England and Wales Local Elections 2013?

[Stacy]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/guide-to-local-elections-2013-130810449.html

 

Today in England and Wales begins this years Local Elections.

 

This year I decided to vote seeing as the Tories really have pissed me off and I wanted a say.

 

My Vote choice is in spoilers:

I voted for the Green Party.

I admit I don't agree with all their polices but agree some of them like some of aspects on Social Injustice and I not a big fan of Nuclear Power. Yes it is "clean" in some ways but after Fukashima I still hope we can find cleaner alternatives in the future. I admit it was a bit of a protest vote. I was torn between Labour, Liberal Democrats and The Green Party. UKIP have some things I agree with but on some things they are just as bad as the Tories if not worse. As for the Tories they were a instant no. I didn't vote Labour because they are still New Labour to me they need to be more Left. The Liberal Democrats really have disappointed me if they weren't up the Tories arsehole and had a stronger leader than they would of probably got my vote. I know I voted like the General Election but seeing as the Tories are in control in my area I felt like giving them the finger by voting for the underdog.  

 

So what about you who did you vote for in your area? 

Edited May 2, 2013 by BW199148

[SuperLink]

Sigh I wanted to vote, but I had no idea the vote was even coming up til like two days ago, and I have important uni work and deadlines to do throughout the week so I really didn't have the time to do any research into who would be the best choice.

 

I'm pretty annoyed about it since I'm usually kinda passionate about using my voice.

I just don't want to vote for someone based on their propaganda, and unfortunately doing my own research takes more time.

Maybe next time ;_;

[Badnik Mechanic]

No voting in my area until next week.

 

At least I'm quite sure it's not till then, not had any polling cards.

[Salamander]

There don't appear to be any elections in my locality this time around, though I would have voted if there were - unlike some other elections in the past couple of years (cough cough police commissioners cough cough).  It'll be interesting to see the results.

[blackherox]

Haven't really been paying attention to this, but if from what i'm hearing (UKIP getting a fair amount of gains), the public mood appears to be going further right.

[MamboCat]

As an expat I can't vote in council elections, only the general one.. and uh, I think the European ones but I'd have to check up on that with the Embassy.

 

But yeah, what a disturbing day. I hope that this Ukip business is just people protesting, but in another way if you're going to protest vote... Ukip?! Really?

 

Also I think the mood in general is swinging right and has been for some time, at least from what i can see... The idea of left and right wing is kinda confusing in the Czech Republic. For example the Green party are not the same in terms of policy as the Greens elsewhere. Also when I have heard people discussing politics they seem to think that anything left of centre is Communist and therefore evil and must be purged! But as far as I can tell with this "swing to the right" it's a similar picture here.

Edited May 3, 2013 by MamboCat

[Stacy]

As an expat I can't vote in council elections, only the general one.. and uh, I think the European ones but I'd have to check up on that with the Embassy.

 

But yeah, what a disturbing day. I hope that this Ukip business is just people protesting, but in another way if you're going to protest vote... Ukip?! Really?

 

Also I think the mood in general is swinging right and has been for some time, at least from what i can see... The idea of left and right wing is kinda confusing in the Czech Republic. For example the Green party are not the same in terms of policy as the Greens elsewhere. Also when I have heard people discussing politics they seem to think that anything left of centre is Communist and therefore evil and must be purged! But as far as I can tell with this "swing to the right" it's a similar picture here.

 

Yeah, a lot of people are voting UKIP because the three Main Parties aren't very appealing and sadly Immigration and the EU are what a lot of people are voting for not they will do what they say if they come into power.

 

At least Labour have the lead which is better than the Tories. My main problem with UKIP is they remind me of Thatcher era Conservatives.  

[iDEATH]

"We're not racist actually, one of our runners is a coloured fella" overheard on the news yesterday by a UKIP canvasser.

 

I really hope this UKIP stuff doesn't go any further. Their policies seem to either be racist or absurdly stupid.....

[Salamander]

Expecting people to vote based on policy in local elections is perhaps unwise.  They're a barometer on the performance of the national parties, with the results taken out on local parties as a proxy.  Votes for UKIP are likely to be based on a perception of them as anti-immigration and more right-wing than the Conservative party nationally for people disappointed that the Tories aren't right-wing enough.  I'd be surprised if UKIP as a protest party did particularly well in a national election.  Minor parties don't do well at all in national elections because people by and large know that they have no chance of governing, so voters turn to the bigger parties to avoid splitting the vote and letting the opposition in.  (Never mind that general elections are actually just another form of local election in which the vast majority of votes cast are totally meaningless, but that's by the by.)  I imagine the best UKIP can dream of is scraping together enough MPs to try and coalition with the Tories, but it's a pipe dream: Even the Lib Dems lost MPs at the last election, and their presence in the coalition really isn't a matter of any kind of popular mandate.  British politics isn't going in a more plural direction.  The last election was simply a matter of people equivocating on the two big parties.

 

But there's a further point, and that is that countries grow more right-wing in times of economic difficulty.  It's a matter of looking out for number one and resenting the successes and encroachments of number two.  People see their country as failing, preyed upon by any who don't have roots in it - immigrants, foreign governments or bodies like the EU.  Under such circumstances, it's easy for irresponsibly nationalist parties to play on the populace's latent xenophobia and appeal to the lowest common denominator.  Why are we treating foreigners better than ourselves?  What's the point in tending to the weak when the common man is suffering?  What have these big parties and organisations, these clever people and their human rights, achieved for us?  Most people haven't the time or patience to parse or even understand the complexity of governance, so simple and short-term arguments tend to appeal despite being wholly inappropriate for a complex world.  If you've been following what's going on with Greece, then the success of Golden Dawn there is exactly the same as the success of UKIP, but as the country's situation is more perilous, they're proportionally more nasty.

 

...But anyway, to get back to the local elections, according to a table on the BBC News site, a simple breakdown of the results is to say that the Conservatives and Lib Dems lost councillors, and everyone else gained.  And that is in no way unusual or unprecedented.  The party of government always loses at local elections as people express their inevitable dissatisfaction.  The Earth has not moved.

[MamboCat]

I hope that you a right. Personally I find the pretty much European-wide swing to the right quite frightening.

 

Also speaking as a person who is in another European country under EU freedom of movement, freedom of work and study, I find the idea of pulling the UK out of the EU quite concerning. I would essentially either have to try and rush through applying for Czech citizenship or trying to apply for a student visa, which I am not sure is applicable to doctoral studies.

 

I know it's a long shot and that it probably won't happen, but it does worry me nevertheless. The sentiment in the UK appears to be very much "EU = bad" and it's this sentiment UKIP seeks to exploit.

Edited May 4, 2013 by MamboCat