Super Thursday - Elections 2021

[brad465]

West Midlands' Mayor has gone to second preference voting, with incumbent Andy Street on 48.7% and Labour Co-Op Liam Byrne on 39.7% in round 1. I expect Andy will still win it but Labour have at least avoided a first round defeat here.

In West of England this is also a run-off with Labour ahead on 33.4% and Tory candidate Samuel Williams (who Johnson couldn't remember the name of) on 28.6%.

 

[Typhoon]

West Midlands' Mayor has gone to second preference voting, with incumbent Andy Street on 48.7% and Labour Co-Op Liam Byrne on 39.7% in round 1. I expect Andy will still win it but Labour have at least avoided a first round defeat here.

Last time round Street 41.9%, Simon (Labour) 40.8%. So Byrne's percentage vote not that much lower than last time (actual vote is higher). Squeeze was on LibDem and UKIP (now Reform).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Yet on the other side of the coin is that Greater Manchester has Andy Burnham standing for re-election of Mayor, who was well known in the higher reaches of the Labour Party before taking his current role, who not so long ago raised his profile in a stance against the Government, wants to launch his pet plan for the re-regulation of the bus services et al in Greater Manchester, but has been quiet as the proverbial mouse in informing those voting for the next mayoral appointment in Greater Manchester that there will be a rise in Council Tax precepts in all ten areas of Greater Manchester to pay for the scheme.

Andy Burnham elected with over 67% of the vote, so no need for second preference votes.

Burnham (Labour)..............473,024........67.3%
Evans (Conservative)..........137,753........19.6%
These were the only two of note worth mentioning, as others only registered minor percentages.

Yellow buses are to be his legacy to Greater Manchester.

 

[WelshBluebird]

In West of England this is also a run-off with Labour ahead on 33.4% and Tory candidate Samuel Williams (who Johnson couldn't remember the name of) on 28.6%.

West of England ended with a clear Labour win once 2nd choices were counted. Very surprised and pretty pleased with that given the Tory voting nature of a lot of the countryside around Bristol and Bath. I had voted Green as a first choice with Labour as second, fully expecting it to end up with red and blue in the runoff. And based on the results breakdown it seems like quite a lot in Bristol did the same (greens came 2nd in terms of first choices for Bristol).

 

[Ianno87]

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral vote goes to second round. Lib Dems eliminated leaving incumbent Tory (Palmer) and Labour (only 3 candidates stood)

Labour wins Cambs mayoral election from Tories - BBC News

Nik Johnson beats the incumbent Conservative mayor James Palmer in the second round of voting.

www.bbc.co.uk

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election has gone to a second round of counting after no candidate secured more than 50% of the vote.
Conservative James Palmer is leading the contest with 93,942 first-choice ballots, which was 40.5% of the vote.
Labour candidate Nik Johnson was in second place with 32.8% of the vote.
The other candidate has been eliminated and people who voted for him as first choice will see their second choices brought into play.
The Liberal Democrat candidate Aidan Van de Weyer was in third place with 26.7% of the votes. No other candidates were standing.

 

[birchesgreen]

Turnout in Birmingham for the WM mayor / PCC election was apparently just under 11% according to the Gruniad, if that's true then that's a shocking figure!

 

[brad465]

Turnout in Birmingham for the WM mayor / PCC election was apparently just under 11% according to the Gruniad, if that's true then that's a shocking figure!

Which shows that "Super Thursday", for all its hype, wasn't living up to its name with regards to voting numbers (except maybe in Welsh/Scottish elections). I said in an earlier post that if apathy could be personified, they'd win by a landslide in many areas.

 

[yorksrob]

.

Andy Burnham elected with over 67% of the vote, so no need for second preference votes.

Burnham (Labour)..............473,024........67.3%
Evans (Conservative)..........137,753........19.6%
These were the only two of note worth mentioning, as others only registered minor percentages.

Yellow buses are to be his legacy to Greater Manchester.

I'm very pleased that Andy Burnham's won a resounding victory. He did provide opposition to the Government.

Perhaps not so surprising. One of the wards in Ashford East (which is a town ward) is represented by two Green councillors (one the successful candidate). The LibDem vote went from 1426 to 136 so probably a mass switch (different candidate). Ashford LibDems have no town councillors so maybe it was a surprise that they had a county councillor? The leadership of the council is largely drawn from the rural areas or small towns surrounding Ashford and local media gives the impression that this influences their decision making, which does not necessarily go down well in Ashford town. The opposition on the council is The Ashford Independent Group whose aim appears to be to keep party politics out of local government.
Voters might also have been influenced by the work that went on in the construction of the lorry park, complete with flashing lights and large vehicles going along narrow roads, for 24 hours a day because it was started too late and no-one thought that a site named 'Waterbrook' might flood!

Swale East is more interesting. There is a lot of house building going on in the area which appears to be unpopular because of the pressure put upon resources (largely roads), the local MP, Helen Whately, is opposed although some have unhelpfully pointed out to her that the council is simply following government policy. Like Ashford East, one ward within the constituency is represented by two Greens. The Greens seem to be following the policy once used by the Liberals, build from the bottom.

Greens also gained both seats for Tonbridge.

Regarding the Canterbury results, Labour are the predominant party in the city with 7 councillors, 3 LibDems, 1 Conservative. In a by-election in the city yesterday, the Conservative came fourth. The MP is also Labour. What is perhaps surprising is that the defeat of Conservatives is usually blamed on the student vote, I don't suppose so many voted this time.

In Swale West a county council cabinet member of some prominence was defeated by the Swale Independents candidate. He had been the UKIP candidate last time around!

Edit: Should have added - Romney Marsh - last time UKIP and an independent both got over 1,000 votes, the independent didn't stand and the UKIP vote collapsed. Conservatives and, to a lesser extent, Labour and Green, were the beneficiaries.

To be fair, its a long time since I lived in that neck of the woods !

 

[alex397]

Regarding the Canterbury results, Labour are the predominant party in the city with 7 councillors, 3 LibDems, 1 Conservative. In a by-election in the city yesterday, the Conservative came fourth. The MP is also Labour. What is perhaps surprising is that the defeat of Conservatives is usually blamed on the student vote, I don't suppose so many voted this time.

Conversely, Canterbury City Council (which also covers Whitstable and Herne Bay) is Tory run. They seem to have caused a bit of controversy in recent years with their multi-storey car park and their plans to build on a water meadow (now shelved). I saw many posters in windows opposing this, so maybe this also helped Labour/LibDems?
Yes the success of Labour’s Rosie Duffield MP was ‘blamed’ by some of the locals on those pesky students, but most of them are not here at the moment.

With the by-election, are you referring to the Westgate ward? As the Tory councillor actually came 3rd. Labour elected, LibDem 2nd, and Greens 4th.

Unlike in some other areas of Kent, Greens not really getting much more support in Canterbury. From what I gather, they don’t seem very proactive in this area.

 

[37424]

Well I guess we have to wait until Tomorrow for the Winner in my neck of the woods, West York's although expect Miss Coronation Street will get it for Labour unfortunately. On the plus side she will have to stand down from her constituency which is also mine that could be an interesting by-election.

As someone who part Scottish I am disappointed in the scots and their vote for the SNP and the Greens, i have to say I find the Scottish Greens more disturbing than the SNP.

 

[Ianno87]

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral vote goes to second round. Lib Dems eliminated leaving incumbent Tory (Palmer) and Labour (only 3 candidates stood)

Labour wins Cambs mayoral election from Tories - BBC News

Nik Johnson beats the incumbent Conservative mayor James Palmer in the second round of voting.

www.bbc.co.uk

Result now confirmed as a Labour win.

 

[Typhoon]

Conversely, Canterbury City Council (which also covers Whitstable and Herne Bay) is Tory run. They seem to have caused a bit of controversy in recent years with their multi-storey car park and their plans to build on a water meadow (now shelved). I saw many posters in windows opposing this, so maybe this also helped Labour/LibDems?
Yes the success of Labour’s Rosie Duffield MP was ‘blamed’ by some of the locals on those pesky students, but most of them are not here at the moment.

With the by-election, are you referring to the Westgate ward? As the Tory councillor actually came 3rd. Labour elected, LibDem 2nd, and Greens 4th.

Unlike in some other areas of Kent, Greens not really getting much more support in Canterbury. From what I gather, they don’t seem very proactive in this area.

Westgate - you are right, I just looked at the Declaration of Poll, which I took to be the order of finishing, especially as 1st and 2nd were listed in that order. Thanks.

Canterbury City Council is Tory run but it consists of more than just the constituency of Canterbury, there is also, as you say, Herne Bay, which accounts for 10 of the 23 Conservative councillors.

Greens - oddly, the Green candidate was the only one I saw out campaigning in the General Election. Seemed a good chap. In Canterbury itself LibDems have some well established (and well regarded) councillors so it might be a tactical approach - instead support the councillors in the east of Swale.

 

[takno]

As someone who part Scottish I am disappointed in the scots and their vote for the SNP and the Greens, i have to say I find the Scottish Greens more disturbing than the SNP.

I'm with you on that. They don't seem very interested in green issues at all, and don't have much respect for any kind of debate on anything

 

[adrock1976]

Regarding the Mayor elections, do the winning candidates resign their party affiliation like how the Speaker of the Commons and the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament does?

Or are those elections an extension of "jobs for the boys/girls" who have fell out of favour with the upper echelons of their party?

 

[tspaul26]

Regarding the Mayor elections, do the winning candidates resign their party affiliation like how the Speaker of the Commons and the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament does?

Or are those elections an extension of "jobs for the boys/girls" who have fell out of favour with the upper echelons of their party?

No, they do not. Why would they?

 

[adrock1976]

No, they do not. Why would they?

Because they are supposed to represent the regional/metro area, which involves cross party working.

 

[Gloster]

Because they are supposed to represent the regional/metro area, which involves cross party working.

And a winning politician at any level, from Westminster to parish councils, is supposed to represent all their constituents, but they retain their political allegiance. The mayors will be judged at the next mayoral election on their overall performance: if they are too politically partisan, they (and/or their party) lose out. And mayors can be reasonably independent as they don’t have whips looking over their shoulders.

 

[37424]

Regarding the Mayor elections, do the winning candidates resign their party affiliation like how the Speaker of the Commons and the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament does?

Or are those elections an extension of "jobs for the boys/girls" who have fell out of favour with the upper echelons of their party?

Not sure why they would do that when they are campaigning with the party they represent.

What I do find a bit odd is that if the Mayoral role includes the role of Police and Crime commissioner as well then any sitting MP who wins has to stand down as an MP but if it doesn't include that role then they can also stay as an MP as well. So if Tracy Brabin wins West York's she will have to stand down as an MP but Dan Jarvis Sheffield City region Mayor is still an MP.

 

[DarloRich]

Regarding the Mayor elections, do the winning candidates resign their party affiliation like how the Speaker of the Commons and the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament does?

Or are those elections an extension of "jobs for the boys/girls" who have fell out of favour with the upper echelons of their party?

what on earth are you talking about? Using your logic and MP should be elected on a party ticket then stand down and serve as an independent!

Not sure why they would do that when they are campaigning with the party they represent.

What I do find a bit odd is that if the Mayoral role includes the role of Police and Crime commissioner as well then any sitting MP who wins has to stand down as an MP but if it doesn't include that role then they can also stay as an MP as well. So if Tracy Brabin wins West York's she will have to stand down as an MP but Dan Jarvis Sheffield City region Mayor is still an MP.

there is clearly an anomaly there. Johnson will get rid of the Mayors. People keep voting in the wrong party via a PR system that doesn't rewqrd him!

My take is that after having been a member of this Forum for many years, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of Labour Supporters on here are from the "Middle Class Wing" of the Party whether by Education, Occupation or Income. They are unable to relate to the everyday challenges faced by poor workers in the UK. When I say Poor I don't mean "NHS Poor" but National Living Wage Poor.

This is borne out when issues are raised that would be of great assistance to the poor that our Labour acolytes seem to have no comprehension of or simply don't care about as they are not personally affected.

Let's talk about SSP being raised to at least the The Minimum Wage Level so people are able to self-isolate without loss of income. Particularly important at the moment but surely an everyday requirement for people to afford a civilised lifestyle during periods of illness ?

Some form of reward for the poor who have worked through the pandemic often having to utilise Public Transport and exposing themselves to the associated risks to keep things going. No furlough payments or cushy home working surely this deserves some recognition ? NHS Staff and some Supermarket Workers benefitted but the majority got SFA.

These are just two issues I a Left Wing Conservative have raised and have sunk without trace in the middle class pseudo socialist miasma that exists within this forum. One of them degenerated into an argument about NHS Management Pension Grading's !!

So all you "Champagne Socialists" on Good Salaries, Index Linked Pensions and Generous Sick Pay Schemes are you surprised the peasants are revolting and want a bit more of the pie.

I think you have a touch of the vapours there! Johnson is happy to slice up the pie. More for him and his chums. Not even crumbs for the rest.

BTW - I have a fair bit of experience of being " poor": Ever stood in Morrisons without enough money for the week wondering if you could nick some cans of soup? No? I have. Perhaps it was choosing between light or heat because I couldn't afford to top up both meter cards. Maybe it was selling your sofa to pay for your weeks bills. I did that. I have been lucky in life but have had some terrible times and got through them with the support of good people and a welfare state. it was a while a go now ( luckily) but destitution is only a few steps away for any of us.

That's why I don't understand why people can vote for someone like Johnson. He doesn't care about you, me or even his wife.

I love it, summed it up succinctly are you there Darlorich ?

Not sure I am employed as a spokesman for the Labour party (I am happy to do it but you might find my style a bit direct for question time) but that article is silly and self publicising with a core of truth. Anyone using a word like bourgeoise and focusing on class is part of the problem. I suspect he jumped before he was pushed looking at the reshuffle that seems to be underway. To be honest I don't even know what half of those words mean or who this chap is.

He right in that Labour need to get the Corbyn clowns and their hangers on out and start to present a new image to the public. Trust has been lost by employing as leader ( against my advice) a complete crackpot with a back catalogue of lunacy and crank positions on every subject! Long Corbyn will take years to recover from.

 

[KashmireHawker]

Turnout in Birmingham for the WM mayor / PCC election was apparently just under 11% according to the Gruniad, if that's true then that's a shocking figure!

That my friend was completely false. Like everywhere across England, turnout INCREASED.

Turnout for both were:

Mayor: 31.23% (UP 4.5% on 2017)
PCC: 31.02% (UP 2.29% on 2016)

 

[WelshBluebird]

Greens and Labour through to the 2nd choice run offs for Bristol.

1st choices were:
Marvin Rees (Labour) 50k
Sandy Hore-Ruthven (Green) 36k
Alistair Watson (Tory) 25k
Caroline Gooch (Lib Dem) 15k

Labour and Green votes pretty damn similar in Brisrol across for all 3 first choices now announced (PCC, WECA, Bristol). Nice to see the Greens beating the Tories here at least, though it looks like they haven't done enough for any of the actual positions. They may have some better news tomorrow with the council results though.

Oh and Kahn has won in London. Which I don't think was actually in any doubt despite the initial noise made by people who didn't understand the voting system used.

 

[Butts]

That my friend was completely false. Like everywhere across England, turnout INCREASED.

Turnout for both were:

Mayor: 31.23% (UP 4.5% on 2017)
PCC: 31.02% (UP 2.29% on 2016)

How did you get on in Wolverhampton ?

 

[birchesgreen]

That my friend was completely false. Like everywhere across England, turnout INCREASED.

Turnout for both were:

Mayor: 31.23% (UP 4.5% on 2017)
PCC: 31.02% (UP 2.29% on 2016)

Yeah glad about that, thought it was too low.

 

[londiscape]

Disappointing to see Conservative retain control of Surrey County Council, but on the plus side they lost 10 seats, bucking the national trend, while the Lib Dems and residents/taxpayers associations increased their influence by 5 seats apiece. Worth noting that in this area, there was no option to vote for a fully anti-lockdown party, for me the Lib Dems were the closest even though I had to hold my nose a little.

Also disappointing to see that the Tory candidate for PCC was elected after a run off of second preference votes with the Lib Dem candidate coming in second.

 

[tommy2215]

Possibly one of the most significant results of the council elections, Labour have lost control of Durham County Council for the first time since World War I. Ouch. It is nice to see the Green Party doing well, making a net gain of 70 councillors so far.

 

[birchesgreen]

After poor election results with many calls for the party to become less London centric, a knee-jerk reaction in sacking a high profile Northern woman is a bold move.

 

[KashmireHawker]

How did you get on in Wolverhampton ?

For your Benefit @Butts, here is my full result below - and thanks to Labour standing 2 candidates (unlike when there was also a By-Election in 2019), our collective vote went up 9%!

On that basis and that the Conservatives vote share on 2019 fell by 3%; in the ward with there strongest support anywhere in Wolves and with the highest turnout, I am quite pleased.


Votes Cast: 7,493

Ballot Papers Issued: 4,210

Turnout: 46.64%


Votes and Percentages Per Candidate:

Ellis Turrell – Conservatives: 2,505 – 33.43%

Jonathan Crofts – Conservatives: 2,470 – 32.97%

WALKER DARKE – Labour Party: 894 – 11.93%

KASHMIRE HAWKER – Labour Party: 789 – 10.53%

Andrea Cantrill – Green Party: 326 – 4.36%

Chris Brookes – Green Party: 230 –3.07%

Peter Hollis – Liberal Democrats: 162 – 2.16%

David Marsh – Liberal Democrats: 116 – 1.55%



Votes and Percentages Per Party:

Conservatives: 4,975 – 66.4%

Labour Party: 1,683 – 22.46%

Green Party: 556 – 7.43%

Liberal Democrats: 278 – 3.71%

 

[Bantamzen]

After poor election results with many calls for the party to become less London centric, a knee-jerk reaction in sacking a high profile Northern woman is a bold move.

This pretty much sums up Starmer. He says he accepts responsibility for Labour's performance, so he sacks someone else.

 

[DarloRich]

After poor election results with many calls for the party to become less London centric, a knee-jerk reaction in sacking a high profile Northern woman is a bold move.

This pretty much sums up Starmer. He says he accepts responsibility for Labour's performance, so he sacks someone else.

Anyone with a shred of intelligence can see that isn't what has happened. Rayner is deputy leader of the Labour party. She cant be sacked form that role. What has really happened is that she has been moved from party chair ( a backroom position in the Labour party) and will be given a more meaty shadow cabinet role. Lets not let facts get in the way eh?

It is interesting how the Tories and their enabling Clownbyn/Momentum chums have hyped this. It must be a different Angela Rayner they have spent months slagging off i assume!

 

[birchesgreen]

Try reading some headlines, they all say sacking. That is what people actually see. I know she is the elected deputy (I indeed did vote for her) but most won't see that distinction.