I've been gone for a while but I'm back now and do expect some Doctor Who and Star Wars posts in the coming days but right now, it's time to look at the local elections that have taken place across the UK.
There were 150 councils up to grab and in them 4404 seats.
The last mass local election involving these councils was in 2014.
First a bit of statistics on the number of seats:
Labour secured 2,350 councillors, that's 77 more than 2014
Conservatives secured 1,332 which is 33 less than in 2014
Liberal Democrats secured 536 councillors which is 75 more than in 2014
Green Party won 39 councillors which is up 8 from 2014
UKIP won 3 councillors, a whopping 123 councillors lower than in 2014
Others and independents secured 144 which is 4 lower than in 2014
Labour has held on to the same number of councils, 74
The Conservatives have lost 3 councils, now on 46
The Liberal Democrats have 9 councils, a gain of 4
There are 21 councils with no overall control, which is down from 2.
Looking at the stats one could say that the Labour Party have done exceptionally well and at first look you could defend Jeremy Corbyn for acting like he has become Prime Minister, however looking at it, the Labour Party haven't done that well they've only done alright. Normally the main opposition will wipe out the governing Westminster party but they haven't. Be this down to Corbyn's radical socialist views of abolshining the monarchy, leaving NATO, removing the Trident defence programme, or disetablishing the Church of England or simply down to the fact that Labour only offer a washed down version of Brexit. Labour's goal was to secure every council in London, headed by the pre-existing Labour Mayor Sadiq Kahn but they have failed in that. They gained one council, Tower Hamlets which had no overall control beforehand and has still retains 19 councils. They failed to get 11 councils, meaning they ended up with 20 of the 31 London councils. It is more than any other party granted but not what the Labour party where hoping for as their support mainly resides in urban areas. Labour did manage to retain all four major metropolitan areas up for grabs: Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Manchester. The Labour Party did manage to take Plymouth from the Conservatives and Kirklees which previously had no overall control but it also lost Derby, Nuneaton and Bedworth but luckily not to another party, just to no overall control. The Labour Party have made little progess but not enough to secure Number 10. They have 35% of the popular vote, joint with the Conservatives, which means the tide has turned into an even more neck and neck vote than the 2017 general election which saw the Conservatives secure 42% of the vote and Labour 40%.
The Conservatives were quite pleased with the results. They did lose 3 councils but it wasn't the complete and utter smash that they were expecting. They did make some gains though; they took control over Barnet, Basildon and Peterborough which had no previous allegiance, and took Reddich from Labour. They lost however Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, South Cambridgeshire to the Liberal Democrats, Plymouth to Labour and Mole Valley and Trafford to no overall leadership. A ruling party expects such defeats so this is no surprise. With Brexit looming it has kept Theresa in place with many areas liking her Hard Brexit policy but the remainers are looking to vote for the Liberal Democrats who are the only party wishing to hold a second referendum on the issue. The Conservatives lost a majoriy of it's seats in London and actually gained 57 seats outsie of it.
Sir Vince Cable recently said that the Lib Dems were well kept secret because they were making a come back unreported by the media. Now their come back seems to be revealed to us, gaining the most than any party percentage wise, with almost a 50% rise. The Lib Dems took Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames and South Cambridgeshire from the Conservatives and gained took Three Rivers which was previously under no control. They retained their other five councils of Sutton, Eastleigh, South Lakeland, Cheltenham and Waltford. There supported was completely destroyed when the party entered coalition with the Conservatives for five years but the party's insistence of remaining in the European Union has got them the support they need. However in terms of percentage, the Lib Dems have lost 2% of the popular vote.
No other party has any councils but it is important to acknowledge that UKIP have lost 97.7% of the councilors they had before. This is because their main deed of Brexit is now of course done or is doing. A UKIP candidate compared UKIP to the black death. Says it all really.
London now has
20 Labour councillors
4 Liberal Democrat councillors
6 Conservative councillors
1 uncontrolled area
That is one additional Labour, 2 additional Lib Dems, 2 less Conservatives and one less uncontrolled area.
Overall this was a good for Labour and Conservatives but not outstanding, a wohay for Lib Dems and Greens and a "I should give up and go home" from UKIP.
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