The local election results

After all the hype Labour failed to break through in the local elections. It continues to suffer outside London from its ambivalent stance towards Brexit. In London it did get a further small swing and is well in the lead in votes, Councillors and Councils. There its trimming away from its pro Brexit stance in the 2017 election probably helped a little, particularly with the EU nationals who vote in local but not in national elections. Much of the UKIP vote went Conservative.

Overall Conservatives won control of four Councils and lost control of six, whilst Labour lost control of 2 and gained control of 3. Both main parties got 35% of the vote on the national projections , with Lib Dems rising from their 10% at the General election to 16% in the locals.

The message for the government is clear. People want them to get on with it and see Brexit through quickly and   cleanly. That means taking back control of our borders, our money, our laws, our fish and our trade policy. There is little sympathy for the Remain led cries from the Lords and even from within government to delay, to recreate much of the EU we are leaving, to seek such a comprehensive partnership that we are left paying them money and accepting their laws.  A majority of the public does not believe Project Fear and does not think trade will be damaged  if we do not accept the EU’s terms for a deal.

I found on the doorsteps a refreshing interest in local issues and local concerns, with a good conversation about development, the state of the roads, and housing. Here the incumbents of both parties had to fight to persuade people they are doing a good enough job. Very few Councils changed hands, meaning the benefit of the doubt went to most Councils struggling with these difficult matters.

106 Comments

  1. Lifelogic
    May 5, 2018

    “The message for the government is clear. People want them to get on with it and see Brexit through quickly and cleanly.”

    Exactly, just get on with it. But also stop May and the highest, most complex and most idiotic taxes for 40 years Hammond from their lefty lunacies.

    The collapse of UKIP surely shows clearly what an open goal Cameron had in both of his sitting duck elections. If only he had really been the cast irion, Eurosceptic, low tax at heart leader he falsely claimed to be. May if anything is proving to be even worse. Same broken compass and but with dithering robotic delivery and punishment manifestos too.

    We must prepare for no deal now, and must keep Corbyn/SNP and his magic money con trick policies away from power!

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      May 5, 2018

      L/L. Just the mention of Lab/ SNP makes my blood run cold. Surely the Conservative party can see what they have to do.

      1. Lifelogic
        May 6, 2018

        You would think so. But we have had the dire Major, Cameron, Osborne and Hammond and now we have robotic remainer & PC high taxing socialist T May. It was always clear what they all had to do.

        They just had to restore UK democracy, cut taxes, cut the size of the state and do the things that actually work for a change.

  2. Peter Wood
    May 5, 2018

    Good Morning,
    Dr. Redwood, your penultimate paragraph is the issue; for business/trade the delay in finalising a deal causes the most problems. Knowing the trading rules for post Brexit is needed now, businesses will then adapt. Stop playing games with the commission and Barnier, conclude terms now so that by 2019/2020 we’ll be ready.

    1. Adam
      May 5, 2018

      Peter:

      Business has been aware of the decision to Leave for almost 2 years. Smooth adaptation is important, yet business should now be prepared for various ‘what if’ situations, to implement relatively promptly, unless they have been dawdling, just waiting.

      Some events need instant action unexpectedly. The Falklands Task Force did not take 4 years to mull over the distant options, but reacted with 100 ships within a few days.

  3. Ian wraggwill be civ
    May 5, 2018

    As JR-M says. If we are still in the EU at the next election you will be destroyed.
    The fact that the vote held up in the Midlands and the North shows people want a clean Brexit. If the unelected, unaccountable and unwanted traitors in the Lords get their way there will be civil strife.

  4. Peter
    May 5, 2018

    After the results came the spin. Politicians read what they wanted into the outcome.

    We know UKIP’s vote collapsed.

    It would appear much of it went to Conservatives. Labour did not make the breakthrough they hoped for. Liberal Democrats did OK in SW London.

    Mrs. May could choose to believe that it is an endorsement of her. The election results do not now provide a convenient excuse to remove her.

    Leave can claim it is Leaver voters who kept the Conservatives from big losses on the night and the Conservative party must therefore deliver what they want.

    I do not know how it will all pan out.

    I am trying to imagine a way the UK could leave the EU on ‘No Deal’ terms. Unfortunately that still seems highly unlikely. A protracted fudge- Brexit in Name Only-beckons.

  5. hans christian ivers
    May 5, 2018

    John

    The fact that Brexit was hardly discussed at local level during the council elections just seems to have escaped you

    Reply Not true. I went out to discuss local issues, but there was some discussion from voters of Brexit, and the voting patterns were different in strongly Remain London from Brexit rest of England

    1. Peter Parsons
      May 5, 2018

      There is no “Brexit rest of England”. Wokingham, West Berkshire and Reading all had a majority reman vote and they are all in the “rest of England”.

      1. Peter Parsons
        May 5, 2018

        remain vote

    2. hans christian ivers
      May 5, 2018

      John,

      is this why, the remain party had a 60% up take of votes in England, because the voters wanted a quick resolution to the Brexit vote, by the Conservative government, do not make me laugh get your facts right first

    3. hans christian ivers
      May 5, 2018

      John

      Stay with the facts the only winners in this election was the Liberals, so stay with the facts and not your particular selected stories, it is all rather embarrassing when you make stores up as you sometimes do

      Reply The Lib Dems came a poor third in votes, seats and Councils.

  6. eeyore
    May 5, 2018

    These results are being spun as a Labour failure, but do not underestimate Mr Corbyn. He remains a formidable demagogue with a simple populist message. Nonetheless he is 68 and will not last for ever.

    No other Labour figure shares his unlikely appeal with both the naive and the nasty. Could it be that Labour/Momentum after Corbyn will be like UKIP after Farage – dead in the water and fast going under?

  7. Bryan Harris
    May 5, 2018

    Let’s face it – this brings us back to the status quo… hacked off by tories or labour, voters go for the greens, libdems, and even independants… which is not an acceptable balance any more.
    The commons is now split with Tories/DUP – on the right…. with all the other parties on the left….. WHEN is it going to occur to the tory party that they need a sister right of centre party, to soak up their votes when people have gone off them – just as libdems collect labour votes…
    If I were a tory MP, i’d be doing everything to encourage UKIP, knowing that they would be there to support the tories, when the rest of the house was playing dirty politics.

    1. Bob
      May 5, 2018

      @Bryan Harris
      A split of the conservative vote could lead to a Corbynist government.
      This risk prolongs the current Hobson’s choice of socialism vs Stalinism.

      1. Bryan Harris
        May 5, 2018

        @Bob – I see your point, but I’m expecting UKIP will gain seats from all parties, and when the Tories lose the election, or need propping up, UKIP would be there to retain some sensible right of centre policies…

    2. L Jones
      May 5, 2018

      That’s very thought-provoking. But isn’t that asking some selflessness from politicians? So I don’t suppose it’d ever come to pass. (Saving your presence, kind Host.)

      1. Bryan Harris
        May 5, 2018

        Yes, but it’s also about survival of sense – Can we really afford another labour government – especially with corbyn, and especially at this time…. with so many forces lined up against us?

    3. GilesB
      May 5, 2018

      You might be right (pun noted) if we had proportional representation. But we don’t. Splitting the sensible vote is not a good idea. Look how LibDems and Greens colluded in this election to win seats.

  8. agricola
    May 5, 2018

    I gather that as a percentage of the electorate the turnout was very low. A pox on all your houses comment. Maybe some of the UKIP vote went conservative, but I would not be surprised if much of it stayed at home. Some may think that UKIP’s raison d’etre has passed. Like you I do not entirely trust the present government to get it right in all respects, so I say not until the fat lady sings. The final departure of Nigel Farage and the confused way they have conducted themselves since cannot have helped their cause.

    On a clean Brexit I do hope that Mrs May has got and accepted the message. I doubt the confusion in both major political parties had much effect on these local elections.

    If in the future you wish the electorate to see the difference between a conservative and a labour council, then you need to ensure that in the conservative led ones, the bins are collected, the roads are made good, the hospitals respond to need, houses are built for sale or rent that local people can afford, and overall local taxation is kept at an affordable level. The electorate will not be slow to judge.

    1. Adam
      May 5, 2018

      agricola:

      Many claims are made about UKIP being ‘useless, owing to their not having any MPs’.

      In contrast, they have 19 Members of Parliament: as MEPs. They are the 3rd-largest party in the European Parliament. Perhaps it is the EU’s uselessness which reflects fecklessness upon them.

      Interim replacement leader Gerard Batten performs well, with quality research & solid rationales, yet has had little time to generate results. Nigel Farage is, however, reaching millions of opinion influencers weekly via LBC broadcasts & his other means.

      A few crucial moments on TV can transform suddenly how the country votes, as Edward Heath found to his cost.

  9. Peter
    May 5, 2018

    On a local level I was glad to see the back of a Conservative council with an arrogant leader who was too close to dubious property deals.

    I was not so happy that we got Liberal Democrats instead though.

    I voted for neither party. Independents who are in tune with local issues would be my preference. We did not have those in my ward either. Nor the Monster Raving Loony Party. I can certainly see why many don’t bother to vote.

    1. GilesB
      May 5, 2018

      So why didn’t you stand?

  10. Dave Andrews
    May 5, 2018

    Local councils are constrained by statute to divert all their resources into adult care, and still have insufficient resources to do that. Forget about mending pot-holes, there’s no money left for that.
    Party politics has no value at the local level. All you want is individuals with the skill to do more with less.

  11. fedupsoutherner
    May 5, 2018

    what is needed now is a clear message from a united Conservative party that they will deliver a clean and total Brexit. In other words, what was promised two years ago now by David Cameron and what those who chose to look at the options carefully, voted for. Please do not tell me we did not know what we were voting for when it was quite clear on the leaflet costing ÂŁ9million and delivered to every home.

    If Mrs May made clear what was truly going on within the EU and the future plans if we stay in the EU I am sure she could get a large majority in another election especially if her and Hammond went onto introducing a lower tax economy, get rid of the green crap which is costly and inefficient and took a tougher stance over ministers that are holding back the party. We all know who they are. UKIP have shot themselves in the foot over bad management and with Farage leaving the party due to internal problems. They only have themselves to blame. Let’s see some Trump like policies coming to the fore and a bit more fighting for Britain which is what the public like to see. Charity begins at home.

    1. forthurst
      May 5, 2018

      When did Farage leave the Party; if so, how come he is still President of the EFDD in the EU Parliament representing UKIP?

      1. fedupsoutherner
        May 5, 2018

        Forthurst

        Do you have to be so pedantic? I think even you know what I mean. Ok, stood down as Leader of UKIP. I expect you’ll find something wrong with that too!! Some people.

  12. oldtimer
    May 5, 2018

    The question has been raised, on politicalbetting.com, whether the small army of Corbyn enthusiasts can be deployed effectively in door step campaigning in territory that is unfamiliar to them. This, it was suggested, is why they were unsuccessful in the London constituencies they had targetted. They can and apparently do make a lot of noise on social media but this does not translate so well on the street.

    Mrs May, and the other Remainers in the cabinet, would do well to note that to note that the Conservatives were the principal beneficiaries of the collapse of the UKIP vote and did well in areas which voted for Brexit. The message was clear. Get on with it. Stop faffing around. Stop pandering to the interests of big business at the expense of the rest of us.

  13. Lifelogic
    May 5, 2018

    May really must face down the Lords as Charles Moore says today. Without that the Tories will surely fail.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/05/04/peers-vs-people-power-grab-confirms-thesis-led-brexit/

    1. Bob
      May 5, 2018

      David Cameron said that if we voted to leave would we would leave without further ado.

      Two years later we’re still in.

      1. Lifelogic.
        May 5, 2018

        He made loads of other Cast Iron lies too. He even pretended to be a low tax at heart, Eurosceptic Conservative when he was the complete opposite.

  14. Denis Cooper
    May 5, 2018

    But certain people don’t want us to take back control of our trade policy.

    I will just say “certain people” rather than naming names because they fall into different categories and I don’t know all of their names.

    Let’s see what the EU has to say about this; I pick out this December 2009 piece on its website because it conveniently reminds us how the same kind of disloyal people in the UK establishment acted together to prevent us having a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, just as they had done with their preceding four EC/EU treaties – the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Nice Treaty:

    http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=493

    “Treaty of Lisbon enters into force – Implications for the EU’s trade policy”

    Note that this is “the EU’s trade policy”, the creation of which “followed as a logical consequence of the formation of a customs union among its Member States”, which “establishes common rules including, among others, a common customs tariff, a common import and export regime and the undertaking of uniform trade liberalization measures as well as trade defence instruments”, and which has now been “explicitly placed under the exclusive competence of the Union (Article 3 of the Treaty of Lisbon)”

    You don’t have to accept all of that just because you may not have yet perfected your practical arrangements for collecting customs dues or for inspecting goods to check their quality, the intellectual fraud which it seems eurofederalist senior civil servants now wish to perpetrate on ministers including the Prime Minister, and on the wider public.

    As for the burning, supposedly intractable, question of what the UK government should do at the land border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic when we leave the EU, the answer is that the UK government should do nothing at all at that border, at least for now and for the foreseeable future.

    Why should it be necessary for us to change anything at the border? What new problems will arise when we leave the EU that have not already existed for the quarter of a century during which we have allowed goods to flow unimpeded into the UK from the Republic across that border, which would compel us to make changes at the border?

    1. Denis Cooper
      May 5, 2018

      Oh look, it seems that DESPITE THE REFERENDUM RESULT somebody in the UK government has already given a commitment to the EU Commission that the UK will remain subjugated to EU law in perpetuity:

      https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/increasing-pessimism-in-dublin-over-prospects-for-brexit-talks-1.3484661

      “It is understood that the European Commission had also been informed of a likely shift in the British position and had signalled its approval.”

      So there you go, the European Commission HAD SIGNALLED ITS APPROVAL – because as a matter of longstanding habit the UK government in London always likes to check that the superior quasi-federal government in Brussels will agree to whatever it may have in mind – and so our Prime Minister could press ahead with her new plans to keep us in the/a customs union with the EU, thereby avoiding the need for any new checks at the Irish border.

      Except that of course the/a customs union alone would not achieve that, as has been repeated ad nauseam in comments on this blog and now hinted even in the pages of the Guardian:

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/03/post-brexit-port-checks-could-disrupt-fresh-food-supplies-say-freight-bosses

      “Safety inspections on foods such as tomatoes and beef seen as bigger issue than customs checks”

      And nor would this ridiculous proposal get around that:

      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/04/irish-border-backup-plan-suggests-checks-ports-airports-brexit

      “A backup plan to impose border checks on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK at ports and airports to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit has been drafted by senior civil servants.”

      1. acorn
        May 5, 2018

        Brexiters would have been much happier if they had lost (Google it Denis).

        Who are you going to blame next Denis, when Brexit goes tits-up? Naturally, it won’t be the fault of your Brexiter protest group. You will be blaming somebody, anybody else, for evermore. Brexiteers, like all other protest groups, have a permanent victim mentality, which is easily exploited by politicians with their own agenda.

        Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

        1. Dennis Zoff
          May 5, 2018

          acorn

          Denis Cooper elucidates (same as our kind host) facts and figures in a very articulate, constructive and interesting manner, which, by and large, are appreciated by individuals on this blog.

          Yours, on the other hand, are tiresome, somewhat boorish and fallacious. I personally dislike ad hominem in arguments; they offend more than they persuade! And you have yet to convince anybody with your delusive arguments?

          1. acorn
            May 6, 2018

            Sadly, you never get to read the corrected facts and figures I submit, from actual published and coroberated data sources, from the real world.

        2. Denis Cooper
          May 6, 2018

          You need to try a lot harder, acorn.

        3. Dennis Zoff
          May 7, 2018

          acorn

          “Sadly, you never get to read the corrected facts and figures I submit, from actual published and coroborated (sic) data sources, from the real world.”

          That is a fair comment and you are correct, I have not seen your real life data sources, therefore, the floor is yours…….I am genuinely interested in your point of view….you may be correct in your assertion……

          …….please show all these “heads in the sand” Brexiteers the error of their ways with irrefutable facts and figures “tangible evidence” that backs up your claim?

          If, however, you do not respond to my polite request, I/we must assume it is another piece of Remoaner nonsense…..or better, arguments with no tangible substance…and therefore no credibility?

  15. Andy
    May 5, 2018

    Hang on a minute.

    35% voted for the Tory hard-right pensioner Brexit party, which lost ground. The UKIP hard-right Brexit party was all but wiped out.

    In contrast the Labour soft Brexit party made gains – as did both the Lib Dem and Green no Brexit parties.

    The message it actually sends to the government is that there is no majority for your hard Brexit in the country. There is not one in Parliament either.

    And if through some connivance you manage to push extreme hard-right Tory pensioner Brexit through anyway, you will simply be UKIPPED at the election. We wiped them out in 2 years. Don’t think we can’t do it to you too. Your voters are, literally, dying out. Ours are coming of age.

    The awkward reality for the Tories that if last night’s vote were repeated exactly in a general election, Mr Corbyn would be PM. Even if you won a slightly larger number of seats. The SNP, Plaid, Lib Dems and Greens might deal with him. They would not deal with you.

    On Jan 1 2021 you get the freedom from the EU you desire. On June 8 2022 you will pay he bill for it. Prime Minister Corbyn.

    Reply A party in Opposition that is going on to win the next General Election is usually 10-20% ahead at this stage.

    1. Wessexboy
      May 5, 2018

      Andy, the Tory party is about as centrist as Blair’s New Labour, interfering in food (sugar tax) and energy prices ( no point – competition sorts out efficiency) etc.
      This was not an election about Brexit, and in any case Labour has no coherent policy on that at all.
      With regard to your voters ‘coming of age’, I can remember being young, naĂŻve and lefty. Like most of my friends I learned the realities of life. The electorate continue to grow old and move rightwards!

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        May 5, 2018

        Wessexboy. Your comments about growing up and realising which party to vote for is exactly what I was going to say to Andy. With age comes responsibility and a realisation you have to stand on your own two feet and understand that everything doesn’t come for free as Corbyn might have a lot of youngster’s believing.

    2. Andy
      May 5, 2018

      True. But Mr Corbyn is all but unelectable. He alone reduces Labour’s vote by 20-30% because moderates will not vote for him. (Incidentally, they won’t vote for you either).

      So you are basically placing all of the Tories electoral hopes on the fact that Mr Corbyn – a 69-year-old – will still lead Labour into the next general election in 4 years time when he will be 73. Average life expectancy for men from Islington is 77.

      Parties of the hard right and hard left can not win a majority in this country. You need to appeal to moderates. And that means whichever party embraces soft, or no, Brexit. Voters are annoying – aren’t they?

      1. SecretPeople
        May 5, 2018

        Moderate MPs and voters support soft, or no, Brexit?

        As Charles Moore writes in today’s Telegraph:

        Here, I think, Mrs May’s advisers misunderstand the situation. The current line of the whips is that “each extreme” of the Conservative Party should now give a bit to keep the show on the road. This is a false equivalence.

        The pro-Brexit “extreme” are MPs who want to implement the referendum result and support the manifesto policy of leaving the customs union. The anti-Brexit extreme (no inverted commas required here) wants to discard what the people voted for. You cannot split the difference: it is the difference between keeping your promises and breaking them.

        1. Helen Smith
          May 5, 2018

          Indeed, May seems to have appointed a Remoaner as Chief Whip, judging by his tweets in support of Olly Robbins. May should not be trying to balance Leave and Remain, that time has past, we had a referendum, Leave won, does anyone imagine if Remain had won they would be splitting the difference?

      2. Edward2
        May 5, 2018

        But the Conservatives are plainly not hard right.

    3. Helen Smith
      May 5, 2018

      I think you are misinterpreting the results, deliberately no doubt.

      In Remain London Labour did well, in areas that were 60% Leave the Tory vote was up about 13%. Spin your way out of that!

      1. Andy
        May 5, 2018

        There’s nothing to spin.

        The Tories picked up most of the UKIP vote. David Cameron publicly described UKIP as fruitcakes and loons. I am sure his language in private was more apt.

        If the Tories can only win by bringing these undesirables onside then it says a lot about your values – or lack thereof.

        1. Edward2
          May 6, 2018

          Presumably the many extreme left wingers who vote Labour are all fine Andy.

    4. Richard1
      May 5, 2018

      Dream on. Corbyn has no chance. At the next election the choice will be vote Conservative or get Corbyn as PM. Even if Mrs May is still there the Conservatives will win.

    5. Anonymous
      May 5, 2018

      “Hard right” You are having a laugh.

    6. libertarian
      May 5, 2018

      Dear Andy

      Please keep posting , you are so wrong ( and easily exposed as being wrong ) that its like taking sweets from a baby . You hate old people except the old people who run the EU, the old people in the Tory party that wish to remain, the old boys running Labour and the LibDems and of course the 700 Octogenarians in the House of Lords

      MEANWHILE

      Back on planet reality heres how the parties look after the local elections

      Tories hold a total of 9,110 local government seats, Labour 6,468, the LibDems hold 1,890, SNP 430, UKIP still have 211 just ahead of Plaid Cymru on 203 and the Greens on 202.

      A MASSIVE win for Brexit.

      Sacked your staff yet Andy ?

      1. hans christian ivers
        May 6, 2018

        Libertarian,

        Is this sort of haunt really necessary?

    7. Dennis Zoff
      May 6, 2018

      Andy

      …..you have a penchant for whippersnappers and a propensity for being disrespectful towards pensioners….who have worked hard all their lives and made this country, and indeed, have a voice?

      Who are these whippersnappers you speak of so highly that will usurp the aging population?

      Once whippersnappers have left their parent’s protection program and hospitality bank, they very quickly realise there is a real world out there…as we all did…it will come as a nasty shock to them to find out Corblimy’s “Magic money tree” is no more than a Lewis Carrol novel and the EU is not really a genuine philanthropic society.

      You may indeed be one of these whippersnappers that sees the EU through some adolescent rose-tinted opaque glasses and if so, social reality, along with real responsibility, will come soon enough, have no fear!

  16. A.Sedgwick
    May 5, 2018

    It has been blindingly obvious from 24/06/16 that the only way out of the EU is no deal. The mixed local election results will continue to allow Mrs. May to nail her true colours i.e. Remain to the fence. Corbyn has become a liability to Labour, but he still achieves parity. A true leader would say the vote was out, I don’t need a committee to achieve this we are Leaving in 2019. As to the Lords this is a no brainer and a massive vote winner – abolish.

    1. getahead
      May 5, 2018

      Indeed. If the government had had any honour it would have done what the worm Cameron promised. We would have told the EU we were leaving and if the EU wanted a trade deal it should get back to us, otherwise we would trade under WTO rules. The humiliation that our “negotiators” have suffered is appalling. There was no need for that.
      All that has happened by May’s delaying tactics is that the enemies of Leave have been able to regroup and now present a serious threat to our ever leaving.
      So why did we have a referendum if the result was not to be honoured?

  17. Adam
    May 5, 2018

    Conservatives presented streets split by council boundaries. The stark contrast in cost efficiency was simple & persuasive. Conservative control is better. Floaters were taken aback at the notion of funding Labour waste & incompetence via personal direct debit every month.

    Progress on leaving the EU should have been similarly efficient. Conservative leadership has quality in depth, yet is too slow & gentle. The party needs to demand what the UK wants, & act firmly to get it, soon. Doing the right thing might mean taking back control of Theresa May.

    Thatcher would not have dithered & wondered. She acted. The world admired her aplomb & magnificent performance. Who has it now?

  18. charlesD
    May 5, 2018

    Local election results don’t really tell it all. Tomorrow we’ll have to return to the big issue of the day and how to resolve it is the conundrum? If we had a clear path as to where we are heading I would say yes go ahead but without clarity on anything it’s very depressing..and not for me so much as for my grand children who are trying to plan for their futures- my son has been offered a job in Belgium but doesn’t know what to do now..yes it’s not good

    1. Adam
      May 5, 2018

      Depression is a point of view.
      What’s doubtful about a Belgian job offer?

  19. alan jutson
    May 5, 2018

    Certainly in Wokingham I think the local situation you describe played an important part.

    You mention housing development and the state of the roads, which certainly is a concern, but you failed to mention two huge moans, the Town Centre development fiasco, which now seems to have gone on forever, and the absolute chaos it is causing to everyone, and the constant main road closures due in some part to utility road works.

    It is significant that of the four Councillors you lost, two were certainly heavily involved with the Regeneration of the Town Centre.
    The fact that Labour dumped out the Conservative vice chairman of the Council must surely have come as rather a surprise, and may have given some other Councillors cause for concern about the Councils performance, or does it !

    We all understand that regeneration and upgrades are sometimes necessary, but its how it is planned, organised, and worked through that is important.

    The Council failed on those three points dramatically, to such an extent that for many Wokingham Town is now a no go area, as the empty free parking places now show.

    Reply Yes, the Town Centre was a Wokingham issue, and I will write a more detailed local piece soon when I have finished to talking to Councillors and candidates to share our experiences of doorstep conversations.

  20. duncan
    May 5, 2018

    It cannot be denied nor concealed that the rabble across the floor are still right behind us and that is a major worry. We need to replace this leader with one who is radical across all policy areas and a leader who dispenses with liberal left, PC politics.

    We must differentiate ourselves not copy Labour’s politics.

    Labour’s client state must be purged starting with the BBC and the legal profession

    Feminism must be discarded. Its aim is the demonisation of all hetero-males not the protection and promotion of women

    Tax cuts are essential to deprive government of further funding that leads to waste and political spending

    if Labour gain power they will reduce the voting age to 16. They know young people are naive and easily led and easily bribed. Akin to shooting fish in a barrel. Labour is a nasty, cynical political animal who will stop at nothing to gain power.

    We have failed to expose their client state politics and use of immigration as a political and electoral weapon

    We must attack their use of race, gender and sexuality as a political and electoral strategy

    Let’s focus on the person not their identity

    1. forthurst
      May 5, 2018

      The Labour Party has not been controlling Immigration since 2010. The Tories are actively promoting Feminism; they also believe in spending considerably more on the education of imports than on the natives. You do not own your Party; you do not control it in any way and those that do have been playing a long game to deprive you of your birthright. Without getting rid of FPTP, you do not have a future.

  21. Iain Gill
    May 5, 2018

    Having been on the large housing estates in the north, traditional labour heartland, Diane abbots open doors immigration policies go down like cold sick.

    1. alan jutson
      May 5, 2018

      Can you just imagine for a moment that if Labour won the next election, Dianne Abbott would be in charge at the Home office given her now position in opposition.

      Immigration, the Police, MI5, Border Controls, GCHQ, Defence against terrorism, all under her control !!!!!.

      Then we would also have Corbyn as Prime Minister.

      The Conservatives should be streets ahead by now, not just delighted they lost so few seats.
      Perhaps the Conservative Party should really be asking itself why it isn’t.

  22. Peter Parsons
    May 5, 2018

    Very few councils changed hands because, with the unrepresentative FPTP voting system and many local authorities only having a third or a half of seats up for election, the system is rigged to stop that happening in very many cases.

    There were many local authorities where the outcome of “no change” was known before the polling stations even opened and irrespective of how the local electorate voted.

    English local government needs proper democracy like they already have in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

  23. formula57
    May 5, 2018

    “The message for the government is clear. People want them to get on with it and see Brexit through quickly and cleanly. “ – quite so. Failure will be unforgivable.

  24. Lifelogic.
    May 5, 2018

    Argentina raises interest rates to 40% I see. So it certainly is important to keep Corbyn out. Mind you one of the big UK banks has just raised overdraft interest (they call it OD fees) to about 68% for everyone it seems. Gratitude for their tax payer bail out one assumes. Where are the competition authorities and well will they get some in banking? 1p per ÂŁ7 per day! Yet they pay nothing for credit balances.

  25. Richard1
    May 5, 2018

    Yes those Brexit Jeremiahs who assure us that Brexit is such a clear disaster that the people will – inexplicably – vote for the very unpleasant far left Labour Party have been proven wrong again.

    But we need a Conservative vision post-Brexit, which we are absolutely not getting from Mrs May. Maybe it can be left until March 19, but not much longer. The UK will need to focus relentlessly on making sure we are competitive and business friendly. we cannot afford gesture policies (Laffer-curve denying tax policies, HS2, Swansea Bay lagoon, Hinckley point etc). And we either need a sensible free trade arrangement with the EU or we need to get out on WTO terms. In but not in is the worst of all worlds.

    1. Carla Jane Soper
      May 6, 2018

      I think I agree Richard but could you tell me what “on WTO terms” actually means? Mr Rees Mogg talks about this a lot and it sounds fine but he never says what it actually means

      Reply Trading under WTO Facilitation of trade rules as a third country to EU using their tariff schedule against them as they will impose it on us.

      1. Toffolo
        May 6, 2018

        Tariffs? So goods in our shops will be made more expensive. That sounds bad for ordinary people

  26. JoolsB
    May 5, 2018

    Down here in the south west we didn’t get a vote but if we had I would probably have voted UKIP. Some say that’s a wasted vote but in my mind it’s a wasted vote voting for the anti-English nanny state socialist Con/Lab/Lib parties. There isn’t much to choose between the two main parties at the moment, just one is more leftie than the other.

    Yes Brexit may have swayed a lot of people to vote Conservative but come the next general election, Brexit should (?????) be behind us and then what has May’s Conservative Government got to offer us, especially the people of England? Higher taxes to pay towards the International Health Service in England, higher tuition fees for English kids or the dementia tax for England’s elderly? Of course, she’s promising gold to the Scots & Welsh Governments and the NI with more and more powers and of course still no powers at all for England and bunging them more and more of English taxpayers’ cash whilst cutting services in England to the bone.

    Post Brexit, we need a party that sticks up for England and treats them as equals in this so called union and sadly that party isn’t yours John.

    1. Andy
      May 5, 2018

      Cute that you think Brexit will be behind us.

      Far from it.

      You will be spending the entire next election campaign trying to explain away all of the many problems your Brexit has caused.

      The really fun bit is that none of us yet have any idea what these problems will be.
      But you’ll likely be dealing with at least one Windrush level PR disaster per month for years. And the Tories will take the blame.

      1. JoolsB
        May 5, 2018

        “Cute that you think Brexit will be behind us.”

        I said Brexit ‘should’ not would be behind us but will believe it when it and when it happens. If all those treacherous politicians and unelected Lords and Ladies get their way and thwart the will of the people, then May & co will be toast at the next election and so they should be. Maybe then we could get a true Conservative party in their place.

      2. Anonymous
        May 5, 2018

        Remain not to blame at all for half-in-half-out this fiasco, Andy ?

        You’re on the EU’s side. Not Britain’s.

        1. hans christian ivers
          May 6, 2018

          for the moment we are all part of the Eu there are not two sides at this time

          1. libertarian
            May 6, 2018

            Hans

            Dont EVER try business negotiation if you think we are currently all on the same side

      3. Adam
        May 5, 2018

        If you believe your many own prophecies, Andy, it would be public-spirited to place bets on them & donate the proceeds to charity.

    2. Helen Smith
      May 5, 2018

      There is a huge divide, called Brexit. the bulk of the Tory party is trying to do as asked and get us completely out of the EU, but in Labour’s case there is only a handful of true Brexiteers, the rest are middle/upper/chattering class professional nanny statists who are intent of delivering Brino at best Remain if they can get away with it. These people hate the working class, and it seems the working class is waking up to this fact, most welcome.

      1. Andy
        May 5, 2018

        The Tory party is failing to deliver on the will of the people.

        Mr Redwood’s party is failing to deliver what people voted for – because what people voted for is undeliverable.

        I understand the working class is angry. Just think how angry they’ll be when your Brexit makes them even poorer. And guess who they’ll blame? You have no idea what you have unleashed – it’ll be fun to watch.

        1. libertarian
          May 5, 2018

          Andy

          Heres his genius analysis

          1) The Tories haven’t delivered what the people want

          2) The tories deliver what the people want, so the people are angry

          3) when they deliver ( what they’re not delivering ? ( I know its gibberish isn’t it) It won’t work

          4) The working class ( who dont vote tory ) will be so angry they wont vote tory

          Theres no polite way of saying this…. Andy you’re (wrong ed)

          Andy claims that he and his wife run a service business with a 7 figure profit and 30 staff and his business will fold because of Brexit and he will be sacking all 30 of his workers. I think Andy needs to worry about angry working classes much nearer to home

          1. hans christian ivers
            May 6, 2018

            unnecessary

          2. Edward2
            May 6, 2018

            Hans
            I never see you saying similar critical things when young Andy regularly says his hateful things about older members of society.

  27. Oh Hell is here!
    May 5, 2018

    “The local election results”
    They voted for the Comfort Zone. They are, underneath their annoying and disappointing tribalism, pro or anti-Brexit, afraid for the future. There can be no genuine free-enterprise or genuine democratic society here with such a dopey clone-minded people. If you gave most of them a stout kick up the bottom, half would blame Trump and the other half the EU… with the odd one blaming sunspots

  28. Man of Kent
    May 5, 2018

    ‘Most of the UKIP vote went Conservative ‘

    Who won us a referendum in the first place ?
    -Well it certainly was not DC , who resisted and could not even negotiate a plausible offering to Remain .
    It was most definitely Nigel Farage who continues to attack the EU in their Parliament .

    Surely he must be recognised for his contribution to the British Nation State in an Independence Day Honours List on 29 March 2019.

    If any inducement is needed for TM he has just gifted a great wodge of votes to her by standing aside ;although many of us wish he were taking a more active role in the Brexit debate .

    Sadly after the DC Honours List of Remain apparatchiks we might expect something for Olly Robbins for services to a greater Customs Union Partnership plus Anna Soubry and the Remain members of Cabinet .

  29. LondonBob
    May 5, 2018

    We continue to see the realignment of politics, as analysed by Matthew Goodwin, in the US the GOP has fought against this whereas Trump rode it to an unlikely victory. I worry the Conservative party is making the same mistakes, we don’t just want a clean Brexit, but also real action on immigration, Johnson and Gove don’t speak for leave when they talk of increased immigration from non-EU countries. Windrush did not hurt our elections chances, more likely it helped.

  30. Ron Olden
    May 5, 2018

    With the exception of local elections held on General Election Day or under Corbyn’s own leadership, these, as far as I can discover, were a main Opposition Party’s worst local election results in comparison with the Governing Party, since the Falklands War.

    Despite the Labour upsurge in London there was still a 1 % swing to the Tories in England as a whole since 2014. There was even a swing away from the Lib Dems since 2016, from Lib Dem to Tory since 2014, and nearly all the Lib Dem gains were in two heavily Remainer localities.

    This is all the more remarkable considering the Tories have been in power for 8 years, Labour has lost the last three General Elections in a row, and the Lib Dems are recovering from rock bottom.

    As John Curtis repeatedly pointed out:-.

    This Tory support is largely to do with Leave supporters backing the Tories to deliver Leave. But don’t discount the fact that in many Leave voting regions of England, there were respected local Labour Councillors who have either accepted the Leave vote, or in VERY MANY instances campaigned for it.

    It’s no coincidence that apart from London, these are the places where the Labour vote held up best.

    Insofar as anyone can extrapolate these results into any National issue, and given the variation in the voting patterns between Remain and Leave voting areas, I think we can, it was resounding vote for Leave.

    MRS MAY WILL LET US DOWN AT HER PERIL. If Remainers is force her to choose, she MUST choose us.

    A bit of compromise in the interests of goodwill is fine. But pandering to Remainers will gain her nothing. They’ll always choose someone more Remainer than her.

    And she’ll lose the rest of us in droves.

    1. SecretPeople
      May 5, 2018

      A very good post.

    2. GilesB
      May 5, 2018

      What Ron said

  31. adams
    May 5, 2018

    It was a good day for Liebour unfortunately . Liebour up 77 . Tories down 33.
    Liebour now have 1018 seats more than your Party John and that is not even the whole of England . Sack T MAY . She is worse than useless . She is Positively pernicious .

    1. libertarian
      May 5, 2018

      adams

      Er no they dont

      Tories hold a total of 9,110 local government seats, Labour 6,468, the LibDems hold 1,890, SNP 430, UKIP still have 211 just ahead of Plaid Cymru on 203 and the Greens on 202.

  32. Helen Smith
    May 5, 2018

    Dear Mr Redwood, last night Justine Greening said Brexiteers pushing for clean Brexit are at odds with the bulk of the parliamentary Tory party.

    No, Ms Greening, the MP split is about 50/50 now, however, in the country it is 52/48 to Leave, and vitally, amongst Tory party members and crucially amongst Tory voters it is at least 70/30 Leave.

    It is not only wrong but useless to renege on Brexit to try to win over Remainers, they are mainly younger and given the choice between Remain and prudence and Remain and free everything they will choose the freebies.

    The Tory party has torn itself apart over Europe for decades. The only solution, the only one, is for the MPs to accept what is staring them in the face, its members and voters want to leave the EU and if they obey the command in the referendum in full they will be rewarded.

    1. John Soper
      May 6, 2018

      No Helen, you misunderstand. Justine’s point was that most voters want to leave the EU but maintain our trading links. So like Norway we should stay in the single market, and like Turkey we should have a customs union. That means leaving the EU, as the people want, but keeping trade open. Justine was doing what Theresa should be doing – exposing the ERG as far right extremists who want to crash our economy

      Reply Remain rightly pointed out we would be leaving sm and customs u on leaving EU. We will still trade fine once out as the rest of the world does

      1. Toffolo
        May 6, 2018

        I dont understand you. Remain lost

  33. mike fowle
    May 5, 2018

    UKIP facing enormous financial difficulties scraped together a commendable number of candidates but of course many were largely unknown to the voters and local elections tend to be decided on issues where local councillors have been active. But UKIP is very much back in the game and so much will depend on what transpires in the next few months.

    1. Eh?
      May 5, 2018

      Eh?

    2. JoolsB
      May 5, 2018

      Let’s hope so. They’re the only ones with sensible Conservative values.

    3. libertarian
      May 5, 2018

      Mike fowle

      Deluded. UKIP are dead, they ceased to be , if they weren’t nailed to the perch they’d be pushing up the daisies

      They’ve done their job, they now need to fold the rump thats left

      1. APL
        May 7, 2018

        libertarian: “They’ve done their job, they now need to fold the rump thats left”

        The Tory party needs root and branch reform as well.

  34. margaret howard
    May 5, 2018

    “the state of the roads” and housing. Here the incumbents of both parties had to fight to persuade people they are doing a good enough job. Very few Councils changed hands, meaning the benefit of the doubt went to most Councils struggling with these difficult matters”

    Are you saying that people found it acceptable that a modern, rich, European country/economy can’t look after its roads nor house its citizens? Surely these basic amenities shouldn’t be regarded as ‘difficult matters’!

    1. Dennis Zoff
      May 6, 2018

      margaret howard

      Quite so. UK is the world’s fifth largest economy (wealthy) yet struggles to maintain the basics?

      I can only assume Spain, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, France, et al, have far greater issues…..actually not as bad, based on what I have seen personally….for example, roads appear in better fettle; limited University costs; better health care; better pensions; better age support, better housing, etc?

      World’s fifth largest economy……something is very wrong in the UK….any guesses…anyone?

  35. mancunius
    May 5, 2018

    In my council seven seats were lost by Lab to LibDem, eroding a Labour virtual monopoly in the council. In each of the three wards which completely shifted from Lib to LibDem there was a similar change in voting patterns between 2014 and now. Last time the votes for Greens and Conservatives were respectably high, this time the Green and Tory vote collapsed, and with only a marginally higher turnout voters decide to vote tactically for the LibDems.
    This has nothing to do with Brexit. It’s rather a local revulsion against Momentum, and a wish to prevent Labour from sweeping the board, triggering a wave of tactical voting. Neither the Tories nor the Greens are ever going to win more than a token seat, and even then as a fluke, so voters (including pro-Brexit Tory voters) evidently decided to hold their noses and vote tactically for the only party that stood a chance of winning a block of seats against Labour in the council chamber. And so it came about.
    Labour of course won in all the wards where their client council block vote juggernaut operates. They really are quite clever in the way they go about it, housing new waves of incomers and then telling them that they have to vote Labour as a form of ‘insurance’.
    etc ed

  36. Ron Olden
    May 5, 2018

    MACHYNLLETH COMEDY FESTIVAL

    I am attending the Machynlleth Comedy Festival here in Wales, where some of the least funny ‘turns’ in the United Kingdom have arrived to amuse us.

    I have no choice, because I live here.

    Given that many of the ‘turns’, are Millionaire Communists and Remainiacs, I’ve been eavesdropping their ‘hilarious’ conversations in the pub.

    Today I heard a group of them, sniggering at:-

    ‘The Tories’, Donald Trump, and at those ghastly Working Class people who voted for Brexit.

    I told them, I don’t need to pay to come and see their ‘stand ups’.

    I haven’t stopped laughing since Labour lost the last three General Elections in a row, (the most recent one to a Tory/DUP Pact), the Brexit Referendum, the Wandsworth, Barnet, Peterborough, etc Council Elections on Thursday, Trump winning in America, Nicola Krankie losing the Scottish Independence Referendum, and UKIP nearly overtaking Plaid Cymru in the Welsh Elections.

    The laughter evaporated.

    Bring back Jim Davidson and the late Frank Carson.’It’s the way I tell em”.

    As ever however, I remain politically ‘non aligned’.

  37. 10 months in Labour
    May 5, 2018

    Have any ( cross party) activists and doorstep door knockers come across voters who insisted they would vote for your chosen party BUT for entirely incorrect reasons? AND, you smiled , said nothing and marked their name and address with a positive tick? In my Labour controlled area it happens every other house with Labour activists. They have learned to say little and sport a painted-on agreeable smile.

  38. UK Stupid
    May 5, 2018

    BBC News tonight 23.24 Hours reports that “One in five children have suffered domestic abuse” There followed brief interviewes with what appeared to be serving police officers and headteachers
    Good!. Now our democratically elected government should,make immediately redundant these people and others without redundancy pay and pension and placed under arrest until further enquiries have been made which may result in long term custodial sentences for these idiots.
    Do they believe also there was a Russian plot????

    ONE in FIVE indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. alan jutson
      May 6, 2018

      Uk Stupid

      Did the BBC say what they regarded as abuse.

      Did it include something like:

      Sending them to bed early for misbehaviour, confiscating a mobile phone for a few hours for misuse, withholding pocket money for refusing to do some jobs at home, refusal to go to a party, making them visit family members, forcing them to do homework, etc etc.

      Always difficult to know what is called abuse now such is the misuse of the word.

    2. APL
      May 7, 2018

      UKstupid: ““One in five children have suffered domestic abuse” There followed brief interviewes with what appeared to be serving police officers and headteachers ”

      But nothing about the thousands of young girls abducted, coerced, tortured and raped in British cities.

      Attack the parents, but ignore the attackers.

  39. EpĂ­kouros
    May 6, 2018

    Government national and local are the epitome of incompetence and when the left are in charge of them they become dangerously so. Our wealth, well being and the security of our person and property is put in serious jeopardy. It is telling that in places where the left are in charge crime is higher, educational standards lower and social divides widen. to name just a few negatives.

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