Over recent weeks I have been out and about on doorsteps supporting local Conservative candidates for the Council elections. I have been in Wokingham and Winnersh, Earley and Shinfield, where the nine contests were taking place. I am grateful to constituents who spent time telling me their thoughts and feelings on local and national matters. I now have some more casework to pursue.
8 Conservatives and 1 Liberal Democrat were elected as Councillors. I congratulate them all, and look forward to working with them where there are matters requiring co-operation between national and local levels of government.
I also always look at what defeated candidates were saying, and do not ignore the views of their supporters. This time the most notable feature was the rise of the Greens. The party fielded 6 candidates and shot into fourth place after the three main parties. They did best in Shinfield South, where they took 31% of the vote.
Conservatives were very conscious of the sudden surge in Green support in Shinfield. My impression on the doorstep there was that residents are concerned about the expansion of the village and the impact that will have on the local environment. I did not find people wanted to talk to me about wider Green party issues like climate change, nor did anyone ask for green policies to make energy dearer to reduce use more. I am sure our re-elected Councillor there has understood the worries and will work closely with the village over any development proposals to limit their impact and to ensure sensible sites are used.
The overall figures for votes cast in the nine Wokingham constituency seats on WBC are given below in order of party success:
Conservative 8377 48.8%
Liberal Democrat 3824 22.3%
Labour 2223 13%
Green 1356 7.9%
UKIP 1280 7.5%
Independent 82 0.5%
At the General Election in 2010 in the Wokingham constituency as a whole the percentages were Conservative 52.7%, Lib Dem 28%, Labour 10% , various Independents 5%, UKIP 3%, Greens 1%.
Compared to 2008 the Conservative, Lib Dem and UKIP votes all fell, whilst the Green vote rose by over 1000 and Labour also gained.
May 5, 2012
Although I am not sure how you got your number for the Independent vote, as Nick Ray apparently won in the Charvil Ward with 414 votes, assuming your numbers are otherwise correct and the turnout was 32% only some 17000 voters bothered to vote from an eligible electorate of about 53,000. As the winning margin was often in the mere hundreds of votes it would seem rash to draw many conclusions.
The LibDem gain In Winnersh by 222 votes makes the UKIP tally of 186 of potential future significance perhaps?
What will occur in a General Election were the non-voting masses may have become even more severely disgruntled is the question I would this weekend be pondering! Especially as the Coalition allows the EU to take evermore liberties with the rights that British people still presume remain their perogative?
Reply: Charvil is not in my constituency. As I stated, I have added up all the votes cast in WBC elections in my constituency. Charvil is in Mrs May’s area.
May 5, 2012
Interesting to note the Green candidatesmanipulationof people’s fears and NIMBYism in Shinfield. Was the candidate previously a Lib Dem? We get them in east Kent also.
May 6, 2012
It seem than John is getting this. but just to drive it home,
For as long as all parties are jockeying for the “middle-ground” of non-policies and easy solutions, voter apathy will only grow, as there isn’t real choice between politicies. I voted for Conservatives in a hope of drastic reduction of the State, small reduction in taxes, bonfire of quangos, educational reform, NHS efficiency. What I’ve got is state bigger (and growing) than under New Labor, taxes increasing relentlessly, squeeze on productive families and entrepreneurs, the taxes rule book in 3 volumes instead of Brownian 1, nurses being sacked while NHS management is growing ever bigger.
This is why I do not think it is worth my effort listening to politicians and voting for them. That leaves me with only one choice – join some radical movement, such as “Occupy”, because I do not feel my vote means anything anymore. Democracy is very ill at the moment. Unless it can right itself, I am afraid that rather bad times are coming.