Labour scrambles for candidates to avoid local elections bloodbath
Emails implore party members to stand for office, telling them that ‘no experience is necessary’
More candidates might well mean a few more votes – picking up thoe of the candidate and their Mum in a seat you’d get no votes for no candidate for example – but more seats? Don’t see it, not really.
More gay Muslims needed urgently!
Oh, wait…
…
Mr Cooke explains why being a councillor is a waste of time.
https://www.viewfromcullingworth.com/p/predictions-for-the-7th-may-elections
Mostly true, I’m sure, but councillors can make a difference according to their politics. A few years ago a bunch of London wide boys applied to cover all the agriculturally productive fields around the corner from me with subsidy-driven solar panels. The Conservative-majority council rather sensationally threw out the application, despite the official planning bods having approved it.
Then, two or three years ago, another bunch of London wide boys applied to cover the same fields with batteries. The now LibDem-majority council have approved the application with gusto, and their allies in Peking are preparing to ship those batteries here forthwith.
The annoying thing is that the only reason the council changed hands was because of voters wanting to show their disapproval of Theresa May.
That piece is one long non sequitur. As Paul S shows, Council control matters: who’s in charge can make things worse, even though the opposition can’t or won’t make things better. The uni-party trope is largely rhetoric.
Isn’t this a bit late? Hope they get zero seats but that might be optimistic.
Apparently they’re looking at a wipeout in London by their own polling. It probably won’t happen but it does mean we’re likely to get even more councils run by lefty cranks (I include Greens in that category) and Muslims for Gaza.
On the benefit side we’ll be closer to the complete crash we need before everyone, or at least a majority, starts coming to its senses.
Close of nominations is 8th April, so just enough time to scramble to get the last few paper seats covered. Though I always ensure we had papers submitted three weeks before close.[1]
I always advocated for a full slate, as – as our host points out – you can then gather all those district-wide votes to aggregate to your total vote share. All those 5%s and 6%s add up boosting your total share from maybe 38% to 41% yay! Also, actually having a candidate everywhere may uncover some latent support you didn’t know about. I’m desperately trying to find an enthusiast for one division near where I am, in the middle of nowhere, where we unexpected got a large chunk of support in the general election.
[1] *cough* ok, there was that one last time, kicking myself, one sig not valid for that level of election. Most electors can vote in all elections, some can only vote in General Only, Local Only, or other combinations. Guess who forgot to check.
All those five and six percents did add up in Oz when Albo tried a referendum to give the Abos a separate voice in Parliament.
In case you haven’t guessed, I voted ‘no’ for every proposal.
A Labour wipeout should mean Starmer quickly gets deposed. The question then is who is going to be next. Wes Streeting or Ed Milliband, and which would be worst.
Morton’s Fork springs to mind.