Early Local Election results - UKIP smashing it

[Buzzer]

No, I'm not singling out UKIP - although there are signs that a lot of the candidates that they put up for election at local government level have very little idea about what a local council actually does. I'd make the same criticism of the Green candidates. When they put themselves forward as candidates, the only thought that some candidates have in mind is winning the election. When they actually get elected, they suddenly realise that they have four years of responsibility to administer local services - and that doesn't mean controlling immigration, or saving the planet - and they turn out to be not very interested in that aspect of the job that they find themselves having to do.

How many new UKIP councillors will today be asking "Where's the Town Hall?"

Oh for Christ's sake. For a start, I think a fair few of these UKIP candidates are ex-Tories or Labour and are well aware of the local process. Secondly, I think all candidates are aware that they have a civic duty and most will fulfill the functions as well as they can - as with new candidates from other parties. Thirdly, all local councils have induction training for new local councillors and quite often mentoring from existing councillors. The world is not going to end because the party you didn't vote for have taken office.

Really, LB. Your attitude stinks. These people are democratically elected and have every right to be where they are. I can't help but sense some sort of dismay that it isn't left to (ex?) civil servants like yourself who clearly know what's best for all of us.

 

[keaton]

So they've got no council gained less seats than Labour and still have less half of the Lib Dem seats (who have 2 councils) and it's great result for them and crap for labour?

They've made a lot of gains, they always were. The Lib Dems can't lose anymore voters though, and i'm not sure UKIP will get anymore

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Sky says results would give Labour 308 seats at a general election
Sky News been doing its own share of the vote number crunching. (It does not use the same projected national share [PNS] figures as the BBC - see 6.58am. It uses a slightly different figure, national equivalent vote [NEV], compiled by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher.)

According to Sky, today's results, if replicated at the general election, would produce these results.

Labour: 308 seats (up 50)

Conservatives: 272 seats (down 34)

Lib Dems: 40 (down 17)

In other words, Labour would be the largest party, but well short of a majority. A result like this would probably produce a Labour/Lib Dem coalition.

A Labour / Lib Dem coalition would be awful. I think people would just vote UKIP for the hell of it, because that is worst combo ever.

 

[keaton]

A Labour / Lib Dem coalition would be awful. I think people would just vote UKIP for the hell of it, because that is worst combo ever.

It would make far more sense(and have more mandate)than the current coalition.

 

[Buzzer]

So they've got no council gained less seats than Labour and still have less half of the Lib Dem seats (who have 2 councils) and it's great result for them and crap for labour?

Err...new party defending 1 seat, now having 90 and this is 'local' elections - not even their usual battleground. Meanwhile, the usual mid-term collapse of the incumbent Government party's councillors and huge swings to the opposition has NOT happened. The Lib Dems, the usual protest party have had a disaster.

If you were any more in denial you'd be Egyptian.

 

[TomandJerry]

Greens win in Wirral

The Greens have won their first ever seat in Wirral taking Birkenhead and Tranmere from Labour, reports BBC Radio Merseyside.

 

[Nibble]

It's like paying a bully your lunch money to beat up someone that's bullying you. You may have got shot of the guy who was bullying you but there is still a bully in the playground. He just isn't picking on you. For now.

 

[spring hall convert]

Turnout up on average by 1% on 2012 so far. So that would be about 33% then. Another fine victory for apathy.

I can not believe it took until the 3rd page for this nugget to come out. If anything, this is the most important number. Turnout at the GE should be between 60 and 70% so for anyone to suggest that the results here have any bearing on Westminster next year is sheer fantasy.

Fair play to UKIP though, they've mobilised their vote through effective campaigning. I find their message distasteful personally but they've had a good night.

 

[spring hall convert]

What democracy? Regardless of the party in power, all cabinets are run by public schoolboys for the benefit of public schoolboys. There is no actual choice at all just the same people wearing different colour rosettes.

Farage himself being both ex public school and an ex investment banker.

 

[knocky1]

Shirley the greatest irony will be on Sunday when UKIP win seats in the European Parlaiment that they don't want us to be part of, excepting their expenses and salaries.

The rise of the little,xenophobic, Englander will certainly make the next election strategies more interesting. The Tories and Labour now have to work on not losing voters to UKIP. The years of little difference between the major parties is about to change.

 

[keaton]

Err...new party defending 1 seat, now having 90 and this is 'local' elections - not even their usual battleground. Meanwhile, the usual mid-term collapse of the incumbent Government party's councillors and huge swings to the opposition has NOT happened. The Lib Dems, the usual protest party have had a disaster.

If you were any more in denial you'd be Egyptian.

What am I denying?

The Lib Dems have had a disaster but they're still twice the size of UKIP, who've done well. I don't think the Lib Dems can do much worse and I don't think UKIP can do much better (and they certainly won't if they're taken more seriously and their policies are examined).

 

[TomandJerry]

Tory MP John Baron has told the Guardian that UKIP's performance shows the political establishment has been too complacent on the EU. The Conservatives have lost control of the council in Mr Baron's constituency of Basildon and Billericay. He said Downing Street needed to learn from its mistakes and Labour and the Lib Dems should "wake up" and support the Tories' commitment to an EU referendum.

 

[Buzzer]

What am I denying?

That it's great for UKIP and crap for Labour. Lib Dems have said that UKIP had a great night. Tories are saying they had a great night. Labour should have been slaughtering the Tories across the board after the mess we're currently in. Even Labour MPs are saying that they were unprofessional and not done as well as they should.

The Lib Dems have had a disaster but they're still twice the size of UKIP, who've done well. I don't think the Lib Dems can do much worse and I don't think UKIP can do much better (and they certainly won't if they're taken more seriously and their policies are examined).

The Lib Dems can and probably will do much worse. They may well return to their irrelevance that they were in the 60s and 70s. The trouble now is that UKIP is an incredibly strong party in the South-West, the Lib Dem's heartland.

 

[spring hall convert]

Shame his brother wimped out of the leadership contest. I think he would have been a superb Labour party leader.

I think he would have been better. I don't think he would have stopped the bleed of the traditional Labour vote though.

 

[TomandJerry]

And, according to the Press Association, Ukip have won their first seat on Weymouth and Portland council when local party chairman Francis Drake beat the current mayor, Ray Banham, a Lib Dem.

 

[Buzzer]

I think he would have been better. I don't think he would have stopped the bleed of the traditional Labour vote though.

I think either Milliband is a disaster for Labour. They're professional politicians, part of the London intelligentsia. They should have gone for Alan Johnson, a man with a genuine affinity and understanding of how important his party is and why the role of the unions is an integral part of that.

 

[TomandJerry]

Fragoff party takes a seat from Labour in Sefton. First win. They campaign to save Greenbelt.

 

[JJ McClure]

Labour should have been slaughtering the Tories across the board after the mess we're currently in. Even Labour MPs are saying that they were unprofessional and not done as well as they should.
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Not sure if I've misread / misunderstood that but what mess are we currently in that the Tories should be being slaughtered for?

 

[spring hall convert]

Err...new party defending 1 seat, now having 90 and this is 'local' elections - not even their usual battleground. Meanwhile, the usual mid-term collapse of the incumbent Government party's councillors and huge swings to the opposition has NOT happened. The Lib Dems, the usual protest party have had a disaster.

If you were any more in denial you'd be Egyptian.

I agree with you, this is a horrifying result for Labour. Most of the UKIP protest will vote Tory when it comes to the crunch but where's Labour's vote gone? We are in the 4th year of an unpopular anti- public sector, anti-welfare Government and Labour still aren't polling anywhere near what they need to win the next GE outright.

The truth is rightly or wrongly is that a fair chunk of the old working class Labour vote don't trust them. I have massive sympathy with that view.

 

[wellquickwoody]

wow..just wow...The more of them there are, the more comedy I think im going to be laughing at.

'Ukip blames its rubbish London election performance on difficulty appealing to the 'educated and cultured'

Dave, we are all entitled to an opinion, even you. But you are only making yourself look silly right now, UKIP have had a result, accept it, move on, let it go.