2023 UK Local Elections

[JimJamUK]

It has been noted that two people kicked out of Labour for AS got elected for other parties - for the Greens in Wirral and the Tories in Stockton.

Or the charges were trumped up enough to be obvious to voters? Now that Corbyn is gone we no longer need to pussyfoot about the real target of that campaign.

The Stockton councillor shared an article claiming that ISIS was secretly allied with Israel, shared an InfoWars link claiming the leader of ISIS was an Israeli agent, and seems thoroughly obsessed with ‘zionists’.

[Alcibiades]

btw what's with the original Liberal Party so well in Tuebrook and that area? One wouldn't think Liverpool West Derby to be the bastion of British Liberalism. Why are the locals so infatuated with a dying brand?

These people have no claim to the Liberal Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George. It's just a small rightwing personal vehicle of Steve Radford.

Is he that right-wing?  He once stood for the European Parliament as part of a hard left slate ("No2EU").

Tbf, I think that was just a slate for all manner of anti-EU cranks who for whatever reason didn’t fit in UKIP.

[Oryxslayer]

It has been noted that two people kicked out of Labour for AS got elected for other parties - for the Greens in Wirral and the Tories in Stockton.

Or the charges were trumped up enough to be obvious to voters? Now that Corbyn is gone we no longer need to pussyfoot about the real target of that campaign.

The Stockton councillor shared an article claiming that ISIS was secretly allied with Israel, shared an InfoWars link claiming the leader of ISIS was an Israeli agent, and seems thoroughly obsessed with ‘zionists’.

Thankfully the Wirral one, Jo Bird, was far less of a piece of work than the Stockton one. She just got kicked out for being a member of a proscribed political organization outside Labour rather than racism and fake news. And she seemingly was locally popular: The New Stateman visited Wirral two weeks before the vote and nobody they talked to reported anything negative. They additionally described her ward as being 'covered' in green signs when they drove through, something that actually means something when the contest is low-turnout and not national in scope.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

btw what's with the original Liberal Party so well in Tuebrook and that area? One wouldn't think Liverpool West Derby to be the bastion of British Liberalism. Why are the locals so infatuated with a dying brand?

These people have no claim to the Liberal Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George. It's just a small rightwing personal vehicle of Steve Radford.

Is he that right-wing?  He once stood for the European Parliament as part of a hard left slate ("No2EU").

Tbf, I think that was just a slate for all manner of anti-EU cranks who for whatever reason didn’t fit in UKIP.

I remember UKIP's trans MEP joined it.

[YL]

btw what's with the original Liberal Party so well in Tuebrook and that area? One wouldn't think Liverpool West Derby to be the bastion of British Liberalism. Why are the locals so infatuated with a dying brand?

These people have no claim to the Liberal Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George. It's just a small rightwing personal vehicle of Steve Radford.

Is he that right-wing?  He once stood for the European Parliament as part of a hard left slate ("No2EU").

Tbf, I think that was just a slate for all manner of anti-EU cranks who for whatever reason didn’t fit in UKIP.

I remember UKIP's trans MEP joined it.

That was another one, "We Demand A Referendum Now".  No2EU was associated with Bob Crow and the RMT union, and supported by various hard left outfits (overlapping heavily with TUSC), but in 2009 it also included the 1989 Liberals, with Radford as a candidate in the North West region.

Speaking of the 1989 Liberals, here's last week's result for Honiton St Michael's ward (East Devon council):

Jenny Brown (Con) 708 elected
Violet Bonetta (Lab) 598 elected
Roy Collins (1989 Lib) 534 elected
Brice Cornelius (Con) 531
Paul Carter (Con) 508
Joanne Fotheringham (Ind) 477
Nicholas Ingham (Ind) 419

Note that there was no Lib Dem candidate, somewhat surprisingly given that this ward is in a Lib Dem held constituency.  I wonder how many of those 534 voters realised which party he represented.

[CumbrianLefty]

And we have had two more terrific takes on these elections from Tory clients recently - firstly William Hague (who really should know better tbh) telling us that his Tory party was 8-9 points ahead in the 2000 local council elections, and this proves Starmer is doomed. But even that effort was made to look tame by a genuine galaxy brained effort from ex-Scottish Labour MP Tom Harris - now earning his living by grifting for the loony right Barclaygraph - who told us that RISHI SUNAK WAS THE REAL WINNER OF THESE ELECTIONS. Which makes the Corbynite "we won the argument" classic after the last GE look positively sane and rational in comparison.

Again, can they actually believe this stuff?

Because if they *do*, total wipeout may yet beckon.

[Torrain]

Tom Harris, at the very least, seems to have entered "tell them what they want to hear" mode.
His articles about Scottish politics read as catnip for jumpy unionists (and that's coming from someone who arguably falls into that category, albeit several decades younger than the intended audience) - and this seems no different.

[warandwar]

It has been noted that two people kicked out of Labour for AS got elected for other parties - for the Greens in Wirral and the Tories in Stockton.

Or the charges were trumped up enough to be obvious to voters? Now that Corbyn is gone we no longer need to pussyfoot about the real target of that campaign.

The Stockton councillor shared an article claiming that ISIS was secretly allied with Israel, shared an InfoWars link claiming the leader of ISIS was an Israeli agent, and seems thoroughly obsessed with ‘zionists’.

Thankfully the Wirral one, Jo Bird, was far less of a piece of work than the Stockton one. She just got kicked out for being a member of a proscribed political organization outside Labour rather than racism and fake news. And she seemingly was locally popular: The New Stateman visited Wirral two weeks before the vote and nobody they talked to reported anything negative. They additionally described her ward as being 'covered' in green signs when they drove through, something that actually means something when the contest is low-turnout and not national in scope.

She also is jewish, fwiw.

[Tintrlvr]

btw what's with the original Liberal Party so well in Tuebrook and that area? One wouldn't think Liverpool West Derby to be the bastion of British Liberalism. Why are the locals so infatuated with a dying brand?

These people have no claim to the Liberal Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George. It's just a small rightwing personal vehicle of Steve Radford.

Is he that right-wing?  He once stood for the European Parliament as part of a hard left slate ("No2EU").

Tbf, I think that was just a slate for all manner of anti-EU cranks who for whatever reason didn’t fit in UKIP.

I remember UKIP's trans MEP joined it.

That was another one, "We Demand A Referendum Now".  No2EU was associated with Bob Crow and the RMT union, and supported by various hard left outfits (overlapping heavily with TUSC), but in 2009 it also included the 1989 Liberals, with Radford as a candidate in the North West region.

Radford isn't particularly hard left, though. He'd fit pretty neatly into the left wing of the Liberal Democrats if he weren't strongly anti-EU, or similarly into parts of Labour. But he's also just an anti-establishment (which usually means anti-Labour) institution in Liverpool.

[YL]

Britain Elects map of all wards up last week

NB there are a few mistakes (contact Ben Walker if you spot any!) and multi-member wards are shown with only one winner even when split.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ault Hucknall (Bolsover district) is an error: it elected three Labour councillors.

[MaxQue]

btw what's with the original Liberal Party so well in Tuebrook and that area? One wouldn't think Liverpool West Derby to be the bastion of British Liberalism. Why are the locals so infatuated with a dying brand?

These people have no claim to the Liberal Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George. It's just a small rightwing personal vehicle of Steve Radford.

Is he that right-wing?  He once stood for the European Parliament as part of a hard left slate ("No2EU").

Tbf, I think that was just a slate for all manner of anti-EU cranks who for whatever reason didn’t fit in UKIP.

I remember UKIP's trans MEP joined it.

That was another one, "We Demand A Referendum Now".  No2EU was associated with Bob Crow and the RMT union, and supported by various hard left outfits (overlapping heavily with TUSC), but in 2009 it also included the 1989 Liberals, with Radford as a candidate in the North West region.

Speaking of the 1989 Liberals, here's last week's result for Honiton St Michael's ward (East Devon council):

Jenny Brown (Con) 708 elected
Violet Bonetta (Lab) 598 elected
Roy Collins (1989 Lib) 534 elected
Brice Cornelius (Con) 531
Paul Carter (Con) 508
Joanne Fotheringham (Ind) 477
Nicholas Ingham (Ind) 419

Note that there was no Lib Dem candidate, somewhat surprisingly given that this ward is in a Lib Dem held constituency.  I wonder how many of those 534 voters realised which party he represented.

That post also nicely links with the previous in another, Violet Bonetta being one of the few openly trans councillor in UK, too.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Honestly tracks that it would be somewhere like Honiton.

[CumbrianLefty]

It has been noted that two people kicked out of Labour for AS got elected for other parties - for the Greens in Wirral and the Tories in Stockton.

Or the charges were trumped up enough to be obvious to voters? Now that Corbyn is gone we no longer need to pussyfoot about the real target of that campaign.

The Stockton councillor shared an article claiming that ISIS was secretly allied with Israel, shared an InfoWars link claiming the leader of ISIS was an Israeli agent, and seems thoroughly obsessed with ‘zionists’.

Said person has now been suspended by the Tories.

As has a Bury councillor re-elected for them last week (AS related stuff again)

[JimJamUK]

Interesting graph comparing this years locals to 2015. There’s no real correlation between the Leave vote and Labour’s increase, but the Tory vote is clearly correlated, with it static in the strongest Leave areas but steadily collapsing the fewer Leave voters there are. To a large extent, this is basically what happens when there is a large swing from Conservative to Labour but most of the UKIP vote has gone back to the Conservatives.

https://twitter.com/robfordmancs/status/1657023789379592196?s=61&t=I1DE8_cg7...

[CumbrianLefty]

Britain Elects map of all wards up last week

NB there are a few mistakes (contact Ben Walker if you spot any!) and multi-member wards are shown with only one winner even when split.

Elected as a Labour councillor in Chester at these elections.

[Epaminondas]

Stragglers in Northern Ireland are voting for the UK local elections today, after a fortnight of recovering from the coronation hangover one way or another.

The stakes may seem low (and indeed it seems largely ignored in the papers), however we could see the DUP kicked in the teeth again and send fewer councillors than Sinn Féin for the first time in history.
This would reveal their do-nothing policy in Stormont is an electoral loser for the first time since they started the gridlock over 12 months ago.

[JimJamUK]

Turnout looks to be up a bit in Northern Ireland so far.

[JimJamUK]

Again, still early, but the first few wards reporting 1st preferences look to be very good for Sinn Fein, good for Alliance, bad for the SDLP, and very bad for the DUP and UUP.

[YL]

Again, still early, but the first few wards reporting 1st preferences look to be very good for Sinn Fein, good for Alliance, bad for the SDLP, and very bad for the DUP and UUP.

That might even be an understatement regarding SF.

[Epaminondas]

Shinners nearing a gain of 10 points across the board.

Just like the 2020 general election in Ireland, their surge may have caught them surprise - in several wards, all SF candidates were elected on the first count, missing out on a possible extra seat.

[Epaminondas]

What happens to a second preference vote going to an already elected candidate?

Is the whole ballot discarded (on the basis that a the voter should be satisfied) or is the third preference considered (on the basis that the vote has still made no difference?)

[Epaminondas]

Just like the 2020 general election in Ireland, the SF surge may have caught them surprise - in several wards, all their candidates were elected on the first count, missing out on a possible extra seat.

Case in point in Black Mountain ward in Belfast: SF held 6 of 7 seats with 60% in 2019, ran the same 6, and today obtained 73% (!), enough for a full slate if transfers are ordinary.

https://twitter.com/Ireland_Votes2/status/1659558082635087872?cxt=HHwWgIC--ZHS94cuAAAA

[MaxQue]

What happens to a second preference vote going to an already elected candidate?

Is the whole ballot discarded (on the basis that a the voter should be satisfied) or is the third preference considered (on the basis that the vote has still made no difference?)

The latter.

[EastAnglianLefty]

These results look very bad for the SDLP - the only thing saving them from obliteration in much of the west is SF under-nomination. Not bad for the Alliance but some way short of expectations, and whilst they'll make gains around Belfast they might actually lose seats in the west. The DUP have in many places held up fairly well, whilst the UUP are getting a shellacking.