Top 5 things people say to me about the local elections
Number 1: As I speak to residents of Queens Park ward various versions of why would I vote for anything ever again? is by far and away the most frequent thing said to me. It’s primarily referring to the Westminster political malaise around Brexit of course but when a conversation develops Brighton & Hove City Council’s elected representatives receive the same treatment. In Queens Park this cynism hasn’t been helped by what seems to have been a ‘go slow’ from our Labour Party ward councillors over the last few years – emails unanswered, refusal to support local campaigns or advocate for residents.
Over the years I’ve argued against blanket condemnation of politics and politicians but actually, yes, harder to do that now… From this standpoint I was viewed (much like all the newbie candidates on offer in QP) as another aloof poltician wannabe who hasn’t realised the pointlessness of it all. I’m more than little sympathetic to this stance.
Number 2: ‘Good luck, we support you‘
This one surfaced in the last few days when I was leafleting on St James Street…along the lines of ‘Good luck, we support you‘. It’s really similar to the above but if I replied ‘will you vote for me?’ the answer was more often than not ‘no. don’t vote.’
Number 3: ‘Please don’t split the vote’
In Queens Park ward, itself a part of Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s consituency since 2017, a good few die-hard Corbyn supporters will come out to vote. Alongside these, Green Party voters are ebullient this year. Disproportionate to the ward’s registered voters (just over 11,000) I’d expect tribes of party faithful to head to polling stations on May 2nd. Important to remember though that if 2015’s local election results are anything to go by votes from the party faithful are a tiny number – to their favoured party candidates go a 13 to 15% share of the 12,000 or so electorate of whom less that 8,000 filled out ballot papers.
As with so many things, a shouty minority of party faithful can make you think they’re the tip of the iceberg in terms of the residents of a ward. They’re not. At the last local elections in 2015 its likely that party tribe ‘block votes’ (ie when a person ticks all three labour candidates) which amounted to about 25% (3,000 residents out of 12,000) determining the success of the three LP candidates who got elected.
This year – 2019 – the Green’s are back and both red and green are fighting for block votes from their supporters – hence ‘please don’t split the vote’ facebook posts and (I can confirm) aggressive demands for a block vote made on doorsteps made by warlike party foot soldiers. [see Uni hustings post for how the 4 main parties couldn’t contain their dislike of the vote-splitter candidate in Queens Park!!]
Number 4: Is there an election?
Number 5: Which ward do I live in?
Both 4 and 5 are quite understanderble. #4 reflects the heightened focus/awareness/horror toward Brexit and Westminster’s fun and games. to which news of local elections has come as a surprise. In other years the media would have had little else to discuss in UK political items than local elections. In many ways Extinction Rebellion took over new agendas.
The matter of ward boundaries is dull and new voters invariably have no idea.