POLITICS CORNER

[PanBiker]

Don't forget, you need photo ID to claim your ballots.

What struck me was the candidate the LIb Dems have put up for Police and Crime Commissioner, he looks about 16! A lot of expertise there then.

[Stanley]

I'm just having a hot drink before going out to play my part in the downfall of the Tory Party. I hope there are plenty supporting me....
I got one of the new photo IDs to ensure that I have no problems.....

[PanBiker]

Your Bus Pass is valid also if you have one. Just been to my Polling Place, (Independent Methodist Sunday School), not in the main hall this time it's in a side room, (bit warmer I think if you are sat all day).

Sally is taking numbers in Colne and I will be off to help out in Waterside & Horsfield when she gets back with the car.

[Stanley]

I still vote at Rainhall Road School. I got the voter ID because it was free and my pus pass photo is so bad and out of date it could be questioned.
Too early for many results but as I write Labour have 4 times as many councillors as the Tories and we are told the Tories are expecting 'a difficult night'.
Latest estimates are that the Tories are going to see a loss of perhaps 500 seats which is worse than they were expecting.

[Whyperion]

First migrant has gone to Rwanda! In my book not really deported as he went voluntarily after receiving a bribe of £3000 in cash. He also went via a scheduled flight. I would also assume that as he went voluntarily he will be under no rules to stay, Effectively he is a tourist with money.

Not sure on what paperwork he has to move elsewhere. I understand that the individual did apply for asylum in UK but was turned down. taking the route to Rwanda rather than appeal the decision , so we would never know if the turning down was "correct" or not, but I thought the people going "by force" on the planes had not even had a first application decision in the UK

[Whyperion]

The BBC in the rolling headline noted Pendle remaining under NOC but the detail missed out 3 wards as still to return (or 3 seats in one ward?)

Notable to me Oldham "pro Gaza" taking votes and seats off Labour (less so in Rochdale apparently) Tees Valley Con mayor holding position. Canvey Island in Essex having no conservatives elected (13 of them had incorrect nomination papers and thus could not stand ) so its a two party split of groups of independents. The NEast Mayor is Labour, well beating the former Labour kicked out person, which is interesting)

BBC Reports
"about Labour's stance on the war in Gaza and how it's impacted votes, Yvette Cooper acknowledges this has been an issue in some communities and reiterates the need for an "immediate ceasefire"" - finally coming round to what most right minded people have thought since day one of a war against a few that should have been intelligence led and surgical not random and brutal

[PanBiker]

All the votes are in for the Borough Elections

End result:

Political composition

The new political composition of the Council is:

Independent Councillors - 2
Independent Group - 10
Labour - 0
Conservative - 13
Liberal Democrat - 8

Overall turnout 34.5%

Vivary Bridge in Colne only had 21.9% turnout and went to the Tories.

What the hell is wrong with folk!

Time we had PR and compulsory voting, this nonsense is not representative of democracy in my book. If they wont turn out voluntary even when registered they need to be forced kicking and screaming if necessary. Abstain box on the ballot but you should have to make your mind up once in a while.

They always say that the electorate gets what they deserve. In this case 65.5% of registered electors couldn't be bothered.

[Whyperion]

Maybe folk LIKE their independents and libs. Quite what they expect from Conservatives is beyond me

[PanBiker]

The independents are former Labour councillors that resigned from the party a few weeks back.

[Whyperion]

Indeed - and some got re-elected ?

Oddly Brighton and Hove remains Labour Hold, which given Gaza , Greens high student numbers and Kid Starver Starmer seems a mystery to me.

Worcester Results seem more balanced
Labour has gained three (for a total of 17), the Greens have gained two (bringing their total to 12), and the Lib Dems have gained one (total 5).
Out of interest as 34 seats does the largest party nominate the chair and thus get the casting vote ? (ahh its 35 The Conservatives have lost six seats, giving them just one in the council, that would make a difference).

Labour Holds Stevenage making 8 gains in seats. Bristol still no overall control by Greens add 8 seats there, LibDems Gain Tunbridge Wells from NOC taking 3 seats off Conservatives and 1 off Labour. Labour gain Hartlepool which shows in a way how Brexit has not given the instant expected results, conservatives have promised but failed to deliver and sat on their hands the past 18 months while to most people the fabric of economy is crumbled like a moth eaten curtain, repeated in Swindon where Labour are looked to to deliver the future. The Mayor of York/North Yorkshire I keep being informed York has students and is "traditionally" Labour - the railway and the chocolate factories probably being the historic factors but they have gone as far as mass employment - and housing for those masses - is concerned.

There a 8 councils (plus London region) to declare 4 today the rest on Saturday, so it looks like Conservative losses will be less than 500 seats that the worst outcome for them was thinking of. (edit 5 on Saturday - Epping Forest reporting more ballots to count than anticipated)

Come England and a late General Election where campaigning might change things, Labour probably hoping Gaza goes away ( well there aint many Palestinians left with a voice to complain it seems ), I cannot see Labour support going below 34percent , nor really going above 44percent though the seat disposition would probably end up more than that. A further away General Election (after party conference season I expect) will play to a refurbished Scottish National Party hopefully to keep Labour out there - depends if the non immediacy of Scottish Independence is considered a problem or not.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Ian. I just can't imagine not voting. It's a betrayal of all the people who fought for the right!

[Whyperion]

Lib Dems take Dorset, and are largest party in Cheltenham. It is interesting this is often due to a lower Tory vote - is Reform taking some tory votes + stay at homes benefiting Lib Dem "protest?" vote ? Often Lib Dem locals dont give a Lib Dem National Election result . BBC results dont really give the actual numbers voting to show how in Dorset 13 seats flipped tory to Lib Dem by how much vote. I suspect the more the Tories move right the more the Lib Dems get a default centre vote (in middle england). Really the tories would have done better to keep labour at the left fringe , instead the more they attacked Corbyn it gave a over right wing Starmer space to invade the Labour party. I doubt the Conservatives can move their own policies away from "Populalist" ones - which it actually seems are little so ( Reform seeming to be more entrusted to deliver the extreme desired results rather than conservatives with their remaining moderate sections) - with so many tory MPs standing down whom is going to replace them as credible candidates ? Pendle/East Lancashire (rural) continues to be an electoral anonomoly behind neither Traditional Labour - like even Rossendale or Blackburn, with instead this strong Conservative leaning - particulary I think over housing development in green areas . Pendle of course would be Labour without the Gaza issue but even then it is not the traditional Labour. Things Like the Co-op, strong trade unionism and independent Labour VALUES seem to have disappeared as part of the social fabric , in many places this doesnt matter (London notably). I think inadvertently following the cut off from the main rail networks from Manchester and Leeds the Pendle/Burnley area became societally cut off and the things that retained localism ( Burnley remaining Collieries/Power Stations and naturally the mill/weaving operations ) disappeared . Nelson , Colne , Padiham are really no more than oversized villiages, with that kind of mentallity.


Some info in from London. It appears ULEZ wasnt the vote winner everyone was chirping on about, with a less than 41percent turnout all regions and areas so far are backing Labour's Khan by narrow to reasonable majorities.


Liverpool Mayor voting is interesting - Little more than 23percent of voters voted - less than 20percent in St HelensI wonder for some if that was a fear of not having Voter ID. I also find the area to be " Empty" with little cohesion of housing and an impact of the urban motorways tearing up communities of the past.

Steve Rotheram wins a third term with something like 70percent of the vote in some areas - 90percent in some places

He’s promising a “London-style transport network”, new train stations in St Helens and Daresbury and also bringing a film studios to Liverpool with the regeneration of Liverpool’s iconic Littlewoods building.

The reuse of the Littlewoods building looks hopeful to me and shows how some of those brick edifaces of the glory of Englands Past can have a life , and in honesty Liverpool does have a good transport system (not as good as the days of Trams and Overhead Railway) and there are assorted plans of better train stations for Skelmersdale as being hoped for including potential to loop back round to lines into the Sefton area, I assume though more stations also means more apartment blocks to actually make them viable

[Whyperion]

So Local Election results are all over bar the shouting (as Salford wont finish counting until Sunday) but I cannot see the conservatives now getting more seats than the LibDems in the areas that have voted. Greens have lost their seats at Epping Forest which is odd , an increase in Independents and the odd way multi seat per ward mathematics can go probable cause). Conservatives blaming their supporters for not coming out and voting for them.

[Whyperion]

OK, so assuming the working majority for Labour come sometime by 2025, what should be the vision , at least nationally , for the next five years , and what can be delivered and noticable within a year ?

I think perhaps
A List of State Funded Schools / Educational Buildings with RAAC Concrete and a plan for repair or replacement
A List of Hospitals with RAAC Concrete and a plan for repair or replacement
A measured target to fill shortfalls in NHS Posts, including local dentists and a financed scheme of better training and apprenticeships in Health Care.
A complete revision of local taxation ( basically the Council Tax billings cliff edge ) (actually I dont see this happening)
Review and Improve benefits to Disabled Persons
Bring back Rail Passenger Services to Direct Public Control (actually I dont necessarily think this will give the improvements wanted - the private sector has in the past delivered in the South East - mostly London to Southend and London/Oxford services and the Department for Transport is inefficient and slow) Complete timeframe for estimated build of HS2 at least to Manchester and/or Crewe. Fund further rail connections in the North
Immigration - some kind of points system for persons of worth to the UK economy. Create workable criteria to asses persons presenting as asylum seekers including better working in france and with french govt.
Reduce National Debt as proportion of GDP over five years (diff as Tory plans actually were for a minor increase - so where can savings be made in better spending ? - The sale of specific infrastructure bonds could be "excepted" from the requirement as counting for Government Borrowing.
Bring the domestic supply of Water /Sewerage and Gas into Public Ownership (I think Electric will be too expensive to nationalise but Gas apart from pipe system is essentially a buy/sell international trading thing and people think the bills are unfair)

As Mayor of Manchester City Region Andy Burnham has created a couple of priorities : "for me in this third term will be to create an equal alternative for our young people to the university route and give all the young people growing up here a path" (in education) " (( thats a bit of a challenge given the University dominance of bits of Manchester - both Arts and Science Technology related but I get the idea)) Burnham also wants to sort out housing, good luck Manchester is a mess tearing down the 70s slums and privately building new monstrosities without space. IF Burnham can solve things though that will be interesting (there is not a lack of brownfield land but the use of that should never be housing alone and the local authorities have a big say in what and where), there still remains issues with Train services in the area, somewhat baked into the physical routes in place.

Anything else ?

[Stanley]

I've been watching how things have been developing . I'll agree that Sunak and the Tories have been comprehensively defeated but I might be out of step a bit in suggesting that Labour have some things to regret and, if possible, correct.
The first thing to recognise is that the main reason for the swing to Labour is not because of how attractive they are but because the Tories have made such a mess of their time in control. I'll agree that their performance has been as bad as anything I have ever seen in politics.
The big problem Labour has is Starmer. His stance on opposition to Netanyahu's policies being seen as Anti-Semiticism and his failure to come out cleanly in support of a cessation of hostilities in Gaza have cost the Party dear and are not a good augury for his future leadership of Labour. Then there is his shifting stance on net-zero policies.
I am glad that Labour did so well overall in the council elections and the other votes that were declared over the weekend but I am warning against any complacency in respect of the General Election. It may be a racing certainty that the Tories are going to lose but this does not automatically mean that Labour will win control of Parliament.
I still think the unthinkable. Starmer is the wrong leader!

[Whyperion]

I understand the share of total vote for england council elections that labour took is about 1.7percent less than the last comparable under Corbyn.
Starmer probably is the right leader - for the Conservatives.

Who would be a better leader for labour - in all honesty all the good ones are dead, maybe Andy Burnham if he were in parliament ?

[Stanley]

Scottish politics takes the stage. See THIS report that Swinney has won the3 leadership of the SNP.
SNP leadership front-runner John Swinney is expected to succeed Humza Yousaf unopposed after a potential challenger withdrew his bid at the 11th hour. Earlier on Sunday it emerged that veteran SNP activist Graeme McCormick, who has been openly critical of the Scottish government, had secured a nomination. However he announced later that although he had met the threshold of support needed to secure a nomination, he had decided not to proceed and would back Mr Swinney instead. This came after a “lengthy and fruitful conversation” with Mr Swinney in which Mr McCormick said they had agreed the challenges which the SNP, the government and the people face.
Sounds like horse trading for a post in the new government to me. I know that English politics is what should really be getting my attention but I can't help regretting the fall of the SNP when it looked as though they had found the secret to good effective politics in a modern age. It transpired they were just as bad as the rest of them.....

[PanBiker]

Who would be a better leader for labour - in all honesty all the good ones are dead, maybe Andy Burnham if he were in parliament ?

I concur there, Andy Burnham has buckets more passion, and can convey it much better than Starmer. He has not ruled it out for the future but not while he is in post as Mayor, he still has a job to do there.

[Stanley]

That would suit me also. I'm sorry but Starmer is a dead hand as far as I'm concerned.....

[Stanley]

THIS is what counts as political news this morning.
The government is "gaslighting" the British people over the state of the economy, the Opposition is to argue. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will tell business leaders in a speech on Tuesday the government's claims its economic plan is working are "deluded". It comes ahead of key figures likely to show the UK emerging from recession later this week. The Bank of England could also take steps towards interest rate cuts. The Tories said Labour had "no plan". Speaking in a speech in the City of London, Ms Reeves will argue that suggestions the feel-good factor is returning are "completely out of touch with the realities on the ground".
I'll agree with her contention that Sunak is deluded and clutching at straws when the claims the Tory plan for the economy is working. The bald truth is that it is flat-lining and the worst performer in the G7 group.
The problem dates back to when Cameron and Osborne sucked the spending power out of the lower 50 percentile of the population by imposing austerity on the most consistent spenders in the population. The poor people don't hoard, they spend!

[Stanley]

What is there left to say about our current political situation? The nation is in limbo as the Tories cannot govern, they have run out of policies, money and ideas. All they can do is chew away at their own majority.
What are they clinging to power for? Prolonging the membership of the club and the wage and pension rights as long as possible? And Sunak has the gall to say that their economic policies are working......
You couldn't make it up. For pity's sake, call an election!

[Whyperion]

Pity Elphick didnt Jump Ship (? Small Boat) LAST Wednesday. Might have thrown a few more votes ( to , or from, Labour ?)

[Stanley]

I note that Natalie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover now sits as a Labour MP. Very strange and many members are baffled including Jacob Rees Mogg who said he didn't understand it as she was further to the Right than he is. She supported Brexit as a member of the European Working Group and you don't get much more rabid than that.
I'm sorry but I see an element of attention seeking here..... I hear she is to resign her seat before the General Election and will not be surprised to hear she is going to write a book.
As for Starmer being so enthusiastic about gaining her allegiance, he has upset many of his own Party and I would call your attention to another matter. It was announced yesterday that Labour has restored the whip to Edmonton MP Kate Osamor following an inquiry into a comment she made. She was suspended in January after using a social media post marking Holocaust Memorial Day to accuse Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza.
Meanwhile Diane Abbott remains suspended since April 2023 when she wrote a letter to The Observer in which she said racism experienced by Jewish, Irish, and Traveller people was not the same as that experienced by black people and had the Labour whip withdrawn.
I realise that I am frequently out of step but have never been able to understand why her expression of a personal opinion was seen as so horrendous. Perhaps I am simply less sensitive than others in these matters.

See THIS BBC report on the early release of prisoners.
Some prisoners will be freed up to 70 days early, after a scheme aimed at tackling overcrowding in jails in England and Wales was extended. The scheme was introduced last October, at the time allowing for release up to 18 days early, with this increased to up to 60 days in March.
I wonder how many of you heard the ex-prison governor commenting on the change when interviewed on the BBC news programme The World at One. She was in no doubt that this was an indication that the consequences of decades of under-spending by all parties but particularly the Tories were coming home. She said she wouldn't be surprised to see it raised to 100 days in the future. She sounded like a reliable respondent to me and I would have liked to hear more of her forthright views.
( I think this is the lady..... "Vanessa Frake retired to Saffron Walden after a 27-year career in HMPs Holloway and Wormwood Scrubs. She is now a baker at Angela Reed and a Sunday Times bestselling author with her tell-all memoir, The Governor, about working with some of Britain's most notorious criminals.")

[Stanley]

I suppose THIS is the most important bit of political news.
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel can "stand alone" after the US warned it could halt arms shipments if the Israeli prime minister ordered a full-scale invasion of Rafah in Gaza. "If we need to ... we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary we will fight with our fingernails," he said. US President Joe Biden said he would withhold some arms including artillery shells if Rafah was invaded. The US has already paused a shipment of bombs over fears of civilian deaths.
Worth reading the rest of the article as it lays out clearly all the reasons why those of us who have always criticised the Right wing of Israeli politics were right to do so. It is clear that anyone who disagrees with their war mongering is regarded as Anti-Semitic. This is the bogey-man that has been used time and time again by Israel and has been swallowed hook, line and sinker by people such as Starmer.
The bottom line is that Netanyahu is quite prepared to bring down the whole of the Middle East in flames rather than have to share Palestine with the Palestinians. That is what this conflict is all about and always has been.
05:40. Late news that Dominic Cummings has revealed that he intends to start a new political party if the Tories fail as abjectly as is expected.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a triumph of hope over reality.... Notice also that the image of Sunak shows him looking upwards at the new dawn that is coming......
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that it will "take time" for people to "really feel better" as figures revealed the UK had emerged from recession. The economy grew by 0.6% between January and March after shrinking in the second half of last year. Mr Sunak told the BBC that the UK economy has "real momentum" but admitted there was "more work to do". Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats said there was little to celebrate. "After 14 years of economic chaos, working people are still worse off," said Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. Gross domestic product (GDP) - which measures the amount of goods and services an economy produces - rose by more than expected in the first three months of the year. Analysts had forecast 0.4% growth. Mr Sunak suggested that there was now some strength behind the UK economy, which saw the fastest pace of growth for two years between January and March.
The bald truth is that this is statistical chicanery.... Sunak can argue how he likes but the UK economy is not doing much better than flat lining, certainly not showing the growth that is needed to drag us out of this trough.
Ask yourself why the BofE kept interest rates at their present high level.....