It's all happening in Thurrock. Already there has been the independently run poll showing overwhelming support for a referendum on withdrawal from the EU. But it will also have a high profile in the council elections. It has a minority Labour administration – there are 24 Labour councillors against 22 Conservatives and a couple of […]
Janette Williamson, the Labour Party candidate for the Liscard Ward on Wirral Council has tweeted, with reference to the Duke of Edinburgh : “Why the f**k hasn’t he died yet?” She has also tweeted that she "dreams" of Margaret Thatcher's death. She says that the shadow cabinet are “unlikeable and quite right-wing” complaining of Ed […]
Astonishing to look down the list of council candidates nominated for Liverpool City Council to see that in seven wards the Lib Dems have not managed to put up a candidate. The Conservatives have a full team of candidates standing across the city. Is this a blip? In Newcastle we see from the nominated list […]
The Conservatives are in fourth place in Scotland in terms of the number of councillors. We have 138. This compares to the Lib Dems with 164, Labour with 351 and the SNP with 366. The new Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson launched the Scottish Conservatives manifesto for these local elections yesterday and said that the […]
Congratulations to Tony Caldeira who has been chosen to be the Conservatives candidate in the election of Mayor of Liverpool taking place on May 3. Tony announced his campaign at the time of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. His home textiles company was founded on a Liverpool market stall and now manufactures and sells its products […]
Cllr Norma Hart has changed her name to Cllr Norma Austin-Hart. This means that in May she will appear higher on the ballot paper than meaning she will now appear above Labour running mate Cllr Bill Cook in the Liberton and Gilmerton Ward of Edinburgh City Council. Even in a first past the post contest […]
In the local elections this year the attention of the media will focus (indeed is already focusing) on the Mayor of London contest. If Boris Johnson wins then Conservative morale will be high despite losses elsewhere. That is a big if as I wrote yesterday. In 2008, when most of the seats were last contested, […]
A big test of whether the Labour Party is making progress under Ed Miliband's leadership will be if Ken Livingstone is elected the Mayor of London on Thursday May 3rd. But that is not the only test. Glasgow is a city represented by seven Labour MPs. Yet it is looking increasingly likely that Labour will […]
Cllr Rod Bluh, the Conservative leader of Swindon Borough Council, has called for the deselection a Labour council candidate, Geoff Reid, after he compared Cllr Russell Holland, a Conservative councillor and the Cabinet Member for Housing, to a Nazi. The accusation by Geoff Reid, who is Labour's candidate for the Freshbrook Ward, was over a […]
The Press Association reports: Rochford District – Rayleigh Central: Con 406, English Democrats 218, Lib Dem 117. (May 2010 – Con 1242, Lib Dem 702, English Democrats 328). Con hold. Swing 7.4% Con to English Democrats. Somerset County – Brent: Con 1285, Lib Dem 932. (June 2009 – Con 2108, Lib Dem 744, Lab 162). […]
The Isle of Wight County Press reports that the Lib Dems have disowned their candidate, Mike Carr, for a Council byelection on November 17. The report says: An investigation prompted by an anonymous e-mail, suggesting Mr Carr had wrongly withdrawn money from the bank account of the West Wight lodge of the Freemasons. The money […]
Cllr David Meikle, the only Conservative councillor on Glasgow, could be fighting in the elections next year for a new party. He says it must be identified with the Scottish national interest. Yesterday members of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party attended a special conference in Perth to approve the party’s new constitution. This new […]
All the seats on Edinburgh City Council are up for election next year, as part of the full Council elections across Scotland. At present the Council is run by a Lib Dem/SNP coalition. One of the main local issues is likely to be a blame game between local politicians over the troubled scheme for a […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter The latest poll by YouGov, released today (full PDF here) is encouraging for Boris Johnson. The Mayor leads Labour candidate Ken Livingstone by 48% to 41%. This is compared to Ken leading Boris 45% to 42% in February of this year, and a tight lead for Boris (46%-44%) in […]
A month after the local elections we are now able to get a clear idea of what the results actually mean in the 54 councils which were left under No Overall Control Control. While the Conservative losses to Labour of four councils (Blackpool, Gedling, Gravesham and North Warwickshire) are straightforward what of the 11 losses […]