I bring you glad tidings that a further three constituencies will now be counting overnight on Thursday - Henley, Oxford West and Wantage. The Returning Officer decided he didn't like to prospect of being held liable if the Electoral Commission didn't like his reasons for counting on Friday.
Perhaps Colin Bland, Returning Officer at Broadland District Council, might take note. He's refusing to shift the Broadland and Norwich North counts to Thursday.
He might live to regret it.
I think there are now only 21 seats counting on Friday.
Argyll & Bute
Berwick Upon Tweed
Blyth Valley
Broadland
Buckingham
Cheltenham
Copeland
Hexham
Huntingdon
Kenilworth & Southam
Lancaster & Fleetwood
Morecambe & Lunesdale
NE Hampshire
Norwich North
Penrith & the Border
Saffron Walden
Skipton & Ripon
St Ives
Torridge & West Devon
Wansbeck
Warwick & Leamington
Westmorland & Lonsdale
It’s nice the humiliation of Farage won’t get buried.
ReplyDeleteIf logistics is a problem, why are not the Western Isles or Orkney & Shetland on the list?
ReplyDeleteMaybe there are lessons that they could teach their English compatriots.
It will be a sad day for politics if that cretin Bercow retains his seat. But then again this entire general election has been a bit sad all round.
ReplyDeleteI would have the thought the important question at this point is then how many of these seats are safe Conservative, safe labout etc, and how many of them is there a chance they'll switch, so we know what difference these 20 might have on the final result if it comes down to the wire on the night.
ReplyDeleteI would have the thought the important question at this point is then how many of these seats are safe Conservative, safe labout etc, and how many of them is there a chance they'll switch, so we know what difference these 20 might have on the final result if it comes down to the wire on the night.
ReplyDeleteGood news; and with there now being so few left deferring until Friday, the pressure will now be on them: "If over 600 others can do it..."
ReplyDeleteThe power of the blog???
ReplyDeletehttp://toryardvaark.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/no-election-night-count-at-vale-of-the-white-horse-district-council/
A number of these are seats with islands or tidal islands, who may be limited by tide or by night/day restrictions.
ReplyDeleteNa h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland have lots of small islands to deal with, and will probably both hire helicopters to fly around. It's a lot harder to justify a helicopter for one small island that you can collect the votes from the next morning by boat than to justify for half the constituency, when many parts would probably have to be accessed by helicopter anyway.
I think the least excusable is Warwick & Leamington.
To support the last comment the St Ives count has always been on Friday as the ballot boxes cannot be transferred from the Isles of Scilly to Penzance until Friday morning.
ReplyDeleteTerry - St Ives counted on the night in 1987 and 1992 so you are not correct on this occasion.
ReplyDeleteOne of us can't count but I think you've named 22 seats but written 21!
ReplyDelete