Local Elections (and Sheffield mayoral election) on 3rd May

[T_i_B]

Last edited Sat Apr 14, 2018, 10:42 AM - Edit history (1)

It's that time of the year when I do a thread about the local elections that are due. This year it's local elections in a lot of places, a few mayoral elections in places like Watford and Tower Hamlets, and locally to me there are elections for the mayor of the Sheffield City region due. In certain councils, there will be a trial system where photo ID will also be required to vote. These councils are: Swindon, Gosport, Woking, Bromley, and Watford.

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/elections-and-referendums/upcoming-elections-and-referendums

Round where I live, the main things of note are in South Yorkshire. Will voters punish Labour run Sheffield City Council for their disastrous PFI dealings with Amey? Also there is the Sheffield region mayoral election, still a dogs breakfast of a proposal, but I would expect Labour's Dan Jarvis (who was something of a rising star among Labour MP's before Jeremy Corbyn became leader) to win at a canter.

Anything happening with local government and elections in your part of Britain?

[TubbersUK]

1. Was it the Amey PFI that was responsible the loss of those beautiful trees

in the roads around Endcliffe Park and elsewhere?

[T_i_B]

2. Yep

I grew up in that part of Sheffield as well!

The use of large numbers of police when chopping those trees down was also pretty disgusting. The police need to be fighting proper crime instead.

The way that Labour in Sheffield have behaved over this has been abysmal to be honest.

[TubbersUK]

3. It was a disgrace, those trees were magnificent and such an asset to the community

Am I right in thinking that the council basically just shrugged and claimed that their hands were tied?

[T_i_B]

4. Sheffield Council seem much more interested.....

.....in representing Amey than in representing local residents. At times they have even gone out of their way to try and smear activists and to claim that this is somehow a class issue when it really isn't.

[T_i_B]

15. Labour lost seats in Sheffield to Liberal Democrats and Greens

Greens did very well, and one of the seats they won in Sheffield is the one I grew up in!

Liberal Democrats did OK.

The Conservatives appear to have benefited in a lot of places from the collapse of UKIP.

Labour made a few gains on the whole, but I do think that they are underperforming right now. Which is all the worse when you consider how awful the Conservatives are right now.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Oxford City Council will have half its seats up

Very large Labour majority. Will stay Labour; though some councillors may lose seats to LibDems or Greens. Haven't had any leaflets yet, but there are the usual issues: building projects and local objections; lack of affordable housing (some connection with the previously-mentioned issue, though much building is university- or business-related); road maintenance; the Covered Market, and shops there leaving due to high rents; etc. And some people planning to vote Green or LD in protest against the national Labour leadership's seeming acceptance of Brexit. For once, I haven't heard anything - yet - about wheelie bins. There are no Tory councillors now, and there probably won't be after the election. The County Council doesn't have an election this year.

[Soph0571]

6. Westminster is in play

I have had every bugger and his son knock on my door to get my vote. First time ever I have felt wanted!

[T_i_B]

7. My local MP used to be on Westminster Council

Which makes his incessant claims of being a "local boy" look somewhat ridiculous. His track record as a Tory councillor, in one of the worst Tory councils was not good at all.

I for one would be delighted if the Conservatives lost control of Westminster council.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Tories in new race row over identity checks for elections

In a move that will fuel controversy over the treatment of migrants in the UK following the Windrush scandal, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to the Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, raising its serious concern that the checks will deter immigrants and others from participating in the democratic process.
...
Ministers say the pilot projects are being run – with a view to adopting them nationwide if they are successful – in response to concerns about electoral fraud.

But in a letter to Lidington, and leaked to the Observer, the EHRC says evidence of supposed fraud is minimal and warns that there is a real risk that legal residents who might not have a passport or driving licence – or might be reluctant to produce them at polling stations – could be disenfranchised as a result.

In the letter, the EHRC’s legal officer, Claire Collier, tells Lidington: “The Commission is concerned that the requirement to produce identification at the given local elections (Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking) will have a disproportionate impact on voters with protected characteristics, particularly older people, transgender people, people with disabilities and/or those from ethnic minority communities. In essence, there is a concern that some voters will be disenfranchised as a result of restrictive identification requirements.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/21/identity-checks-election-disenfranchise-ethnic-minorities

As far as my local elections go, they're redrawn our ward boundaries, so we get to elect the entire council in one go. I wonder if this may be the point at which the Lib Dem stranglehold on Eastleigh council starts to fade - 5 LD councillors (including the mayor and deputy) quit the party last year over the party's plan for lots of new housing, leaving them with 32 out of 44.

[T_i_B]

9. We have issues over housing where I live

Worth remembering in the case of my Council that the plans for housebuilding are due to the government ordering them to build more houses, although there are a multitude of issues relating to that.

[T_i_B]

10. Voter ID plans 'deeply flawed', says Electoral Reform Society

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43932073

Government plans to make people prove their identity before voting are "deeply flawed", the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) has warned. The scheme, which is being piloted in Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking for the local elections on 3 May, is designed to combat voter fraud.

But the ERS says the new system could be a "calculated effort" to make voting harder for some citizens. Voter ID fraud was "incredibly rare", it said.

The claim comes after a leaked letter from the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned the change could have a "disproportionate impact" on voters from minority groups, who may not possess appropriate ID.

"With millions of people lacking the right photographic ID - and no government plans for a universal, free alternative - this can only mean another barrier for honest voters," said ERS chief executive Darren Hughes.

[LeftishBrit]

11. This is already done in America

This contributes to the low turnout in presidential elections (typical turnout is 55%); and to the particularly low turnout among poor people and minority groups. This massively benefits Republicans.

I would much prefer universal ID cards - so long as they are free - to a system which penalizes non-passport-owners, non-drivers, and people who have negative associations with having to prove themselves to officialdom.

[T_i_B]

12. Polling day is today!

Let us know how things have gone.

I live in an area of Derbyshire with no elections on today, although my work colleagues in South Yorkshire are all wondering why they need an elected mayor.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Eastleigh result: Lib Dems still dominate, but lost all 3 seats where the new houses are proposed

32 Lib Dems, 4 Tories and 3 Independents (all in the ward with the planned development). So a 'local issues' election, really.

[The King of Prussia]

14. Here in Bradford

Labour increased their majority on the council. As far as I could see campaigning was non-existent - we got just one leaflet (Tory) and saw no-one. Sadly in my ward the Tory won.

[LeftishBrit]

16. Oxford City Council: slight increase in already large Labour majority

Labour lost 1 seat to LibDems, gained 2 from Greens.

Now Labour have 36 council seats, Lib Dems 9, Greens 2 (down from 4), Tories still none!

But the big local news was the Tory losses in neighbouring West Oxfordshire: the Conservatives lost 5 of the 15 seats they were defending. They still control the district council, but there is now a real opposition (to put things into perspective, this is basically Cameron's old constituency, and the Tories used to have almost all the seats!)