A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Council By-election Results

Last night's council by-election results:

Ballochmyle Ward, East Ayrshire UA. Lab hold. First prefs: Lab 1598 (47.9%, -3.7), SNP 1129 (33.8%, +3.8), Con 273 (8.2%, -1), Solidarity 243 (7.3%, +7.3), LD 93 (2.8%, +2.8). Swing of 3.8% from Lab to SNP since 2007.

Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary Ward, Fenland DC. Con hold. Con 512 (50.1%, -11.7), LD 208 (20.4%, +17.1), Lab 190 (18.6%, +0.3), Green 111 (10.9%, +10.9). Swing of 14.4% from Con to LD since April 2008 by-election.

Northwood Ward, LB Hillingdon. Con hold. Con 1216 (64.4%, -1.1), LD 466 (24.7%, +3.8), Lab 116 (6.1%, +6.1), Green 66 (3.5%, +3.5), NF 25 (1.3%, +1.3). Swing of 2.5% from Con to LD since 2006.

Clipstone Ward, Newark & Sherwood DC. Lab gain from Ind. Lab 326 (43.4%, +7.3), LD 216 (28.8%, +28.8), Ind 157 (20.9%, -22.3), Con 52 (6.9%, -13.8). Swing of 10.8% from Lab to LD since 2007.

Kilbirnie & Beith Ward, North Ayrshire UA. SNP hold. First prefs: SNP 1363 (48.9%, +25.5), Lab 939 (33.7%, -4.4), Con 322 (11.6%, +1.7), LD 94 (3.4%, +0.1), Soc Lab 68 (2.4%, +2.4). Swing of 15% from Lab to SNP since 2007 due to several independent candidates not being in the field this time.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clipstone is a Lab gain
Lab 326 LD 216 Ind 157 Con 52
turnout: 22.87%

11:22 am, December 12, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

apathy wins again i think we should make voting in elections compulsory like it is in australia then we really would live in a democracy instead of this democratic dictatorship we live in today also proportional representation so everyone can have a voice in parliament i vote green party but they have no chance of representation in the house of treason so i and millions of others are not represented there yet when the west was busy setting up democracy in iraq and afghanistan they used the PR system so as to include all sections of the community if its good enough for them why is it not good enough for us in brittain

11:50 am, December 12, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SNP gain in North Ayrshire.
Labour bounce in Scotland already finished?

Labour candidate in NA was Gordon McKay who stood in some internal Labour elections in the last few years IIRC for the left slate.
Labour candiate in EA was a former Tory millionare (he's still a millionare, but not a Tory. I think).

12:30 pm, December 12, 2008

 
Blogger Ravi Gopaul said...

Interesting results, but I have a question relating to London.

As you know me and the missus popped down to the big smoke to watch Barry Manilow at the O2(Mike you were right it was excellent, although the first half was entirely Bobby Davro?!).

Our train stopped off at London Marylebone station and we needed to get to East India (on the DLR), so I thought we would go native and take "The Tube" to Bank in order to catch the DLR. Unfortunely there is no lift for wheelchair users to the lines we needed to get to Bank between Marylebone and Bank. When King's Cross radioed Westminster asking if they would give us assistance they did not want to, they wanted my missus to get out the wheelchair and get down herself. She was fuming, and rightly so. What would happen if she fell? I was disgusted. In the end I had to push the missus in a very cold central London all the way to Bank (no picnic I can tell you, and my poor missus suffered for it).

Why is an important city like London not fully accessable (especially with the Olympics and Paralymics coming to town in 2012)?
It really is a disgrace. We have managed to use public transport in the North West without this sort of nonsense, what makes London so awkward? I'm not blaming you Luke I just thought as a London party member you might know if there are any plans to rectify the problem.

In the meantime if anyone wants to travel from Central London to Bank who uses a wheelchair(so you can go to the O2) I (think) the No. 11 from Westminster is your best bet (or any buses bound for Liverpool Street Station, No 17 I think is one).

The Tube maybe crap, but the buses are surprisingly quick and are accessable and the drivers all seem to want to help out.

On a plus note, we found ordinary Londoners to be actually very nice. Always going the extra mile to help us out. Up to that point I was under the impression (mostly media based)all you had to do was to look at someone funny and they would lunge at you with a knife so that was good.

Also a big thankyou to the staff at TFL (King's Cross esp) who tried their best to help us get moving.

As for the concert Barry was on top form, although watching a bunch of middle aged women go wild at him taking off a tie was cringe worthy!!!! The missus said she enjoyed two things about the night, the chips in the intermission and the end; she slept halfway through! Mike did you know he was in Manchester on Monday? From what my boss said it sounded like the same concert in London.

1:50 pm, December 12, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why should the absence of an Independent candidate in the North Ayrshire seat skew the result if I read your comment correctly. Those who voted for the Independent candidate in 2007 could have voted Labour. They chose not to do so. The Glenrothes result is beginning to look out of kilter with the 4 local elections that showed a swing away from Labour to SNP compared to 2007.

7:44 pm, December 12, 2008

 
Blogger Mark Still News said...

Stop bullying and patronising the UE!

A lot of us old enough, has been through a similar time of mass unemployment during the 1980's.

In 1982: UK unemployment topped three million. There were 32 people chasing every vacancy, in my Town 500 people applied for 1 builders yard labourers job. For many young people it was impossible to find work. There were sporadic outbreaks of violence such as the riots in Toxteth, Liverpool, in July 1981, which many felt were partly to blame on the high level of unemployment in the area.

Bearing in mind this was the official figure, but the real unemployment figure was estimated at 7.8 billion.

This was a real bad time for many Families, people felt insecure many were deeply depressed. Not only did the adults suffer, but the children did. Having parents out of work being depressed and stressed out left emotional scars on the children.

I knew people that were made redundant in 1979, but then got retrained in another field only to find themselves redundant again in 1981 then 1982 again.

The UE were purged and forced into the lowest of the low crap jobs or had their benefits cut.

For years and years the worker pay thousands and thousands of pounds of tax and Nat Insurance in. When they need to claim UE benefit because their job has gone, these people should not be made to feel ashamed of claiming its what they are entitled to and worked for! Its absolutely appalling the way the UE are treated and made to feel as if they are sponging off the state. The UE have to fill in lots of forms attend many interviews and fight for what is rightfully theirs and its only a pittance anyway. While the worker is UE he or she falls into massive debt as they don't get their benefits instantly it takes hours and hours of total bureaucracy to get paid.

Here we go again back in time to the miserable 1980's of poverty and frustration?

This UE thing can happening anyone and when it does its so depressing chasing jobs that have 500 applicants.

All of us in work don't forget the UE.

Its time we passed resolutions at our Union meetings to resist and campaign against these harsh bills attacking the UE. Its time we campaigned for true real job creation!

10:40 am, December 13, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ravi - usually a disabled route of some sort will exist, but I agree they're unsatisfactory and badly described. I think if you want to do Marylebone to the 02 with a minimum of self-powered travel the trick is to go back out to Wembley Stadium overground station, then a few hundred yards to Wembley Park Tube, which is on the Jubilee Line and fully accessible, and will take you to North Greenwich for the O2.

Don't want to promise that works, but it's my best bet, unless you can change to a train that stops on the way in at Willesden Junction (eg by changing at Birmingham for the Northampton train) in which case Willesden Junction is accessible on the Bakerloo, as is the interchange at Baker Street for the Jubilee.

11:26 am, December 13, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Labour bounce is over I feel. The dreaded bust lands on Gordons door matt and this time it really is his fault. His economic rescue plan is failing and the condition of Britain's economy worsens by the day. Unemployment is soaring and repossessions hit 70,000....much the same as the 1990s.

So at the start of the biggest recession that most people can remember this government relaxes the laws to give Bailiffs the power of entry for civil debts. For the first time in our lifetime Baliffs will be given powers to break down your door.

The Law is "Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007". There seems to be no resistance from either party and very little publicity. However, National Debt Helpline and Consumer Protection agencies are disgusted and fighting this every way possible

The government has decided to weaken the protection to both public and private sectors.

God help this country

8:23 pm, December 13, 2008

 
Blogger Shamik Das said...

Hi Ravi! Hope you're well!

The O2's an awesome venue, ain't it? Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, take a bow! :)

If you're on the mainline into Marylebone, the most convenient route I can think of would be to change at Harrow-on-the-Hill onto the southbound Metropolitan line (destination Baker Street or Aldgate), which leaves from the same platform, then change at Finchley Road onto the southbound Jubilee line (destination North Greenwich or Stratford), which leaves from an adjacent platform. There'll be no stairs or excalators to negotiate and you can take a lift at North Greenwich up to the surface.

This map and this guide outline the ease of accessibility to stations and platforms on the network.

When it comes to trains, I'm a right saddo!

9:44 pm, December 14, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good point Shamik. I have another one too - the 453 bus goes from pretty much Marylebone to Westminster, and should be wheelchair accessible.

10:04 pm, December 14, 2008

 
Blogger Ravi Gopaul said...

JDC and Sham,

Thanks fellas, should have had you both with us last week!!

Plus both your posts prove one other thing Londoners are pretty helpful!!

The O2 is huge! Very comfy and the queues for the toilets were incredible (some cheeky gits thought they could get away with using the accessible toilet, until my missus arrived!!). Not just Blair and Mandy deserve praise for the O2, Major and Haseltine deserve some credit too.....

I’m doing great, thanks for asking Sham. I have not been on here for a wee while as I am quite enamoured with my newly bought classic car!!! Hope you and your folks are well.

1:11 pm, December 15, 2008

 

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