So, tonight is the first chance for the UK to respond the the coalition government. I'm thoroughly looking forward to watching the Liberal Democrats get wiped off of the map. Anyone else going to be staying up watching it or just me?
Local elections should not be about party politics. The party of a candidate in local elections is irrelevant, you should be voting for the individual that you feel can best enact the changes you wish to see to the place in which you live, and best represents your own views. You are not voting on national issues - local councillors have no bearing what so ever on parliament and/or national issues. National issues are why you vote for an MP. Again most people fall into the trap of just voting with the latest media fad. The electoral system in this country is plain awful - Thatcherism just turned them into giant media competitions. All that said - lets not pretend for a second that local councillors are in anyway shape of form employed by either borough/district councils or county councils...and thus they have no actual influence over the areas which your council controls. Councillors are almost entirely ceremonial positions.
Ed Davey (Lib Dem Energy Secretary) in anticipation of a disastrous night has stated "We've waited for mid term blues for 90s years". Lib Dem support crashed from 24% in 2010 to 9% in this evening's You Gov poll, equal with UKIP. Sadly it seems as though the new alternative vote is right wing, it's almost as though the only voting option these days is slightly right and righter.
That's exactly the same as national politics though, yours is a nice idea but for the majority of the electorate it doesn't exist. People (generally) vote for a party, not for a Councillor/MP. In any case, one would expect members of a political party to adhere to (or at least believe in and try to implement) the manifesto of the party that they are in, be it at national or local level. That's an ideology that people can easily relate to. If elections were about who was going to do the best job for the local populace then the majority would be independents.
True most people do vote for a party - doesn't make it right though. People should educate themselves on who they are actually voting for, rather than voting for a colour or a misunderstood ideal. If people voted for people, then we wouldn't have such a disbondant electorate that felt like their vote didn't count (because if you expect a local councillor to be able to influence national issues, then your right, your vote doesn't count!) The vast majority of people actually have no idea what a local councillor does, and have very little knowledge of how their parish council relates to their borough council, and in turn how that relates to their county council. The vast majority of financial waste in the public sector is in fact usually created by self serving county councils trying to under-cut and price-out borough councils. Also borough councils are usually so busy tending for contracts against one another that they don't band together to fight their county council. The entire system is ridiculous, there's not even a viable need for councillors and councils to exist at county level.
On the first point I couldn't agree more. The issue is the electorate, not the system. In terms of local government, well, I've worked in it for the last three months and frankly, I've never seen so much waste in my entire life.
What an absolute disgrace. Honestly, we're so apathetic in this country we deserve everything we get.
Exactly - now if we could actually vote for service managers and the chief executive of our councils (the people that actually control things locally), then I'd be voting. Why would I vote for a local councillor? They have no power or influence over either local or national policy.
I don't know, I think it's more of a statement than anything. Local election results definitely have the ability to change policy on a national level. Hell, if the results were that bad for the Lib Dems it could've brought down the government (Granted, imagining a breakup of the Lib Dem party and thus, the coalition). EDIT: Good God... Question time would be good if it weren't for most of the audience.
Question time would be good if they were allowed to ask their own questions (as opposed to pre-approved questions) A real statement would be if Joe Public actually utilised their power to challenge public services. A power introduced by the coalition government that essentially says anybody can make a formal challenge to run any public service (inclusive of their local council). Making such a challenge triggers that service going out to tender....at which point a massive private sector service undercuts Joe Public and....oh wait that's privatisation of public services via a sneaky means...clever. But on the bright side we have the big society bank...which lends charities money until they have to pay it back from their profits...which means charities have to make profits....which means they have to become social enterprises...which means...yup... privatisation....again how they make terrible things people hate sound like fluffy and friendly socialist ideas.
Haha, it's the big society darling! I look forward to bowing down to my new fuhrers, Serco, G4S and Virgin!
Can't believe how many people have voted Labour back in. They must have amnesia or brain dead or both My local election had Lib/Lab/Con and they're all weak and a disgrace so I voted for a party I've never heard of.
Amnesia regarding what? While you shouldn't vote on party lines, if you do, it's pretty obvious the Conservative government appealed to working glass voters in the general election only to have screwed them at every turn since. The tactic invented by, and openly utilised by Thatcherism. It's just unfortunate that at the last general election people were tricked into thinking the only simple rule of the current 2 party system no longer applied. Vote Conserative if you are a top 10% earner Vote Labour if you aren't Unfortunately for the Toris, people are looking at the only noticable changes to the systme they have implemented, and they are only seeing benefits for the rich: Mass privatisation, top rate tax cuts, corporate tax cuts, cutting of pensions, use of pension funds, and the culling of charities. And you can't work out why everyone has realised the age old two party rule is still in effect! It really is and always has been that simple.
What's wrong with cutting corporation tax? One of the very few sensible things this government is doing...
I lasted to just after midnight then decided to view the lot online instead, if there wasn't going to be a Mayoral result until tonight. Not being a student I don't have any axe to grind with the Lib Dems, Paddick was my second choice, I've always voted for Ken as he is effectively, the protest vote in London where Boris is safe. Despite voting for him it's sad that Ken probably won't win [EDIT - Happy to be proved wrong] as like Gordon Brown he's an unspun politician and in another 4 years it'll be another media smoothie robot up for election vs whoever the Tories pick. He did fall into the trap of letting it all become about bloody taxes like I give a toss, if they're all paid out of everyone else's taxes anyway. For the Assembly, stuck with Lib Dem and for the Constituency seat, went with the Greens for the first time ever. No council elections in London to comment. I will say that I'm glad the BNP lost heavily - they'd be scarier if they knew what they were doing - but this low English turnout hacks me off, time to adopt the Aussie system but for local elections, bar non-voters without a good reason from services rather than the fine they issue for missing general elections.
