2023 UK Local Elections

[CumbrianLefty]

I feel like virtually every local election I've followed has had the 'Tories will lose 1000 councillors’ briefed and then included in headlines.

Except that their losing 1000 seats isn't actually totally implausible, especially if both Labour and the LibDems do better in their target areas (as happened to a fair degree last year)

Not saying it will happen, of course - but if Tories really are as complacent as the latest client hacks briefings suggest (apparently Sunak hopes to make net gains FFS!) don't rule it out either.

[Blair]

People are moaning that Labour are talking about the NHS and say they should focus on ‘local issues that councils control’- yet these are the same people who would ofc criticise anything vaguely radical at a local level and attack it as wasteful.

[icc]

People are moaning that Labour are talking about the NHS and say they should focus on ‘local issues that councils control’- yet these are the same people who would ofc criticise anything vaguely radical at a local level and attack it as wasteful.

Well it's better than their campaign launch, when they were talking about how Labour councils weren't going to freeze council tax, a future Labour government wouldn't fund a freeze to council tax, but in a parallel universe where Labour was in power there would be a freeze in council tax.

[JimJamUK]

People are moaning that Labour are talking about the NHS and say they should focus on ‘local issues that councils control’- yet these are the same people who would ofc criticise anything vaguely radical at a local level and attack it as wasteful.

You cannot run a national local elections campaign based on local issues. I don’t know what to say to the people who are advocating this.

[Duke of York]

People are moaning that Labour are talking about the NHS and say they should focus on ‘local issues that councils control’- yet these are the same people who would ofc criticise anything vaguely radical at a local level and attack it as wasteful.

You cannot run a national local elections campaign based on local issues. I don’t know what to say to the people who are advocating this.

Why not? Why focus on things a local council has no control over?

[JimJamUK]

People are moaning that Labour are talking about the NHS and say they should focus on ‘local issues that councils control’- yet these are the same people who would ofc criticise anything vaguely radical at a local level and attack it as wasteful.

You cannot run a national local elections campaign based on local issues. I don’t know what to say to the people who are advocating this.

Why not? Why focus on things a local council has no control over?

Because local councils have very little actual power, and that which they do have is not necessarily on issues where there is universal agreement between the national Labour Party and every single local council/candidate. You cannot promise anything on council tax given some councils face serious financial pressure while others are never going to elect Labour so they could promise anything. You cannot propose doing something on housing given some Labour councils will be overseeing significant housing developments while other local parties will be campaigning strongly on the need to stop them. You cannot promise to fund x service more when individual councils all have their own priorities and considerations to take into account.

Basically, it would be a campaign with little substantive to say and would be immediately contradicted by a load of Labour councils and local parties if anything concrete was announced. 

[Blair]

They’re largely powerless and have to follow strict rules where they do have powers (see planning and social services spending) Unlike other nations they don’t have control over education or policing.


On another note It should be compulsory for everyone in U.K. politics to talk to a truly normal person (no not your parents who subscribe to the Times) about local government- most people don’t know the difference between their directly elected ward councillors and the local council, let alone the bizarre way that council tax is increased, or how planning law works- you often see people referring to powers local councils haven’t had for decades! (E.g building control)

I commented on the other U.K. page but it seems very much like moving around armies than don’t exist when both parties talk about local councils- we have at least 3(?) who are bankrupt and several others that would be classed as failed states if they were countries.

[JimJamUK]

On another note It should be compulsory for everyone in U.K. politics to talk to a truly normal person (no not your parents who subscribe to the Times) about local government- most people don’t know the difference between their directly elected ward councillors and the local council, let alone the bizarre way that council tax is increased, or how planning law works- you often see people referring to powers local councils haven’t had for decades! (E.g building control)

Yep, and don’t even bother asking people the difference between their district and county council, you’re not going to get a reassuring answer.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I commented on the other U.K. page but it seems very much like moving around armies than don’t exist when both parties talk about local councils- we have at least 3(?) who are bankrupt and several others that would be classed as failed states if they were countries.

Yes, local government in the form that we all grew up knowing simply doesn't exist now. There used to be such things as popular local administrations - imagine that now!

[JimJamUK]

For our international posters, it’s worth mentioning that voter ID is being rolled out across England for the first time this election. A non-negligible share of voters don’t appear to know this and/or will not bring an eligible form of ID to the polling station, so expect a bit of a car crash on election day followed by harsh criticism afterwards from some quarters. The partisan impact is unclear, Labour leaning working class voters are less likely to have ID, but so are very Conservative leaning pensioners, so who knows. If a significant number of in-person voters are disenfranchised, then the Conservative leaning and already relatively high turnout postal voters could make an important difference on the margins.

[afleitch]

For our international posters, it’s worth mentioning that voter ID is being rolled out across England for the first time this election. A non-negligible share of voters don’t appear to know this and/or will not bring an eligible form of ID to the polling station, so expect a bit of a car crash on election day followed by harsh criticism afterwards from some quarters. The partisan impact is unclear, Labour leaning working class voters are less likely to have ID, but so are very Conservative leaning pensioners, so who knows. If a significant number of in-person voters are disenfranchised, then the Conservative leaning and already relatively high turnout postal voters could make an important difference on the margins.

Even if it makes little difference to the results if the 'bloodbath' fails to materialise for other reasons, such as recent poll tightening, then it's easy fodder for opposition parties to attack the Tories over the ID requirement.

[CumbrianLefty]

I commented on the other U.K. page but it seems very much like moving around armies than don’t exist when both parties talk about local councils- we have at least 3(?) who are bankrupt and several others that would be classed as failed states if they were countries.

Yes, local government in the form that we all grew up knowing simply doesn't exist now. There used to be such things as popular local administrations - imagine that now!

Amazingly, there are still a few to be found here and there.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

So, what are the top 10 worst councils in Britain at the moment?

[CumbrianLefty]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

[Oryxslayer]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

[Oryxslayer]

They’re largely powerless and have to follow strict rules where they do have powers (see planning and social services spending) Unlike other nations they don’t have control over education or policing.


On another note It should be compulsory for everyone in U.K. politics to talk to a truly normal person (no not your parents who subscribe to the Times) about local government- most people don’t know the difference between their directly elected ward councillors and the local council, let alone the bizarre way that council tax is increased, or how planning law works- you often see people referring to powers local councils haven’t had for decades! (E.g building control)

I commented on the other U.K. page but it seems very much like moving around armies than don’t exist when both parties talk about local councils- we have at least 3(?) who are bankrupt and several others that would be classed as failed states if they were countries.

This type of comment seemingly always appears - rightly - in these council threads every year. Heck, every BBC peice I have found on the topic ends with a bit about why these elections are 'important.'

Which is why, deep down, the best purpose of the local elections these days is as a barometer of the national mood. Obviously there are caveats like localists, independents, and lib dems all doing much better than in a GE. But at the end of the day a voter is still likely to conflate the national party brand with the local one, and so will vote according to their national feelings - unless the council does something really good or more often really bad to get their undivided attention.

[CumbrianLefty]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

Most people still seem to be expecting a Labour majority, though. This is one place where memories of the LibDem coalition years are likely to last longer than average - and thus a drag on their support.

[Oryxslayer]

Also, another council that has problems right now is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. There's a lot there concerning a bunch of different things when it comes to mismanagement and shady tactics by the Tories. Of course the opposition there is in no way unified and the results are probably going to be a collage of factions forced together by circumstances.

[icc]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

Most people still seem to be expecting a Labour majority, though. This is one place where memories of the LibDem coalition years are likely to last longer than average - and thus a drag on their support.

And, of course, those councils which have little prospect of kicking out the incumbents due to national factors are often the very worst. At the moment that has tended to mean some of the big Labour Mets or London Boroughs (Sunderland, Barnsley, Enfield spring to mind). Liverpool is probably hard to beat at the moment though (and has had issues with pretty shameless corruption, such as Labour councillors having parking fines 'let go').

A similar example on the other side of the aisle would have been Cotswold, though that did eventually catch up with the Tories in 2019 when they lost it to the Lib Dems. Shropshire (not up this year) may be another example on the Conservative side?

Croydon seems to have transitioned seamlessly from being an incredibly unpopular Labour council to an incredibly unpopular Conservative council.

[YL]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

One thing about that new Liverpool ward map is that it was drawn based on an electorate forecast for 2027 which assumed massive electorate growth in the city centre.  So some of the new wards were drawn very small, and appear to still be so: the single member Waterfront North, in particular, appears to have an electorate under 1000, which with usual local election turnout in areas with a transient population might mean there's a chance that the winning candidate could get under 100 votes, and quite likely under 200.  (The typical electorate for a single member ward across the city is around 4000.)

[YL]

Speaking of Liverpool, a bit of unpleasantness in Garston.

(Cllr Gorst was elected as a Labour councillor in 2019, but is now standing for the Liverpool Community Independents, who describe themselves as "a new group of independent socialists".)

[MaxQue]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

Most people still seem to be expecting a Labour majority, though. This is one place where memories of the LibDem coalition years are likely to last longer than average - and thus a drag on their support.

Also, memories of the very impopular (at the end) LD administration of the 00's.

[EastAnglianLefty]

At the moment, maybe hard to beat Plymouth which has descended into chaos after some especially vicious internal Tory warfare.

Also trees. Cause it's always trees when the council is collapsing.  

Also on the wider point, liverpool are still under oversight from the appointed managers. Heck,  the new ward map that's going to be used this year was imposed by them,  and since it's basically all SMDs and 2MDs things could get interesting if voters want a change from local labour.

Most people still seem to be expecting a Labour majority, though. This is one place where memories of the LibDem coalition years are likely to last longer than average - and thus a drag on their support.

And, of course, those councils which have little prospect of kicking out the incumbents due to national factors are often the very worst. At the moment that has tended to mean some of the big Labour Mets or London Boroughs (Sunderland, Barnsley, Enfield spring to mind). Liverpool is probably hard to beat at the moment though (and has had issues with pretty shameless corruption, such as Labour councillors having parking fines 'let go').

A similar example on the other side of the aisle would have been Cotswold, though that did eventually catch up with the Tories in 2019 when they lost it to the Lib Dems. Shropshire (not up this year) may be another example on the Conservative side?

Croydon seems to have transitioned seamlessly from being an incredibly unpopular Labour council to an incredibly unpopular Conservative council.

There's also Thurrock, whose implosion is large even by the standards of UK council financial implosions.

[CumbrianLefty]

Speaking of Liverpool, a bit of unpleasantness in Garston.

(Cllr Gorst was elected as a Labour councillor in 2019, but is now standing for the Liverpool Community Independents, who describe themselves as "a new group of independent socialists".)

Apparently some LibDems aren't happy at this expression of unhappiness.

(basically, they think he deserves it and then some)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Another set of Problem Administrations are those where there's a rag-tag-and-bobtail coalition, often in place because the party that usually has a majority has lost it. Most end up being total trainwrecks within months for obvious reasons.