Personalities and parties
As if to emphasise that local elections are about personalities as much as parties, former councillors played a notable role in three recent contests.
As if to emphasise that local elections are about personalities as much as parties, former councillors played a notable role in three recent contests.
Congratulations to Labour’s Jake Bonetta, aged just 18 years, who achieved a famous victory in East Devon’s Honiton St Michael’s ward. In so doing, he salvaged some pride for his party.
Council by-elections resumed for English authorities on 6 May, with more than 350 vacancies filled.
To borrow a cliché from sports commentary, this year’s local elections can be interpreted as a ‘game of two halves’.
The vaccine rollout provided a spring electoral bounce for the governments of all three nations of Britain.
Our ‘first past the post’ electoral system has two key characteristics when translating votes into seats.
It is nearly half a century since the last wholesale review of English local government in 1973 created a pattern of county and constituent district councils. Much has happened since then, of course.
The unprecedented decision to stage two cycles of English local elections at the same time means that we need to focus on the contrasting past outcomes in two separate years to make any sense of what might happen this May.
The vaccine rollout provided a spring electoral bounce for the governments of all three nations of Britain.
A long-standing issue for local government has been the recruitment of women councillors, with the LGA’s 2018 councillor census showing 36 per cent were female.