They say they want a revolution...

 

While schools and politics really shouldn't get tangled up not least in schools between staff and pupils sometimes they do such as over campaigns to convert high schools to Comprehensives (and sometimes back again), what *should* be in the National Curriculum, teaching around LGBTA+ topics, "de-colonializing" and so do cause the fur to fly.

Many schools do put out education about the British Constitution,  civil rights, how elections are run and the political system to equip pupils with knowledge about how it all works ready for when the become adults, ready to stand for Elections and to take part by Voting in them at the age of 18 for UK wide elections.

This is quite sensible but the incoming labour Government had in its Manifesto (a set of promises to do things if they win)  the idea of reducing the age of voting to 16 saying as they old enough to in certain circumstances pay taxes they should be able to influence decisions around how it is spent.

My main concern is most sixteen year olds are insufficient aware and experienced about how things work, are able to see fully the consequences of how they would vote and how politicians regardless of party don't always tell the whole truth at least.

Many schools run "Mock Elections" where pupils stand for election within school, have to campaign, debate topics and vote which teaches basic skills needed in a democracy and you mature sometimes quite radically by 18.

This will need to be debated in both Houses of Parliament before making its way before assent is given so let's hope this idea is fully considered. 

Election 2024 - result

Well I did promise you a report of sorts last week as things were moving oh so rapidly and we we go. 

As was custom I did go down to the polling station although I had cast my vote in advance and here at least turnout appeared up and I did see more under 40 voters in an area which has seen sizable changes in property ownership since last time.

That suggested to me a sea change in results certainly was probably above and beyond the many opinion polls during the campaign that had seen Conservative support in freefall.

Newspapers like blog writers struggle to keep up but by after polls closed at ten polls of those who had voted indicated something rather shocking, a massive hemorrhaging of support for the Conservatives and a Labour landslide.

As it happened the results looked rather like this:

Labour: 412

Conservative: 121

Liberal Democrats: 72

Reform UK: 5

Scots N P 9

and others.

Was it that a vote FOR Labour or a vote AGAINST the Conservatives?

For me, Trust became an issue firstly with three leaders over one term becoming three Prime Ministers, the policies voted for drifted away as exceptional as Covid and the war in Ukraine was and remains.

That was compounded by a merry-go-round of Ministers, some lasting weeks which makes forming the connections and making the arguments  to make policies a reality difficult in the extreme even if they were workable.

Rwanda certainly was anything but.

So all we had announcements and feeling everything was very much "at sea", drifting off with little real governing taking place and that was despite some good work around helping those most affected by the rapid increase in the Cost Of Living (which only showed up what a state the safety net though deliberate underfunding was in) and the state of essential public services.

It wasn't just left leaning people who were very concerned around this, many conservative voters were, myself included, so we did the unthinkable and voted Liberal Democrat or Labour because hand outs and foodbanks are not sufficient.

We really need something like a Royal Commission into Benefit and Pension policy as the amounts just haven't kept pace with what people reasonably need, not least with housing, energy and food costs.

Arguments around "conditionality", getting those who can work to take up job offers while important should not preclude realistic support and people with complex needs need support in doing this.
 

Having won an Election and had a seamless transfer of power - memo to the U.S. of A - the new Prime Minister wasted no time in getting to work, appointing Ministers, chairing meetings and attending the N.A.T.O. Summit.

Ultimately it is the extent he can meet those expectations, deal with the unexpected and deliver that will judge if this will be the reset many of us hoped and voted for.

Congratulations!

Did Covid steal the elections?

It's been an odd week with some rather unseasonal weather and the final days of something that seems almost unreal.

See, yesterday was Super Thursday as the mass media has dubbed it where a variety of different types of election are taking place across Great Britain depending on where you live.

In Scotland and Wales you have elections for the Scottish parliament and the Welsh Senned with a kind of proportional representation and some local elections too.

In England if you live in an area with an Elected Mayor  rather than the Mayor of a Town or Council area such as Greater London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Combined Authority you will be voting for them.

In some areas you may have elections for your local council and if like in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire you have Police and Crime Commissionaires, you will have elections for them.

We had the Polling Cards that tell us wear a mask, follow the social distancing rules and bring your own pencil to mark the ballot paper.

Thing is here it's like there is no election at all as we have had no leaflets from the four Candidates, no pieces in the newspapers by them, no meetings even outdoors even though outdoor events are possible and we've had no end of leaflets from Indian and Chinese take aways delivered through the letterbox.

It just seems like the election process has halted, almost dead and I suspect turn out will be very low not helped by snowfall here.

Results may take more time with social distancing required at the count on Friday so some may not be declared until the end of the weekend.

Post European Parliament elections

In what might, in these chaotic fast moving days no one can be sure of anything  anymore be last political post for a bit we have seen the Prime Minister submit her resignation on Friday sooner than expected here but expected nontheless and the internal process of eleven so far Conservative Members of Parliament putting themselves forward to be party leader.
This is usually fought over in stages until one emerges but the feuds have already started and a "Stop Boris" (Johnson) campaign has started .
Meanwhile after the last voting on Sunday elsewhere in Europe was concluded, vote counting started in Great Britain with Northern Ireland which used a different voting system to us plus the Western Isles of Scotland starting Monday.
Scottish politics has been different since devolution and while the actual seats allocated care of the D'Honda kinda proportional but not quite  system won't be know for sure by Monday the strongly pro EU Scottish Nationalists look likely to take all but one seat and the other going to The Brexit Party as Scottish Labour and the Conservatives hemorrhaged votes badly.
Meanwhile in England and Wales the ruling Conservatives achieved the lowest proportion of the popular vote since 1832 and Labour lost a good deal of support in pro leave areas and not help by having a confused message for those who did wish to remain.

 In this region, the West Midlands the single largest party was The Brexit Party who got 37.5% of the popular vote, with similar results in our near neighbours in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Stop anyone on on the streets of Stoke, Aldridge, Wolverhampton, Cannock, Wednesbury, Stourbridge, Birmingham, Rugby and Telford and they'd tell you they voted to leave and even those who didn't have little time for those responsible for us not leaving so people voted Brexit Party to make it plain what they want - to leave - and to which we were promised would be respected and acted upon.
We don't have time for people fighting to deny what people voted for here regardless of our own views and that attempt to do so is something that has left people quite angry.

(photo credits:BBC)
It was no surprise to me Rupert Lowe, Martin Daubney and Andrew Kerr of the Brexit party won seen here at Birmingham's ICC celebrating where our count was held were declared representatives.
Labour got no one elected and there was one each for the Green Party, thePro EU Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
The only major exception was London where four Liberal Democrats were elected but as the only area where there was a big majority to remain in the 2016 Referendum, that would not surprise me give it was their party's clear message.
In Wales where at one time thanks in part to devolution and Welsh Language culture the Plaid Cymru ("The party of Wales") lost out to the pan British Brexit Party as did labour and the Conservatives.
It would appear the British public used the election in effect as a referendum on leaving or remaining in the European Union and voted the Brexit Party in indicating clearly when they said they wanted to leave in 2016, they meant it.
It also shows however there are a significant minority who are adamant it will not be allowed to happen.
It illustrates the need whoever becomes the next Prime Minister before any General Election happens the need to make a clear choice to leave or remain as it simply cannot be fudged and in the words of many of us in this region, darn well get on with it and be straight with people.
Another issue is because this transcends party politics,  some people voted for parties that normally they would not this includes a good number of Labour people and because Alastair  Campbell former Prime Minister's Tony Blair's PR person did vote for the Liberal Democrats and said before the count he was, he's been expelled from the party that people who have been Anti-Semitic have at best been merely suspended for a brief point.
For me the Labour Party's deputy leader Tom Watson got it right in saying the action was 'spiteful' and former Labour MP and speaker Betty Boothroyd said as much too.
Given this was an issue that divides the party and his reason was because he felt their policy was not clear, to me it would of been enough to had said "and don't do it again".

EU too

Yesterday, we voted in that election we were not supposed to had been taking parting in for 73 seats in the European Parliament because we were supposed to had left it in March and it has cost us something like £156 million and cost the parties some can ill afford too with few prepared to make contributions to pay for offices, staff, election expenses and so on.
Given the unfolding events in Westminster it may be literally be the last days of Theresa May as Prime Minister as the calls for resignation reach fever pitch and the kind of ruling but lacking a majority Conservatives will no doubt go through a process of choosing its leader that for now at least will become Prime Minister. That's how the constitutional set up works because we don't vote for them thank goodness.
This said it may be the case some might be tempted to push for a early General Election with that new leader just about in place, facing the same beeping conundrum of delivering brexit in a  hopelessly split party that reflects the sharp polarization in the country.
There is no middle ground.
Results from that European Parliament Election won't come in until late Sunday and possibly Monday because being a pan-European election others are holding theirs on different days but as this is typed (phrase of the year for this blog) it looks like the Brexit party will get about 38% of the popular vote and something like 36 of the 73 seats accuring to OPINIUM poll tracker (Brexit Party 38%, Lib Dem 15%, Lab 17%, Green 7%, Con 7%, Change UK 3%, UKIP 3%) based on a sample of 2,004 adults).
Most pollsters show a clear lead for Brexit party with most of the pro Leave voters behind it.
One thing anyone seriously contemplating a third set of elections this year - a General Election UK wide - should consider is the parties may not have the money to fully field and run one with candidates for every seat because the donors aren't donating and in the instance of the Conservatives ones are severely hacked off because of way Brexit has been handled.
We'll see how it turns out next week but don't say you haven't been warned...

Results time

As this will be published the results of the local government elections held yesterday will be counted and analyzed both in the areas directly effected, for us the Greater Stoke on Trent region centred around North Staffordshire, across the West Midlands region generally and of course Nationally in the popular press, radio and television such as the BBC, ITN and Sky News.
A few things to bear in mind is the services that take the largest proportion of local authority spending Education and Youth and Adult Social Services have faced large scale reductions since Twenty-ten in the monies made available through money given via grants from national government at a time of greater numbers in education and also needing  support either at home in specialized centres.
Also there has been a clear switch to locally raised funds rather than block grant payments from central government for national duties administered locally by such authorities.
There is a high level of dissatisfaction with the public over this - education to eighteen for instance is notionally 'free' but increasingly schools have been charging for course requirements - and so it remains to be seen if the public associate it with central government which has been Conservative led since Twenty-ten or with alleged waste by the actual authorities and how that plays out at the polls.
So far it looks like the smaller parties and groupings are winning out over the main socialist Labour and right of centre Conservatives.
The contentious issue of Europe and Brexit will show up on May 23rd IF we don't avoid having to hold elections to the European Parliament as that is a requirement under European Union law.