have taken seats from the Conservatives.

Is this kind of thing happening nationwide or is it only happening in a small number of towns?

Paul, firstly I must declare a strong interest in this thread as I was elected to Cheshire East BC on Thursday - indeed mine was the only Labour GAIN at the expense of the Tories last Thursday in Cheshire East - Macclesfield West & Ivy .

The independents that took seats off the Tories in Cheshire East are more appropriately labeled Independant Tories and won on the back of largely single issue campaigns - Not In My Back Yard - with regard to proposed/planned/potential residential housing development.

Their Canute-like attitude to development will inevitably end in (their) tears I suspect.
 

telstarbox

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Especially considering the number of planning applications which have been won on appeal in Cheshire East recently - but that's another thread.
 

Amberley54

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Especially considering the number of planning applications which have been won on appeal in Cheshire East recently - but that's another thread.

Indeed, the council has a 21-3 loosing record and counting on planning appeals, over past few years.

A FoI request for what Cheshire East has forked out in legal costs was submitted some time ago. No reply as of yet. No surprise there. <(
 

telstarbox

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It's the planning officers I feel sorry for when their recommendations get ignored!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Going back to the original topic - it's often feasible for an issue-specific campaign group to win council seats, especially where the 'major' parties have become complacent. Also there is no deposit required for council candidates.
 

pemma

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indeed mine was the only Labour GAIN at the expense of the Tories last Thursday in Cheshire East - Macclesfield West & Ivy.

Labour only managed to put forward one candidate for Knutsford. He might have actually stood a chance if Labour had bothered to do a campaign leaflet for him. The only publicity he got was a paragraph in the local paper the day before the election - by which time some people had already made postal votes.

And yet the amount of publicity we got from Labour trying to get us to vote for a former adviser to Gordon Brown, who didn't stand a chance against George Osborne.

The independents that took seats off the Tories in Cheshire East are more appropriately labeled Independant Tories

In the past Knutsford has had Councillors who were Conservative members but gave the impression that they joined the Conservative party because they wanted to be on the local council, not because they supported the Conservatives.

One was the late Wilson Hamman, a former signalman. He left the Conservative party but didn't re-stand as an Independent.

Another was David Heffernan, someone who moved from Salford to the Longridge estate in Knutsford. He also left the Conservative party. He stood as an Independent the next time but he wasn't re-elected.

Now it seems if you're a strong Independent then you can stand as an Independent for the town council and get elected, but not for the borough council - yet.
 
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