I’m sure you’re all dying to know what the results were last night … ok, you probably don’t care but I’ll tell you anyway.
I stood for borough council for UKIP against 7 other candidates and came 8th! 8)
Am I disappointed? Not at all.
Telford & Wrekin has been Liebour-controlled since 1997 when it was hived off from Shropshire to become a Unitary Authority. The ward I stood on has been Liebour for as long as anyone can remember. I was up against 2 Liebour incumbents, 2 Tories (one of which is George Ashcroft, the ex-National Front youth leader turned Tory whose been in the news a bit recently), 2 TAWPA (a local residents group – one of their candidates being my wife’s uncle!) and the independent Mr Patel who has run our only shop for the last 26 years. All the other candidates leafleted and knocked doors whereas I was a paper candidate. I did put out some leaflets – I estimate around 75-80 – and I put up some posters but that was it. I got 178 votes and Mr Patel got 190. The two TAWPA guys got 222 and 400ish (my wife’s uncle). One of the Labour incumbents lost his seat to George Ashcroft. Just goes to show – no publicity is bad publicity.
It was a really good experience and if I decide to do it again I’ll certainly put in the effort and do some canvassing and give them some a run for their money. I met a lot of the councillors that I’ve had run-ins with in person and – with the exception of the chief exec of the council, Steve Wellings, they were all polite and had a smile for me. Even my long-suffering MP who I have harassed to within an inch of sanity on occassions had time for a chat and even invited me to the pub. Nice chap, shame he’s standing for the wrong party. George Ashcroft was a nice chap too and took the piss-taking in good humour. I spent a lot of the evening chatting to one of my parish councillors (Labour and a Welshman) who I’d actually go as far as voting for despite his political leanings. I even got a hand-shake and a brief polite exchange with the current Labour Leader, Keith Austin, who I have criticised and hounded constantly. Denis Allen, one of the supporters of the West Midlands NO! Campaign stood for both town and borough against the Labour mayor of Wellington and beat him both times. Denis is in the Freedom Association and stood for election for the Referendum Party way back and I’m very pleased that he got elected and is the new mayor of Wellington.
My UKIP colleagues – Ray Knight, Jill Seymour and Andi Bridgwater – all got results to be personally proud of as none of us has ever stood for election before. Jill worked hard and came in fairly close behind the incumbent independent who lost the seat to the Labour councillor who defected to the Tories not long ago. Ray stood in the largest ward in the borough and just slipped into last place – again, a tight result. Andi was a proper paper candidate and got 290 votes – an excellent result.
Why did UKIP fail to get elected in Telford? The Labour administration has become deeply unpopular – even in previously safe wards – and people voted Tory in droves. It’s as simple as that. Labour went into the election with 25 seats out of 56 and the Tories with 15. They emerged this morning 17 seats and the Tories with 25. Telford & Wrekin was one of the key seats for the Tories in this election and, if what I hear is correct, then the Tories already have a coalition partner lined up to take control of the council.
I’ve yet to find out how UKIP did nationally. I know they’ve gained a second councillor in Stoke-on-Trent and it appears that Wales isn’t yet ready to unfurl the purple and yellow banner just yet. If anyone has any reliable information I’d appreciate an update. I got out of the count at 4am, went home and was at work at 9.30 this morning.
Finally, I’m sitting here looking at the results on the BBC News website and the Tories have gained 846 councillors and 37 councils; Liebour have lost 465 councillors and 8 seats and the Illiberal Dimwits have lost 244 councillors and 5 councils. With 17 votes yet to be declared, Liebour has dropped to 3rd place by number of councillors, trailing behind Minge Campbell and his band of regionalist acoholics.
I’m struggling to find a down-side to this result.
Well done for standing, better luck next time.
Mind you it is good that many of the racist anti-English labour party councillors are now ex-councillors.
Despite the lies and breathtaking BBC spin, Labour were absolutely trounced, annihilated in England and my hearty congratulations go to Alex Salmond and the SNP for their historic win in Scotland, to echo his words, “never again will the Labour party think it has a divine right to rule Scotland”
For Liebour, things can only get…WORSE!!
A disapointing day for Labour. I was especially disapointed as i was out convasing for Labour, probably did more canvasing than you wonko! Shame you UKIP no do so well, i say that soley because you are able to split the vote. Your 1st love, the English Democrats did ok in Dartford where i was, but not well enough. As much as i hate them, i was hoping that they and UKIP could split the Tory vote, but they didn’t, in spite of a good showing from EDP, the real shock of the night.
So i off to cry after seeing how afaul Labour have done, so angry at that prat Blair. Had he steped down 6 months ago Scotland would be strong Labour, as would Wales and the losses in England would be far smaller. Prat. Just fufilling his ego, yet some in the party still defend him and are willing to pump his ego up. They are partly why the effin Tories could win the next election.
One last thought. Why you think the SNP propose an election for 2010? As may well be a Tory Government in Westminster, whihc would be very unpopular with the Scots, so the chances of a yes vote would be much higher.
Well done Stuart, no vote is a wasted vote contrary to what the main stream partie say. Write a thank you to the press
and ask those that voted for you to harrass this government for a referendum on withdrawal from the eu.
Calum, I didn’t do any canvasing – as I said, I was a paper candidate. The EDP aren’t my first love – I stood for UKIP, not EDP.
None of the small parties did well anywhere because people did exactly what they did in the run-up to 1997 – vote for the main opposition party whether they supported them or not to get the incumbent shower of shits out of Westminster.
A Labour supporter isn’t in a position to criticise the SNP’s reasons for proposing an election date that will benefit them. Labour has done the same thing every time. Even Bliar’s refusal to resign until after the election is exactly the same thing.
I wish you the best of luck if you stand again. I agree with what you are saying about minor parties.
I wasn’t criticising the SNP for when they plan to have a referendum, i am just saying that i think that is why they want to have it in 2010.
I think had Blair gone 6 months ago then Labour wouldn’t have lost in Scotland, and we’d have done better in Wales. England is another matter, people are just taken in by that insincere, incredilous prat Cameron.
Blair has made me so angry recentley, just staying for the sake of his ego, and whats more, those Blairte appoligisers in the Party who constantly defend him and pump up his ego drive me up the wall.
Point on Scotland. When only 51% of people bother to vote, and the SNP win by 1 seat, with a 1% lead can they realy claim to have a mandate, no. Especially when in a country where only 2m people voted 100,000 ballots were spoit, could these votes have swing the election? The SNP can claim no legitimate mandate, nor can any other party. Look set for quagmire. What about a new election?
People aren’t taken in by Cameroon in England, they vote Conswervative because they are the lesser of two evils. Liebour doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of England. That said, the Tories might have English policies but they don’t have an English manifesto – only UKIP has an English manifesto of the UK-wide parties.
As for the turnout – people in glass houses, Calum. The referendum on the Welsh Assembly had 50% turnout and 51% voted for it and Liebour declared it the settled will of the Welsh people. The 100k spoilt balots were because of Liebour’s ridiculous constituency/regional list mix system. Don’t forget 51% is a decent turnout – above the average when Liebour last got elected.
Calum are you Scottish? If not you must be British and not English. You should visit http://www.thecep.org.uk before rubbishing other people’s views. You might see what is going on.