Is there something going on in Wellingborough that we should know? The Liberal Democrats are not fighting a single one of the 36 council seats up for grabs. OK, they only got 11% of the vote there at the General Election, but it seems to be a bit odd not to put a single candidate. Is there a Lib/Lab pact there?
Having said that, Labour have been unable to field candidates to fight every seat, as one can see from the nominations. This was a Labour controlled council in 1999. The current council make up is 25 Tory, 8 Labour, 1 Ind Socialist.
Obviously Peter Bone, the Tory MP, is frightening off the opposition!
UPDATE: Curiouser and curiouser. John Whittingdale MP has left this comment: "I can beat that. In Maldon District which I have the privilege to represent in Parliament, for the second District election in a row the Liberals are not fielding a single candidate. There are only 9 Labour candidates (for 31 council seats) and in 8 seats the Conservative candidate is uncontested. Maldon today, the UK tomorrow?"
30 comments:
A Lib/Lab pact? Well, it is in the South, I suppose. In the North, by contrast, there are several Con/Lab pacts against the Liberals, some of which have been going on for quite a while. Do Southern Tories know this?
Tony Sharp of the Waendel Journal http://tonysharp.blogspot.com/ should know. He's standing as a councillor there.
Not to mention some Lib/BNP pacts including boosting a BNP man to a committee. Where are the Con-Lab pacts now? Rochdale is no more. There are Lib-Con pacts in Newcastle (disaster) and Leeds and Birmingham (so-so).
In Harlow we've a Lib/Lab/Con pact. Whenever an important council decision is taken - another 20,000 houses doubling the size of Harlow ~ concreting over our green wedge ~ endless parking bans ~ cow shed like stores in our town centre ~ sell off and demolition of Sire Freddie Gibberd's much loved town hall ~ demolition of our Water gardens ~ building on our town park etc - it seems to be almost invariably followed by a press statement from our MP to the effect that all three parties are united in support of the policy.
Most of us here are sick to the back teeth of it. Why doesn't Harlow have any political opposition?
I can beat that. In Maldon District which I have the privilege to represent in Parliament, for the second District election in a row the Liberals are not fielding a single candidate. There are only 9 Labour candidates (for 31 council seats) and in 8 seats the Conservative candidate is uncontested. Maldon today, the UK tomorrow?
I trust that you did your research to make sure that there are no equivalent Conservative 'no-contest' districts, otherwise you run the risk of being hoist by your own petard.
If you have, could you say so? Otherwise readers might think that you are only telling half the story.
Alan, I have done no research whatsoever. I was alerted to the Wellingborough situation and thought it very odd. Don't you? I would find it just as odd if there were areas where the Conservatives hadn't put up candidates.
It spells out the level of grass-roots discontent within the Lib Dems and Labour when they struggle so badly to find enough council candidates.
I know that in my district quite a number of Conservative held council seats are not being contested by the other parties, almost certainly the largest number ever.
Bolsover....Labour hold just after nominations. Candidates: 0 Con, 1 LD, 1 Green, 1 Respect and 1 BNP
Rutland...0 Lan candidates and 3 LD candidates (1 already elected unpposed). The council is a Con hold before polling day
And 18 Tories elected unopposed in East Northants.
I suggest there are signs that the LDs are aiming only to hold on to what they have. 2,600 councillors is a lot for 70,000 spread out members to defend.
HF ukip are struggling to field candidates aren't they
In Fenland the Conservatives are guaranteed a majority even before a vote is cast. 40 seats, 18 unopposed and a further 4 guaranteed because there are less than 3 opposition candidates in 3 seat Wards.
Labour Party lost control here in 1999 and now have put up just 6 candidates.
I admit to being surprised when the nominations were confirmed that Labour are not fighting every seat.
In 1999 the then Labour MP Paul Stinchcombe said that Wellingborough was now a Labour town and always would be. His wife is contesting the same ward as me in May.
Although UKIP have fielded candidates in recent by-elections in the town, they like the Lib Dems, are completely missing from the town for this election. In April 2006's Hemmingwell ward by-election UKIP polled 45 votes compared to the Greens' 62 votes. In June last year they beat the Greens with 162 votes. This time they have given up.
It seems that Lib Dems do not have enough resource to fight Northampton and Wellingborough, so they have given up Wellingborough as a lost cause and are putting all their energies into Northampton. Interesting times in Northamptonshire.
There are no LD/Con pacts in Newcastle. Last time the Tories failed to field candidates in some wards but that was apparently down to incompetence rather than design.
I would guess that in the places mentioned the LD party organisation is non-existent or consists of a very small number of people.
As a born and bred Wellingburian, I can only state that anyone who stays in that hole of a town is a f***wit, worthy only of scorn. This political situation only proves that idiots get what idiots deserve. They elected Peter Fry, one of the most useless MPs of all time, for 27 years. Tossers to a man (and woman).
Apart from my parents.
Nulab and Lib Dems have so few candidates because they've so few members. Nulab are in the most pitiful state because their few remaining diehards are pensioners.
Serve you right, big brother statists, you brought this on yourselves.
Auntie Flo'
Is not the lack of candidates (from any party) for local councils a symptom of how deply unattractive the councillor role is becoming, especially under restrictions introduced by this wretched labour administration? Councillors, once elected, are unable to speak on subjects dear to their hearts because the Standards Board says so, are subject to an unprecedeted degree of intrusive disclosure 9and this goes down even further, to parish councillors) and live in fear of spurious complaints about their conduct leading to suspension or worse. Added to which is the ridiculously grandioise 'cabinet' structures now in place, which effectively mean that anyone not in the 'cabinet' has no influence over decisions whatsoever.
Now I fully agree that local politics needed some degree of cleansing, like the Augean stables; but the heavy-handed approach is, I'm sure, inhibiting people from standing for what is now a thankless, unrewarding, and often literally useless role.
This situation is bound to spread unless someone does something about it. Will 'Dave' act to restore the effectiveness of local councillors?
Iain, don't always look for conspiracies that don't exist. Have you even considered another reason ?
If I were to tell you that when I lived in Northampton for one year, I was told that Wellingborough had about only 12 Liberal Democrat members and was barely a functioning party, could that be the reason ?
Chris Paul also need to explain why he feels that Newcastle is a Lib / Con pact when in Newcastle the Tories have no councillors. If he means Newcastle Under Lyme, he should make it clear.
Tony said:
Councillors, once elected, are unable to speak on subjects dear to their hearts because the Standards Board says so, are subject to an unprecedented degree of intrusive disclosure.. and live in fear of spurious complaints
Why is that members of the detested Quangos which are springing up across England like toxic toadstools appear to escape this regulation?
The Chair of a quango which plays a key role in the rabid over-development of my town was a director of several companies, one of which, according to my credit check facility, was itself a property development company.
I asked local councillors to look into the question of possible conflict of interest - yet they couldn't find any regulations which required disclosure of such interests.
These quangos seem to operate in a parallel universe to the rest of us - one where democracy, accountability, due process and disclosure of interests have been suspended.
Andy said... As a born and bred Wellingburian, I can only state that anyone who stays in that hole of a town is a f***wit, worthy only of scorn.
Well Andy, I've looked at your photograph alongside of your posting, and I have to say that when you left Wellingborough behind you (doubtless to achieve well-merited fame and success) the average IQ of the town went up.
Hey Andy did your parents do your hair and make you wear that jumper for a joke? Did you get kicked out of home for having an ASBO??
Norfolk the FibDems can't call themselves the 3rd force in politics if they can't even get 1 person to stand for a seat in a town that size. The Fibs are turning into a pressure group under Ming the pact maker.
who cares about the Lib dems? Surely we are now back to two party politics. Bye bye Lib Dems :-)
How old are Tory activists and Councillors, Auntie Flo? And how conservative (not incompatible with being "statist", by the way) are any younger ones that there might be?
Meanwhile the BNP are fielding a candidate in every seat in Leeds Metro ... more significant I feel.
Anecdote: the grand daddy of the Manchester Tories was asking Labour people whether his party had a candidate in a recent by-election in Gorton South - they did have one. But only just. Similar scene in a by-election in Liverpool. In both cases Tories almost got no votes. In Liverpool beaten by UKIP. In Manchester slammed by BNP. Fifth or so in each case I recall. Seats they were winning less than a generation ago.
Norfolk is right, sorry. Newcastle on Tyne is a Tory free zone. At least the Lib-Con ones function a bit better. Having said that the Newcastle Lib Dems don't look as addled a crew as Manchester's ...
There are a number of vacancies and split wards in NE and must be prospects of a change against the run of play.
Well having read all the comments there were, I felt sad to read that people think so little of Wellingboorugh and perhaps to the person who so nicely described his feelings for Peter Fry, I am glad you have left the town mate! We have a fantastic MP in Peter Bone and certainly Peter Fry has, in his time, done a superb job. Not so much to report about the Labour MP that followed.
A Lib/Lab pact in Wellingborough? I can tell you with some authority that is certainly not the case!
It didn't do Labour any good anyway - they lost so many council seats in Wellingborough (a council they had majority control over until 2003) they'll be very lucky indeed to have a shot at the Tories again for the parliamentary seat!
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