Even more meltup
And still it goes on. Latest "awful" results spelling the end of the Labour Party (net changes):
Blaby - no change
Copeland - no change
Dudley - 2 Labour gains
Durham - 1 gain
Epping Forest - no change
Gloucester - 1 gain from Con (well done Lucy + Parmjit)
Ipswich - no change
Leeds - 3 gains
Luton - 5 gains and control of the council gained
Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 3 gains from LD
N Herts - 1 gain
N Wilts - no change
Penwith - no change
Redcar & Cleveland - 6 gains
Rossendale - 2 gains from Con
Slough - 1 gain from LD
Stroud - no change
Swindon - 1 gain
Watford - 1 gain
York - 3 gains from LD
Message to David Cameron: you can't take Eastwood - until 1997 the safest Tory seat in Scotland. You can't take the Vale of Glamorgan - held by a Tory MP until 1997.
In area after area that includes parliamentary marginals Labour made net gains: Gloucester, the Elmet bit of Leeds, Luton (2 marginals), Newcastle, Slough, Stroud, Swindon, Watford, Thurrock, Calderdale, Bolton (2 marginals), Bristol, Great Yarmouth, Harlow.
In loads of others the best you could do was to gain 1 solitary council seat.
You've made great strides in the greener bits of the home counties but keep wittering on about South Ribble because it's virtually the only place north of Watford you did well in.
Doesn't that tell you something?
posted by Luke Akehurst at 4:50 pm
12 Comments:
what about scotland you daft prick?
6:55 pm, May 04, 2007
Labour now minus 468 councillors.
Doesn't that tell you something?
8:06 pm, May 04, 2007
Why is no one mentioning turn out? I've been scouring 'news' websites and I can't see any info on how many people actually voted. Is it just me or doesn't turnout help to put results in to contecxt?
9:11 pm, May 04, 2007
Anonymous do you mean Scotland where Labour only lost 4 seats and our vote was only down 2.5%?
Conway - you can find turnout by ward on some council websites but I've not seen a national figger yet.
9:23 pm, May 04, 2007
Also it seems to me that in terms of percentages everyone stayed as they were last time despite the obvious swing to the Conservatives.
So few people votes in local council elections that just a few votes can have a dramatic effect. Talking about the number of seats is pretty irrelevant.
I've got no doubt that Luke is trying to make things look better than they actually are for Labour but things are never as simple as they seem at first glance
9:24 pm, May 04, 2007
Apologies for stange spelling. I meant "figure".
The number of seats is relevant as it is the result - i.e. the point in electoral politics is to obtain elected office so you can implement your beliefs.
Of course I am trying to show the positive side of the results for Labour but all I've done is list bits of the actual results.
11:20 pm, May 04, 2007
The South Ribble result was largely due to local people's fears of Preston City Council's aggressively expansionist policies, aiming 'to build all over South Ribble' and to put an environmentally unsound Barrage across the River Ribble.
The previous South Ribble council had wanted to become a Unitary Authority with this crowd of developer-friendly megalomaniacs, and had given their support to these crazy plans. Naturally the locals voted them out when the Tories saw an opportunity and filled their leaflets with pledges to defend the green belt.
For more information see the 'Save The Ribble' blog.
12:21 am, May 05, 2007
"South Ribble because it's virtually the only place north of Watford you did well in."
the tories seem to go on and on about Bury too. But if you look at the result, you can see that they failed to win wards that they won last year.
9:06 am, May 05, 2007
I'm all for being upbeat - certainly these results don't show any great enthusiasm for the Tories nor do they give them a very stable platform to build a general election campaign - but we shouldn't forget that about 500 Labour councillors, AMs and MSPs have lost their seats and face an uphill climb to get them back.
It’s Keith rather than Lucy now in Gloucester although she did come back for this campaign. The Matson result is largely thanks to Kate, Jan, Mary and Steve; especially the steady work the latter two have put into contact, case-work, voter id and postal votes over the last several years. There are lessons there for anyone who wants to turn a tricky apathetic marginal ward into a fairly reliable Labour one. Persistence and well directed slog seem to be two of the keys...
10:16 am, May 05, 2007
Brian
I mentioned Lucy because she works in my office now and took a day off to go back to Gloucester.
11:01 am, May 05, 2007
Great news about Redcar - onlyone short of majority(hopefullythey can finda willing independent to make up the numbers)
11:16 am, May 05, 2007
Ah - please give Lucy a gentle hug from Uncle Brian then Luke. It was good to meet up with her in Barton a couple of Saturdays back - ask her about the disgraceful tactics of the Lib Dem in that ward if you want confirmation that they'll do anything for a few votes (but they lost by 199 - hooray for Harjit)...
2:35 pm, May 05, 2007
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