Reply to: Local Tories

[saptastic]

Being a snob as the turn out in local elections is low, people who bothered to vote tend to know what they are voting for.

So when a party is incompetent in local government, can't be bothered to interact with the local residents or too many of them are under investigation by the police ( the latter two occurred previously with some local councillors in my borough), then people with this knowledge vote for alternative parties.

Btw this is also why I say some well-known MPs, regardless of party, are tulip or good even though I'm not and have never been their constituent. In the negative cases I've also seen documentation as the bread and butter work of an MP is supporting your local constituents.

Yeah need to check this out when i can be bothered - strange such a big defeat to labour when everywhere else in London was Red.

But quick peek says there was corruption plus council tax had been raised by the maximum amount for the eighth consecutive year.
And there are constant cycle lanes that pi** everyone off.

[SueEllen]

Strange in my london borough there was a big swing from labour to conservatives

Must have been local labour incompetence outweighing national tory incompetence

Being a snob as the turn out in local elections is low, people who bothered to vote tend to know what they are voting for.

So when a party is incompetent in local government, can't be bothered to interact with the local residents or too many of them are under investigation by the police ( the latter two occurred previously with some local councillors in my borough), then people with this knowledge vote for alternative parties.

Btw this is also why I say some well-known MPs, regardless of party, are tulip or good even though I'm not and have never been their constituent. In the negative cases I've also seen documentation as the bread and butter work of an MP is supporting your local constituents.

[saptastic]

Strange in my london borough there was a big swing from labour to conservatives

Must have been local labour incompetence outweighing national tory incompetence

[malvolio]

...
The safer the seat is, the less good an MP needs to be to hold it ironically. And the Labour contender will similarly be some totally inexperienced youngster (as like as not) using it to learn the ropes and therefore not realistically electable anyway.

Not so sure in this case. There have been several significant things that would greatly benefit from the help of an MP to resolve around here. The common feeling seems to be "If your MP wont talk to you at all, then what the hell use is he. Anybody, even the lunatic LD likely candidate, would be preferable".

[SueEllen]

The safer the seat is, the less good an MP needs to be to hold it ironically. And the Labour contender will similarly be some totally inexperienced youngster (as like as not) using it to learn the ropes and therefore not realistically electable anyway.

Not completely true.

I can remember two occasions when a safe council seat and a safe parliamentary seat changed.

In the case council seat the Lib Dem spent about 5 years making himself known in the area so lots of people voted for him. Though he only stood for one term as being a councilor is tulip. He got the seat from a Tory.

In the parliamentary seat the Labour MP was no where to be found. He was dragged out to go door stepping with some local Labour councilors and I saw he walking around miserably. He disappeared before he got to the road I lived on. On the other hand the Tory candidate spent 2 years making himself known in the area. He was bloody everywhere. You would randomly get off the tube or train in the evening and he would be there. You would randomly go to one of the large supermarkets and he would be there... He duly got elected.

[d000hg]

Sadly despite our PM being an idiot there is no viable alternative.

I have several negative terms I would apply to Boris, but he's clearly not an idiot. Apart from anything else, think about whether any other leader would have survived this long in power with the things he's done. That isn't by accident.

The next election will be interesting in my constituency thugh. Our MP is James Heappey, who never answers mails or phone calls, holds no surgeries and has zero presence in the area beyond a rare photo op at some worthy cause. He has also voted with the government on every occasion. Complete waste of space in many people's eye's - except the likely alternatives are even less desirable.

The safer the seat is, the less good an MP needs to be to hold it ironically. And the Labour contender will similarly be some totally inexperienced youngster (as like as not) using it to learn the ropes and therefore not realistically electable anyway.

[malvolio]

It's probably just as much a case of not wanting to support Labour, who are proving every bit as incompetent (measure that how you will...) and deceitful.

Much support for the LD Muppets down here, safe in the knowledge they will never be in power. And to be fair the local LD councilors are well engaged in the local affairs here

The next election will be interesting in my constituency thugh. Our MP is James Heappey, who never answers mails or phone calls, holds no surgeries and has zero presence in the area beyond a rare photo op at some worthy cause. He has also voted with the government on every occasion. Complete waste of space in many people's eye's - except the likely alternatives are even less desirable.

[vetran]

Sadly despite our PM being an idiot there is no viable alternative.

[tazdevil]

Well people in Wandsworth and Westminster weren't fooled.

People in Wandsworth and Westminster are fools

[d000hg]

There are plenty that are though - especially here in South East Essex.

Sadly it's far too often the case. Partisanship is something I really dislike.

[TheDude]

Not every Tory/Labour voter is so partisan as to automatically side with their guy regardless.

There are plenty that are though - especially here in South East Essex.

[d000hg]

It means the only people making noise about Partygate were never going to vote for Boris anyway, those that supported him it didn't matter

I don't think that's the case. Lots of Tories including MPS have publicly condemned him for it. Not every Tory/Labour voter is so partisan as to automatically side with their guy regardless.

[SimonMac]

Considering all the stuff that's been going on with partygate and other scandals, this seems a very damp squib. Tories see some losses in certain areas but no clear and drastic slap in the face, and we'd expect some modest losses regardless.

Does this mean that the public really has got bored of the partygate thing and doesn't care Boris got a fine? Or does Ukraine overshadow it?

It means the only people making noise about Partygate were never going to vote for Boris anyway, those that supported him it didn't matter

[d000hg]

Considering all the stuff that's been going on with partygate and other scandals, this seems a very damp squib. Tories see some losses in certain areas but no clear and drastic slap in the face, and we'd expect some modest losses regardless.

Does this mean that the public really has got bored of the partygate thing and doesn't care Boris got a fine? Or does Ukraine overshadow it?

[SimonMac]

Local elections are protest votes as most people don't think they matter, most won't vote for Labour so I exepct the Lib Dems to come out of this best, Tories will lose seats as expected but not to Labour so they will contine to fight among themselves