Well - the Tories took the South ward from the LibDems in their first attempt at a Town Council seat after both parties put a huge amount of effort in, with three-four leaflets, a full canvas, County Councillors being wheeled out - and knocking up on polling day. More the sort of thing you'd expect in a marginal seat at a General Election than a byelection for a Town (parish) council. The Tories had nine people turn up at the (45 min) count. Since officially only one counting agent, candidates and candidates' partners were allowed to attend, you might infer that new Town Councillor Dave Herne is a bisexual bigamist [joke Dave! Don't set your legal advisors onto me!].
I didn't see much about what the Town Council actually is about in any of the other campaigns - but with the Tories' campaign mostly about car parking, the LibDems weren't helped when the LibDem County Council published their long-awaited car parking strategy a few days before polling day.
Ron did well - with a massive personal vote of 120 - but in the end, it was another case of people voting tactically against the blues or the yellows - and of the two - more people voted against the yellows.
I only hope now that we won't see County Council politicking being replayed in the Town Council, but with a two year campaign for the County elections [May 2013] now underway, I think we're in for a rough time on the Town Council.
1 comment:
Nic - To be fair, most people did not vote "against" the Blues, most voted "against" the Greens (66% did not vote Tory, 68% did not vote LD, 83% did not vote Lab and 84% did not vote Green). There's no denying that Ron did well, but the Tories did spectacularly well, given the fact that Dave Herne was the first Tory candidate to stand in 30 years or so, he represents a Government Party and Morpeth is about 65% public sector worker. The significance of Dave's victory should not be underestimated, given Morpeth South makes up about half of the LD's safest County seat (Kirkhill).
I've already told you that I agree that there's no place for party politics in Parish Councils, but MTC is not, in reality, a Parish Council. It has a huge budget, staff and far more responsibilities than the average PC. Also, if you're against politics on town councils, why did you stand as a Green Party candidate? Why did Ron? You can't have your carrot cake and eat it!
Anyway, well done on a campaign well-fought. I hope you'll hold Dave's hand on the opposition benches!
DT
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