Nik lives in Essex, UK and works in London as the editor of MacUser magazine. The posts and comments on this site do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions of values of his employers.
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Yesterday’s local election result was a bit of a none-event, really. I voted for the only party to put anything through my door to tell me what they were up to. Fortunately it coincided with where I was going to put my cross on the paper anyway.
No wonder there is so much voter apathy if even those after the elected jobs can’t be bothered to make the effort.
In the event, none of the three candidates I voted for got in, and the council changes from one with no overall control to a Conservative administration. Considering Chelmsford has flip-flopped between Conservative and Liberal with the occasional period of no overall control for the last 30 years, that’s not entirely surprising. (source: BBC).
Looking through the results for the county as a whole, it’s interesting to see the range of the smaller parties and independent candidates, with campaigns under a whole range of parochial banners: Hawkwell Residents candidate, Holland-on-Sea Residents’ Association, the Community Representatives Party, and the Halstead Resident’s Association which won 5 seats. There are also topical issues, like the Socialist Alliance Against The War. I’m not entirely sure how the mainstream Conservative Party (Thatcher et al) differs from the Official Conservative Party.
Overall, though, they made little difference to the political landscape. Essex is split into 14 local districts, of which 13 were holding elections. In those, there were 53 elected representatives who had no affiliation to any of the three main parties (Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem). Today, with the results declared, there are 56. Perhaps not all of the 53 previously employed in public service were returned to office, but either way the net gain was very small.
I see that there was a Ruth Rawlinson standing in Clavering. Had I lived there, I dare say I’d be tempted to give her my vote. I wonder if we’re related.
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