Local Election Results

[ChillDoubt]

..are just starting to come in with Labour holding South Shields, UKIP second. Media suggest Dodgy Dave is in for a spanking and oh dear, the voting caption on Sky News a moment ago showed that the BNP got twice as many votes as the Lib Dems.

UKIP are widely predicted to make huge inroads, with suggestions that they are no longer the recipients of 'protest votes'.

[Gromit]

Yep, UKiP getting twice as many votes as the Conservatives is a very good result for them. Second bye election in a row they have beaten the Conservatives. The LibDem vote collapsed only polling 512 votes compared with 5,189 in 2010.

The end is nigh for Cameron. And possibly for Clegg too.


The result:
Labour) - 12,493 votes
UK Independence Party - 5,988 votes
Conservatives - 2,857 votes
Independent - 1,331 votes
Independent Socialist Part - 750 votes
BNP - 711 votes
Liberal Democrats - 352 votes

[Gromit]

Correction:

The LibDem vote collapsed only polling 352 votes compared with 5,189 in 2010.

[ludwig]

What's surprising is the size of the protest, and the fact that they've taken votes off all the other parties, not just the Tories.

Come the general election, things will revert largely to normal with disillusioned Liberals and floating voters moving to Labour.

[emmie]

i think that the coalition are largely to blame for this, their constant u turns, and broken promises on many issues, not to mention an economy in the doldrums has cause this swing, that UKIP say what many people want to hear, populist and popular.

[mikey4444]

It was obvious that the LibDems were going to pay a heavy price for suppin' with the devil. As soon as Clegg and Cameron appeared in the garden of Number Ten in 2010, pretending that they didn't, after all, hate each other quite as much as they thought they did, the LibDems fate was set.

But not even I could have predicted that they would be well below the racist BNP in a by-election. I guess it just shows how unpopular Clegg is. I still maintain that UKIP are largely a protest vote and will not make a whole lot of difference in a General Election. But Dave should be very afraid at this point as it appears that the mad box of frogs take their voters mainly from the Tories, rather than Labour, which should surprise no one.

[jake-the-peg]

Well for all that in my county council UKIP only managed one councillor elected

Inroads does not necessarilly equal seats!

[Gromit]

If it is just a protest vote, it is a bloody great big protest.

[naomi24]

Gosh, that was a sock in the eye for the LibDems! Everything has to start somewhere. From little acorns .....

[DTCwordfan]

Not down here, gromit et al, the Conservatives have held Dorset and Somerset. Devon and Cornwall only count today....

[Gromit]

UKiPs declared target was 40-50 seats.

After just 7 of the 36 council results in, they already have 42.

I would not be surprised if they get 150+ seats which would be beyond their dreams.

[Sqad]

Whichever way you look at it, it is a bad result for the Tories and if there was a General Election today, then Labour would be in with a " working majority.

Unemployment up, the Economy flat lined and most of the promises and targets made by the Coalition unfulfilled.

Can it get worse?

Whichever poll that suits your argument, still does not trust Labour on the Economy.

Neither Clegg or Cameron wanted a Coalition and the electorate didn't know what it wanted..........although it was sure that it didn't want another Labour government.

What will the electorate decide in 2 years will depend upon an upturn in the economy. I have no idea what will transpire.

[mikey4444]

According to the BBC News website, UKIP and Labour has gained 42 seats each but the Tories have lost 66 and the LibDems 15.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21240025

This will obviously change as the day progresses but our so-called coalition government seems to be on its way out. As I said above, this should come as no surprise to anybody who has scanned our political landscape since May 2010. As it stands at the moment, Labour should form the next government in 2015, without any weasel-worded help from anybody.

Fingers crossed !

[mikey4444]

I have just heard Evan Davies interview Farage on the Today program and it was very interesting.

As these were mainly local elections, and immigration isn't controlled or influenced by Councillors, just what was achieved by voting for UKIP ?

Is there anyone out in AB land who voted for UKIP ? If so, why did you vote UKIP, apart from a so-called protest vote ?

[dave50]

No surprise that Labour won South Shields. Put a red rosette on a monkey and they would vote for it.

[mikey4444]

Thanks for a nice balanced view !

[douglas9401]

A monkey can be trained to perform basic tasks Dave, creatures with forked tongues are not so useful.

[jno]

my thoughts exactly, mikey: Ukip has only one policy, a mixture of Europe/immigration, none of which has any relevance at council level. So this can only be a protest vote, though a very big one.

At general election time, voters will have the opportunity to vote for them seriously, in the knowledge that they could implement Ukip policy if they won. My exclusive prediction: they won't.

[mikey4444]

You are right jno. But another important point has occurred to me. Traditionally turn-out is very poor at local elections, something that has always amazed me as your Local Council has a more direct impact on your everyday life, than what happens at Westminster. According to the BBC, turn out in South Shields was only about 40%. What would happen if more people were to vote ? I would bet that votes for the loony-tune parties would go up.

That is very scary indeed.

[Sharingan]

I think that's why I'm actually against compulsery voting because people who aren't interested will pick:-
a. The nicest looking candidate
b. The one they actually talked to personally
c. The really nutty one who made them laugh
d. the one they saw most on the telly
e. One at random because they can't be bothered to read what anyone has to say.
You want 60% of people doing that don't you?

[douglas9401]

So there's no chance that people might show a little interest in the subject if they really had to make a choice, Sharingan?