Local government and Mayoral elections on 2nd May

[T_i_B]

It's that time of year again, and this year we have local government elections, Mayoral elections (including London Mayor) and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Please let us know about what elections are on where you live this May, and what local issues are where you live.

This year I have another round of Sheffield City Council elections, with the ward where I live being a close fought contest as always. Big local issues being poor public transport and poorly maintained roads (the councils ongoing PFI contract with Amey for road maintenance being an ongoing sore point).

With the Mayor of South Yorkshire also taking on the tile of Police and Crime Commissioner we also have a Mayoral election, which I expect Labour's Oliver Coppard to win easily.

The main contest the media are focusing on is of course the London Mayoral election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_Kingdom_local_elections

[LeftishBrit]

1. Oxford City Council elections

Overwhelming Labour majority; expect this to continue, though may be reduced somewhat. No Tories at all on the Council.

Apart from the usual stuff about building, planning permission, etc., Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are controversial, and some people are making them an issue- even though that sort of thing is really up to the County Council, who are not up for election this year.

Unusually for a Council election, I haven't heard anything so far about wheelie bins!

[T_i_B]

2. Only one Tory on Sheffield Council

And he's standing down this year.

Over the border in Rotherham a few Tories are up for re-election, although there appears to have been a split in the local party and a bunch of them are now standing as "Local Conservatives" against the actual Conservative Party!

[T_i_B]

11. Labour making steady, unspectacular gains

Thanks mainly to the Tories currently being about as popular as genital warts. However, Labour are not inspiring any great affection and are vulnerable to strong campaigns from other parties. Independents have done remarkably well in a lot of places.

In the very marginal ward where I live the incumbent councillor I like has won with a strong campaign against the lacklustre challenger with heavy backing from their party.

Elsewhere I am pleased that Ben Bradley has failed in his bid to become East Midlands regional mayor. He's already juggling far too many jobs and wouldn't be able to give the role the attention it deserves.

Oh, and the area Labour are going to need to target heavily in South Yorkshire at the next election is Rother Valley. Once about as rock solid Labour as it was possible to get, the Tory vote there is holding up much better than here in Miriam Cates patch for example.

[T_i_B]

13. Unsurprisingly, Oliver Coppard also won re-election easily

I'm not a fan of the guy on a personal level, and he hasn't done enough to stop the decline of public transport locally. But he's clearly an improvement on Dan Jarvis, his predecessor as Mayor.

Again, another subpar candidate from the Conservatives. Nick Allen seemed to have no interest whatsoever in any part of South Yorkshire outside of his mate Nick Fletcher's constituency. And for the record, Nick Fletcher is one of the very worst Tory MP's IMHO so it's not a good idea at all to come across as his flunky.

[T_i_B]

3. Voted this morning

I prefer voting early and I was the 2nd one in the Polling Station.

As far as Sheffield City Council goes, my ward is very marginal and it was a choice between a candidate I have a good working relationship with and a candidate who I honestly don't rate at all.

In the Mayoral election, I know two of the candidates. One of whom I'm not keen on at a personal level, the other I do have a high regard for. (Even if I don't agree with them on every issue!)

The Tory Mayoral candidate looked to be worse than usual for that lot, and as for the SDP candidate, my wife's reaction to reading their blurb in the booklet showcasing all the candidates was 'well I can tell he's a c**t right away"!

[T_i_B]

4. I have a silly question at this point

Has anyone else been getting adverts on social media for London Mayoral candidates, despite not living in London?

I don't live anywhere near that there London town, but I've been getting ads from Susan Hall and some weird looking "independent" called Brian Rose online. Might even have had a couple from Sadiq Khan!

I get well targeted (if dreadful) online adverts from the local MP and her Labour challenger, so why are some London Mayoral campaigns unable to target people who actually live in London?

[Emrys]

5. I haven't seen any such ads so far, but then Twitter's my main social medium apart from DU,

and political ads like that either don't happen on my lists and general fossicking or are swamped by the others that are quickly blocked.

What I have seen is discussion of a lot of the nonsense that's been thrown at Khan, and even more well-deserved ridicule of Hall!

FWIW, I see that a YouGov poll a day ago gave Khan 47% against Hall's 25%.

[T_i_B]

6. Definitely getting those ads on Twitter

Actual ads and promoted tweets, not just the rubbish that gets churned up in the "For You" section on there!

The next election is very likely to be marked by large scale online advertising, data harvesting and astroturf.

[Emrys]

7. Either I've not been targeted by those ads or I've missed them

The internet has always thought I live somewhere down around the Midlands due to the way its location tracking works and where my ISP's nodes are (and the fact I have a half-decent firewall), so I don't know if it's to do with my geographic location - I do get some US ads for products.

It makes a nonsense of all those "Horny chicks are waiting for you within five miles of XXXX" ads! Not that I've seen many in recent times - maybe they found boyfriends. Now they've turned to displaying various bits of themselves in their bios, so they claim anyway.

[LeftishBrit]

8. This is hilarious (about Boris the Prat)

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-turned-away-from-polling-station-after-forgetting-photo-id/ar-AA1o3iQD?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Emrys]

9. Beat me to it!

I just came here to post that.

Here's the Mirror's version:

Boris Johnson turned away from polling station for forgetting voter ID under rules he introduced

Ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson fell foul of the voter ID rules introduced when he was in Downing Street when he tried to cast his ballot in the local elections in South Oxfordshire

Bungling Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station as he didn't have the right ID, the Mirror understands.

The former Prime Minister fell foul of the voter ID rules introduced when he was in Downing Street when he tried to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire today. Polling station staff initially turned him away as he only had an envelope with his name and address on it, according to a source.

Voters must show photo ID like a passport or a driving licence to vote under heavily-criticised rules that Mr Johnson pushed through. Mr Johnson is believed to have returned to vote with the correct ID later.

His spokesman did not deny that he failed to bring his ID, saying only: "Mr Johnson voted Conservative." Earlier in the day, Mr Johnson tweeted: "The polls are now open. Vote Conservative today!"

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-turned-away-polling-32724518

How much do you think the polling station clerk enjoyed turning him away?

"I think I do remember your face from somewhere, but I'm afraid rules is rules, matey."

[T_i_B]

10. Tories lose Blackpool South by election.

And they lost very badly indeed! I'm sure that the conduct of their previous MP Scott Benton was a major factor here. Although it's not all positive as Reform polled very well, almost finishing ahead of the Tories.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-68942651

[LeftishBrit]

12. Still no Tories on Oxford City Council

Last edited Sat May 4, 2024, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

A few Labour losses to Greens and to the anti-LTN Oxford Independent Alliance. (Not that the City Council has anything to do with LTNs; that's entirely a County Council matter; but it didn't stop some candidates from using the issue.)

We now have 20 Labour, nine Lib Dem, eight Green, four Independent Oxford Alliance and seven other assorted Independent councillors.

Nearby, Cherwell District Council is still No Overall Control, but the LibDems took seven seats from the Tories,, and are now the biggest party on a council that was Tory not long ago.