Shropshire

[Rural Radical]

May 5th was a bad day for the Labour party in Shropshire.

We lost Shrewsbury & Atcham (via the Lib Dems insisting that they could win) and The Wrekin (protest vote). In that we lost a good MP (Bradley) and someone who wouldve been a good MP (Ion). Shropshire North is now very safe for the Tories (due to anti war prorest).

At County Council level we lost control losing Members in Harlescott, Meole Brace and Market Drayton.

We lost our leader Roger Walker in Market Drayton who I personally like and respect . It seems that 24 yearsof service count for nothing with some people.

It wasnt all bad news  we gained Sutton & Reabrook and Weston Rhyn (I predicted both of these just not the other ones). We also won comfortably in all the other divisions especially Broseley.

The Lib Dems did well in the south of the county as expected although I thought that they would have won Bridgnorth East and did better in Church Stretton.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Isn't voting splitting a pain sometimes? Shropshire is case in point of why an Aussie style IRV in each seat is a good idea; nowadays it has a clear left of centre majority but due to vote splitting in Shrewsbury & Atcham and The Wrekin and corr[censored]pt prac[censored]es in Ludlow the Tories now hold all Westminster seats but Telford.

[Rural Radical]

Yes it is a pain I wonder why I live here sometimes. What is IRV system is it by listing the choice in order of preference until a candidate wins 50% PLUS 1 OF THE VOTE.

wITH Shropshire CC things will change when the realise how bad conservatives are at running councils. We will get low taxes as quoted by Malcolm Pate (NEW SCC leader) his priority is to keep council tax as low as possible. So Low taxs and really sh**tty services.

A unitary authority (inxcluding Telford) for Shropshire is the only way forward witha form of PR.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You mean like the STV councils in Northern Ireland? (and Scotland soon) Might be a good idea actually; the other alternative would be to reverse the changes of 30 years ago and bring back the old Rural District/Urban District system with all urban areas still in the County Council areas.

But, yes Shropshire County Council (one of the best run in the country before May 5th) is going to crash down the league tables so fast it'll leave a vapour trail.

[Rural Radical]

You are right about Shropshire CC. You have to pay a bit more tax to get good services. It is the poor in Shrewsbury, Oswestry all other towns that will pay for a Tory council.

Ithink that there wil BE A BIG SWING BACK TO lABOUR IN 4 YEARS TIME when people realise how loony the Lib dems policies are

With Shrewsbury and Wrekin being gains

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And when Gordon is P.M

True about the poor getting screwed; look at Bridgnorth DC, nice low council tax (wonderful news for all those rich racists who left Wolverhampton in the '70's), but poor services, meaning that Highley and the eastern half of Broseley (according to the last census two of the poorest parts of Shropshire) get sod all investment nowadays.

I hear there might be an attempt to get Broseley added to Telford & The Wrekin UA. Won't happen though.

[Platypus]

Shropshire? How wonderful. (Polkergeist will get it).

[minionofmidas]

You mean like the STV councils in Northern Ireland? (and Scotland soon) Might be a good idea actually; the other alternative would be to reverse the changes of 30 years ago and bring back the old Rural District/Urban District system with all urban areas still in the County Council areas.

Don't you mean the system introduced 30 years ago? Before then many cities were outside the County Council (though I don't know if that's true in Shropshire. Merthyr Tydfil was outside Glamorgan County, though.) After, they were inside until these Unitary Authorities started appearing (which are rather confusing...I'm not sure what the current local governance boundaries in GB currently are, actually.)

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[Filuwaúrdjan]

You mean like the STV councils in Northern Ireland? (and Scotland soon) Might be a good idea actually; the other alternative would be to reverse the changes of 30 years ago and bring back the old Rural District/Urban District system with all urban areas still in the County Council areas.

Don't you mean the system introduced 30 years ago? Before then many cities were outside the County Council (though I don't know if that's true in Shropshire. Merthyr Tydfil was outside Glamorgan County, though.) After, they were inside until these Unitary Authorities started appearing (which are rather confusing...I'm not sure what the current local governance boundaries in GB currently are, actually.)

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IIRC a couple of cities had been removed from the county council area (forget which ones) although IIRC it was more common in Wales and Scotland than England.

But the old system was, on reflection, much better. More local. More democratic.

A map of LA boundaries right now is on David Boothroyd's site (www.election.demon.co.uk) and boy are they insane.

[Rural Radical]

The tories were very very lucky in the Shropshire CC elections. They won the most seats that they could evwer possibly could win.

Some by vote splitting and small margins :

Harlescott : Majority 159 (Lib Dem Vote 303)
Meole Brace : Majority 310 (Lib Dem VOTE 677)
St Oswald : Majority 550 (Lab Vote 721)
Bridgnorth East : Majority 18 (Lab Vote 524)
Bridgnorth Rural : Majority 100 (Lab Vote 207)
Bridgnorth West : Majority 87 (Lab VOTE 501)

And by Labour not putting a 2nd candidate in the 2 member Oswestry seat.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Seeing as Labour and the LibDems were in a coalition together, why did they run candidates against each other?

[Rural Radical]

Seeing as Labour and the LibDems were in a coalition together, why did they run candidates against each other?

God Knows Why ?