London Votes 2012

[Oswyntail]

I was in two minds. In principle, if the role is defined properly and a set of good candidates come along, I think having a mayor could be a good thing (so long as she is independent of national party orders!). However, looking at Doncaster, where they ended up with someone who had absolutely no understanding of what was required I had my doubts. And in Bradford there is so much corruption and stupidity that having a mayor would simply reinforce the status quo. So I voted against.
[Again, I was glad that the "leader" who has presided over the Bradford mess lost his seemingly impregnable seat, chiefly through complacency - but not that he lost it to the nutters from "Respect"]

 

[Mojo]

Results just in from Bristol, who voted yes for a Mayor.

 

[Clip]

So Bradford, Coventry, Nottingham and Manchester, at least, have all said No, then. Boris and Ken have clearly done much for the cause of directly chosen local democracy.

Im not even sure that the proposed Mayors of the other cities would have any of the powers that the Mayor of London had, would they?

The London mayor controls an awful lot.

 

[SS4]

Im not even sure that the proposed Mayors of the other cities would have any of the powers that the Mayor of London had, would they?

Nobody knows. It was never set out how much power they'd have before the referendum.

 

[Schnellzug]

Exciting news, Comrades!

Conservative "Boris" Johnson has a narrow lead after 12 out of 14 constituency results in the London mayoral race.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17946742

But then I see.. With no candidate set to get 50% of votes, the top two go into a second round, where the second choices of those who voted for the five eliminated candidates are reallocated.

Heavens. :roll:

 

[SS4]

Exciting news, Comrades!

Conservative "Boris" Johnson has a narrow lead after 12 out of 14 constituency results in the London mayoral race.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17946742

But then I see.. With no candidate set to get 50% of votes, the top two go into a second round, where the second choices of those who voted for the five eliminated candidates are reallocated.

Heavens. :roll:

Hang on London get this for mayoral elections whereas the rest of the country is stuck with ****ty first past the post?

Glad to see that Birmingham voted no though

 

[Ivo]

Nothing wrong with First Past the Post. He who gets the most votes, wins. Very simple.

Can we not go into the AV rubbish again please? Many votes cast as part of an AV campaign are more along the lines of "I'll vote X as my choice and then Y as a back-up to make sure that Z doesn't get in". That's just wrong.

 

[Pumbaa]

Nothing wrong with First Past the Post. He who gets the most votes, wins. Very simple.

Can we not go into the AV rubbish again please? Many votes cast as part of an AV campaign are more along the lines of "I'll vote X as my choice and then Y as a back-up to make sure that Z doesn't get in". That's just wrong.

And the same could be said about FPTP? And London isn't AV - it's STV. The votes only get re-allocated once.

 

[Ivo]

Forgive the ignorance, but what is STV?

And don't say something about TV :roll:

 

[Pumbaa]

Single transferrable vote. You vote for your 1st preference and 2nd preference. In the event of no candidate having <50% then the 2nd pref votes of other candidates are distributed to settle it.

 

[anthony263]

Results just in from Bristol, who voted yes for a Mayor.

Not surprising considering how there are peopel who are not to pleased with the city council.

I would like to see how they will sort out Bristol bus services with some talk of services being brought back in house and contracted out like in London

 

[wintonian]

Didn't know this thread was here earlier.

In London Brent & Barrow have been holding things up, turn out has been 34-38% across London.

You can see the first preference votes up untill 90% were counted at the London Elects website (Google it)

I left City Hall myself about 22:00 so have no idea what has happened since then but we were still waiting for verification to complete for that last constituency.

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

 

[SS4]

Turnout was worryingly low across the board but what can be done?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In London Brent & Barrow have been holding things up.

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

I thought that Brent and Barrow was a form of chair ..

 

[anthony263]

Still waiting for the London mayor results although results are due imminently.

Seems they misplaced two boxes of ballot papers which is what has caused this delay

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

If it goes to the inclusion of the second preference votes, how much longer will this procedure take before a result can be announced ?

 

[anthony263]

Boris is elected as mayor

 

[bnm]

And Ken effectively resigns from front line politics. Sad to see him go.

That said, in my opinion, he was a very effective politician for London and Londoners, particularly in the areas of public transport and housing.

My city, Bristol, will be holding elections for a Mayor in November, we could do far worse than to have candidates of the calibre of both Ken Livingstone and, loathe as I am to admit it, Boris Johnson.

As for London, congratulations to Boris.

 

[anthony263]

And Ken effectively resigns from front line politics. Sad to see him go.

That said, in my opinion, he was a very effective politician for London and Londoners, particularly in the areas of public transport and housing.

My city, Bristol, will be holding elections for a Mayor in December, we could do far worse than to have candidates of the calibre of both Ken Livingstone and, loathe as I am to admit it, Boris Johnson.

As for London, congratulations to Boris.

Now wouldnt it be surprising if Ken were to stand as mayor for Bristol (Even if that very unlikely to happen)

I do hope they will sort out the bus network in Bristol perhaps brining down fares and open up the city to more competition perhaps even bringing back the harbourlink service 500 and improve the rail network in Bristol including getting the Portishead branch re-opened.

 

[WatcherZero]

Only 1.5% difference between the candidates, I would like to see you park a Boris Bus in that!

 

[bnm]

Barely room for a Boris bike, let alone a bus!

 

[ainsworth74]

Turnout was worryingly low across the board but what can be done?

Either restore faith in our political system (unlikely), make it easier to vote (but again see point one) or make voting compulsory (with an option to abstain) for everyone one who is eligible to vote.

Don't think there are any other ways of doing it.

Interesting that Boris won the first preference count but actually lost the count of second preference voters. I'd guess that's because of the people that voted for the other candidates they'd be most likely to go for Ken as second choice (Green, Lib Dem and perhaps BNP/Independent) whilst Boris would only really attract one group of second choice voters UKIP.

 

[jon0844]

I vote(d) by post and it's incredibly easy, to the point where I can't ever see myself wanting to be forced to take time out to go to a polling station (I did miss voting one year because I was stuck in traffic getting back to London from Birmingham).

I suppose voting online is the way forward, perhaps with a mobile-friendly website or app that would get young people to vote. Even voting by post requires going to a post box and I am sure the younger generation of voters are unaware of what a post box looks like!

 

[Schnellzug]

Nothing wrong with First Past the Post. He who gets the most votes, wins. Very simple.

.

I do think, though, there ought to be a minimum threshold for the number of votes to count. Was it really fair that mr. Tony Blair reigned over us on the choice of just 35% of the Electorate? 50% would be logical, but I doubt that anyone would have been elected in any recent election if that had applied. Still, if it did, maybe it might concentrate the Politicians' minds and ake them wonder why so few people liked or cared about them.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Turnout was worryingly low across the board but what can be done?

Well, I don't see it as worrying, I see it as very encouraging, since it shows very clearly (the Politicians can't just go on blaming Apathy) that people are thoroughly fed up with the choices of Conservative or Slightly Watered Down Conservative.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I do think, though, there ought to be a minimum threshold for the number of votes to count. Was it really fair that mr. Tony Blair reigned over us on the choice of just 35% of the Electorate? 50% would be logical, but I doubt that anyone would have been elected in any recent election if that had applied. Still, if it did, maybe it might concentrate the Politicians' minds and ake them wonder why so few people liked or cared about them.

I suppose it depends if you wish to have a similar system to that used in Northern Ireland, with transferable votes, as a way of being governed by a more representative governing body.

 

[Zoe]

Only 1.5% difference between the candidates, I would like to see you park a Boris Bus in that!

The totals show Boris Johnson ahead by 4 percent after the first preference and just over 3 percent ahead after second preference votes have been added. Nowhere do I see it as low as 1.5 percent.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The totals show Boris Johnson ahead by 4 percent after the first preference and just over 3 percent ahead after second preference votes have been added. Nowhere do I see it as low as 1.5 percent.

I also made the comment of the final figure being 3 per cent in the other concurrently running thread on this subject.

 

[ainsworth74]

50% would be logical, but I doubt that anyone would have been elected in any recent election if that had applied.

You would be correct the last government to win 50% of the popular vote was Stanley Baldwin's in 1931 when they won 55% of the popular vote (in fact only two governments in around the last hundred years have got 50% or more the other being in 1900). Most UK governments are formed off the back of about 38-48% of the popular vote.

 

[Oswyntail]

..... Was it really fair that mr. Tony Blair reigned over us on the choice of just 35% of the Electorate?

He didn't. The Queen reigns....T. Blair "governed"

50% would be logical, but I doubt that anyone would have been elected in any recent election if that had applied.

Often suggested but in Parliament that would make things worse. As the STV in London shows, the effect of a 50% threshold is to eliminate smaller parties and hence differing points of view. Me, I'm all for more coalitions!

...are thoroughly fed up with the choices of Conservative or Slightly Watered Down Conservative.

Yes and no. What New Labour achieved was not to adopt Conservatism but to imitate it rather poorly, not really understanding what it is about. Fair enough in government, because it is what most people actually want anyway (let's discuss what true Conservatism is elsewhere!). But this has left them adrift in opposition as they have no real intellectual base for what they are saying. Look at the recent Commons debates on eg Health and you will see that "opposition" seems to mean simply shouting "this is rubbish" rather than arguing their point. IMHO the effect of 13 years of intellectual vacuum at the heart of government is what has disillusioned voters. Only when Labour stop taking the Punch and Judy approach will the public start taking an interest again.

 

[SS4]

you will see that "opposition" seems to mean simply shouting "this is rubbish" rather than arguing their point.

I'm sure that has been going on for decades across all parties. It's a shame because I'd like to see our politicians work for the good of country instead of for the party whip.

That and the Lib Dems to grow a spine and stand up for themselves.