UKIP's 151 votes to the Conservatives' 343 in a local by-election in Buckingham yesterday is definetly encouraging, with the Party blowing the LibDems out of the water and putting down a respectable marker.It was vitally important that UKIP makes respectable showings in such by-elections in the run up to the General Election to demonstrate that the Party is now serious about winning domestic local elections. When UKIP Councillors do get elected, they stand up and represent local people as radically as UKIP's MEPs represent Britain's spreading feeling of anti-EU feeling. Take Cllr Pete Reeve, for...

Reports of racial and religiously motivated crime rose following the election of British National party councillors in several far- right strongholds, police statistics have revealed.Complaints of hate crime increased in wards in the West Midlands, London and Essex after the election of a BNP member, in spite of declines in reported hate crime in the wider police areas. In other wards race crime reportedly rose in the runup to BNP election victories, according to the figures, obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.The findings came as the party stepped up its campaign to win its first seats in the House of Commons with a "weekend of action" in Barking and Dagenham, where the culture and tourism minister, Margaret Hodge, faces a challenge for her Labour seat from BNP...

In the frenzy of political activity over the past fortnight it has been rather overlooked. But today voters go to the polls in a council by-election in Craigavon. A ballot is required in the Lurgan ward after the TUV’s attempt to co-opt a replacement for its outgoing councillor, Mark Russell, was rejected by opponents. It is a four way contest which does not include the DUP. So voters will not have an opportunity to deliver a bloody nose to that party just yet. The SDLP and Sinn Féin are each fielding candidates, but the likelihood is that either Jo-Anne Dobson from the Ulster Unionists, or David Calvert, whom the TUV wished originally to co-opt, will take the seat. Despite inclement conditions, it seems that canvassing has been continuing apace in Lurgan. Daphne Timble reports...

Figures revealing which party’s candidates were most likely to do leafleting, canvassing, internet campaigning and a set of other activities have just been published by the Electoral Commission. The Commission carried out a survey of local election candidates from the June 2009 campaign and found: Conservative candidates were most likely to have produced a campaign leaflet (98% versus 70% for Lib Dems and 60% for Labour) Labour and Conservative candidates were equally likely to have had telephone canvassing in their campaign (27% each, with 21% for the Lib Dems) On average, Conservative candidates spent 21 hours a week campaigning during the campaign (excluding those who self-identified as paper candidates). Liberal Democrats were just behind on 20 hours and Labour lagging on 17...

It is not often I say this, but well done Jack Straw.The Justice Secretary has announced that plans to close polling stations,replace polling cards with e-mail or call centre contacts and limit the number of hours during one can vote on election days, as reported in The Times yesterday, have been abandoned.Although this plan was presented as a way to save money (from the party who brought you the Millenium Dome in 2000), I believe that it would have had the effect of further reducing participation in a basic human right.Dizzy, in a fascinating analysis, alleges that: "the proposals themselves [were] rather blatantly designed to stifle the non-Labour vote and silence opposition of the fringe candidates who threaten to split their core vote".He goes on to mention that reducing the number of...

UKIP had a terrible result in the Cannock Heath Hayes local by-election yesterday, finishing last.The None of the Above Party Lib Dim candidate won with 314 votes, closely followed by the Tory candidate with 300. The Liebour candidate got 267 votes and the BNP candidate 116. The UKIP candidate finished last with just 51 votes.Finishing last is a disappointment, especially with half the votes...

Glenn Tingle came a respectable third in the Wroxham by-election yesterday the Conswervatives and - bizarrely - the None of the Above Party Lib Dims who won with a comfortable majority.It's disappointing not to have won - especially with an excellent candidate like Glenn Tingle - but it does confirm UKIP's place as the only real opposition to the LibLabCon. The results also confirm, once...

It’s always nice when the South Devon scene is picked up by the nationals, and the latest brittle debacle of leaked emails and sore losers in South Devon Lib Dems has even made onto the pages of Guido Fawkes’ blog. The Lib Dems performed poorly in the county council elections, and Sally Morgan, the Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the new Central Devon constituency, lost her seat on the county council. Imagine her chagrin when told how well the party was doing as it tried to sting her for some more cash. Well, you don’t have to imagine, ’cause she provided a handy email (see below) about what she thought of the situation – just letting off steam you understand – and the email got leaked. Hmm, interesting unity within the party there. Was it...

Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: The question of who can stand for election to a local council should be clearly defined and easy to understand – so that those new to politics can be candidates, so that voters don’t end up with a false choice where not all the candidates are actually allowed to be candidates and so that elections can be about choices between people and policies, rather than battles between lawyers. In England and Wales the law was last codified and laid down in the 1972 Local Government Act. With the passage now of nearly forty years, plus frequent subsequent legislation which gave the opportunity to clarify any ambiguities, matters should now be clear. Alas, though, a combination of poor drafting, changing interpretations and equivocation from the Electoral...

Back on 2nd June, LDV launched our election prediction competition, inviting readers to put their reputations on the line and tell us what they thought would happen in the 4th June English local and European elections. Here are the questions with the actual results in bold: 1. Predict the Liberal Democrat share of the vote in the European elections. 14% 2. Predict the turnout in the European elections. 34.5% 3. Predict the Liberal Democrat lead over Labour in the local elections (if you think the results will be LD 25%, Lab 22%, your answer is +3%. If you think it will be the other way around, your answer is -3%). +5% 4. Predict how many local authorities the Liberal Democrats will have majority control of on 5th June. 1 (Bristol) 5. Predict the net loss/gain of Lib Dem councillors. -2...

Everyone’s favourite Tory blogger Iain Dale interviewed Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on Friday morning about the party’s performance in the English local elections - you can listen to the 7-minute podcast version below: Powered by Podbean.com...

Earlier this week, I blogged about the ‘expectations game’, the way in which post-election analysis can be spun, and speculated that the Lib Dems were being set up for a fall. In fact, though, the reporting of the party’s performance has been generally fair. For instance, here’s Tony Travers in today’s Guardian: The national equivalent vote share put the Conservatives on 38%, the Liberal Dems on 28%, Labour on 23% and “others” on 11%. Compared with 2008, the Tories are down five points, Labour down one point, the Lib Dems up one point and Others up by 5 points. In short, both Labour and the Conservatives have taken a political hit compared with their position last year, while other parties, notably the Lib Dems, have generally gained. Or Gary O’Donoghue for the...

I wrote a short piece on the local elections on CiF yesterday, which is now live. At the time I was struggling to come up with a proper assessment of how the Lib Dems had done in the local elections so mostly concentrated on the departure of Lord Rennard, but I did write this: The Lib Dems’ performance in the local elections last week appears to be a perfect example of the perniciousness of the British electoral system. Our overall share of the vote was up but we haemorrhaged councillors because of a swing from Labour to the Conservatives and independents. The Tories certainly performed strongly in this election, but their gains massively outweigh their share of the vote. This ought to make any right-minded individual seethe with a sense of injustice. At the time I was wondering if...

What to make of 4th June’s local elections in England, how to sum it up? The clichés are easy: a mixed bag, a curate’s egg, et bloody cetera. The reality is simpler, in my view: Thursday’s local elections were, generally, pretty damn good for the Lib Dems. That’s not to gloss over the disappointments – and, yes, there most definitely were some (of which more, later) – but nor should those setbacks allow us to discount the very clear successes which were achieved either. Let’s start with the good: 1. The Liberal Democrats came second, with a nationally projected vote according to the BBC, of 28%, compared to the Tories 38% and Labour’s 23%. This is the joint highest popular vote ever recorded by the Lib Dems in a set of local elections, beating the 27% recorded in both...

Here we publish the 11am briefing from Labour high command to cabinet ministers, MPs and activists on what they should say about the election results and the reshuffle. Every time you hear a minister on the television giving their 'personal' opinion, have a look at this and spot the difference.Tough times for Labour – but not the breakthrough the Tories wanted either. We need to work hard together to come through this recession, listen to the voters, and earn back people's trust after the expenses scandal. But if we do that then we can be confident that in a head-to-head with the Tories – where the choice is between a Labour party led by Gordon Brown and determined to stand by people, or a Tory party led by David Cameron that would walk on by when people need help most – then we can...

• Departing Hutton offers PM his full support• Alan Sugar gets enterprise role• Johnson to Home Office• Darling stays as chancellorLabour in crisis live - leadership and elections latestGordon Brown today plugged the gaps in his cabinet as he installed Alan Johnson as home secretary and made John Denham communities secretary in a make-or-break reshuffle.John Hutton, the fourth member of the cabinet to quit in the past four days, delivered another blow to Brown but cushioned it by making clear he was standing down for personal reasons and that the prime minister still had his full support.The former defence secretary said he would continue to fight for Gordon Brown and the Labour government from the backbenches but had decided to stand down from parliament at the next election for...

Fascinating that, according to Sky News, Hutton has now resigned. Is it part of the coup or has he just had enough of the abuse that comes about being a cabinet member? Word is that Cumbria, where he has his Barrow-in-Furness seat, has gone deep blue. Who’d blame him for jumping ship, and we’ll soon find out why… In the meantime, we must watch this fiasco of a very uninspiring reshuffle …...

• Purnell resignation forces early reshuffle• Labour facing heavy losses in local electionsGordon Brown today installed Alan Johnson as the home secretary after being bounced into a make or break reshuffle following James Purnell's shock resignation.Johnson, the former health secretary who is tipped as the most likely successor to Brown should he resign as prime minister, was rewarded for his show of loyalty in recent days with a key post.But in a blow to Ed Balls, the children's secretary and Brown's key ally, the weakened prime minister was expected to allow Alistair Darling to retain his post as chancellor.The justice secretary, Jack Straw, was also expected to remain in place, while Yvette Cooper was tipped to be promoted from chief secretary to the Treasury.Today, more...

English local election results will be pouring in throughout the day. Lib Dem Voice will try and keep you abreast of what’s happening across the country, as we did throughout Thursday night with our open thread - many thanks in particular to those commenting who were able to break the good news that the Lib Dems had taken majority control of Bristol City Council amid disastrous results for Labour. Please do keep the news coming in from wherever you live. As at 9.50 am, the BBC results coreboard is telling me that the Lib Dems are the only party showing net gains in both numbers of councillors and councils controlled (+1 in each category). Let’s see what the rest of the day brings, especially in the south-west (Devon and Cornwall, which Lib Dems are defending) and in Somerset,...

• First results dominated by Conservative wins• Poor showing increases pressure on Gordon BrownLabour has suffered heavy losses to both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the first results from the local elections which saw them almost wiped out in former strongholds.Across England, 27 county councils and seven unitary councils have held elections and there were three mayoral votes.The early counts were dominated by Conservative wins. But as the night wore on there was no solace for Labour, increasing the pressure on the prime minister, Gordon Brown, who is already reeling from the surprise resignation of the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell.The party suffered a terrible defeat this morning in Bristol, once a Labour stronghold, losing eight of the 10 seats it was...

Andrew Sparrow follows all the latest developments on a day which could make or break Gordon Brown's leadership12.34pm: The police have announced today that it is "highly unlikely" that any MP could be successfully prosecuted over controversial expenses claims. But, according to the Press Association, officers have said "questions do remain over some allegations and MPs could face prosecution if there is evidence that officials were deliberately misled". Scotland Yard obviously knows something about "burying bad news", although the prospects of prosecutions always seemed quite remote in the first place.12.21pm: Further evidence that the department for innovation, universities and skills (created in 2007) may be about to be scrapped. The Civil Service Network quotes a Twitter message sent...

The first big electoral news is good for the Liberal Democrats: four gains from Labour in Bristol have given the LibDems overall control of the council. Labour won just 2 wards out of 23 on the night, compared with 10 out of 24 in...

Most local election results won’t be declared until well into Friday, but a handful of councils are counting overnight - so please use this thread to update Lib Dem Voice readers with what’s happening near you, or links to emerging stories elsewhere. News from Bristol sounds very positive for the Lib Dems and absolutely disastrous for Labour, with Tories making little...

Keep up with all the results as they come in from around the country with our election map...

On Tuesday we published our Lib Dem Voice competition to predict the results of the local and European elections taking place today, 4th June, and win a copy of LDV’s own annual, The Tangerine Book, and a limited edition LDV mug. The thread is here, and, to date, we’ve received 14 entries from LDV readers (who may or may not be Lib Dem members). Here’s the average of what you’ve so far predicted: 1. Predict the Liberal Democrat share of the vote in the European elections. YOU SAID: 16.5% 2. Predict the turnout in the European elections. YOU SAID: 35% 3. Predict the Liberal Democrat lead over Labour in the local elections. YOU SAID: +3.3% 4. Predict how many local authorities the Liberal Democrats will have majority control of on 5th June. YOU SAID: 1 (currently 2) 5. Predict the...

Four ministerial resignations, including the Home Secretary, a back bench plot to unseat the Prime Minister from his leadership of the Labour party, rumours that an impending cabinet reshuffle will precipitate bitter recriminations rather than freshen and revitalise Gordon Brown’s team, predictions that the party could be beaten into fourth place in local and European elections, being held today. A new and strident challenger has emerged to contest the title of ‘worst week’ in the history of the disintegrating Labour government. There is a strong feeling that, for Brown at least, next week has the potential to be even worse. Even loyal Brownites, who have found that they are not immune from their leader’s briefing operation, are reportedly starting to feel restive. There is...

Image via Wikipedia Lies are told about the Greens. By people who get the taxpayer to fund the cleaning of their moats, the building of their duck houses, and who avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of their houses. We are told the Greens are a one-issue party. This is untrue. The environment informs everything from what we eat to where we live to whether we live at all in a world under threat of devastating climate change. It must be factored in. If Labour had done so, new runways and highways would not have been built. Instead Brown would have committed, as the Greens have, to improving the roads we do have and investing in public transport that is clean, frequent, on time and impressive enough to persuade people to abandon their cars wherever possible. Brown’s...

...for the European Parliamentary and local elections.VOTE...

Whuch party costs you most in Council Tax? Well, according to the coming year’s figures, it’s Tory-run councils which are levying the biggest increases: a whopping 30 of the top 40 council tax rises have been imposed by the Conservatives. And one of the highest in the country was West Oxfordshire – where none other than David Cameron is the local MP! And on what, you may ask, are these Tory councils spending these council tax increases? Here are a few choice examples: · Conservatives on Leicestershire County Council spent £6,000 hooking up their fleet of lawn mowers to sat navs. · Conservatives running Kent County Council were on the road to ruin when they poured £28 million on moving their Highways Department to new premises – and not a penny of it was...

If there’s one thing which worries most party bosses before an election, it is how they manage media expectations of the results. For it is how the media reports this Thursday’s election results which will by and large determine whether the voting public believes the parties have achieved or failed. Yesterday, PoliticsHome published its Phi100 Panel results of what a select group of politicians, journalists, think-tanks and bloggers think will happen on 4th June. You can see their findings here. I highlight it because it set some alarm bells ringing in my mind that the Lib Dems are being set up for a fall. Labour: such has been the bad press in the lead-up to these elections, it’s hard to imagine how Labour could end up lower than current expectations. In today’s political...

From AboutMyArea: Taunton Conservative Candidate Forced To Apologise For Slurs Following Police Investigation The Somerset County Council election took a step into the gutter today when Conservative candidate in West Taunton, Nick James, was forced to issue a public apology for personal attacks on his Lib Dem opponent, Alan Paul, and non-political officers of the Council. The apology came after Police had warned the Conservative agent that a last-minute Conservative leaflet was illegal. Hat-tip: Liberal...

A collective madness appears to be descending on the Labour Party as it faces the prospect of humiliation in Thursday's local and European elections. Up here in Derbyshire, the talk is that Labour will lose control of the county council for the first time in the 27 years since David Bookbinder stormed into power at Matlock at the expense of a bunch of corrupt old Tory freemasons in 1981, but of course this is just one small aspect of what is expected to be a much wider deluge. Against that backdrop, the idea that Gordon Brown can somehow try to turn round this situation by carrying out a reshuffle seems preposterous enough. The idea that he can turn it around by dint of replacing Alistair Darling as Chancellor with, of all people, Ed Balls, seems to me to be taking fantasy politics to...

Feeling tired as we near the end of a hectic campaign? Well, here’s something to bring a smile to your face. Quite simply, one of the very best Conservative leaflets ever (though it’s headline isn’t in this class). It’s from 2000 I believe: (Click on thumbnail for larger...

Just two days left ‘til polling day in what for many will be a double-election, with local elections taking place in much of England, and European elections being held across the UK. So what better time than now to launch our election prediction competition? First let’s remind ourselves of the current state of play. Local elections: Anders Hanson here on LDV has given a very useful synopsis of what to look out for, and which councils/mayors are up for re-election this Thursday. The last time local elections were held in most of these areas was on the same days the 2005 general election – which inevitably skewed results. The projected national share of the vote in local elections, though, was as follows: Labour 25%, Conservative 40%, Lib Dems 28% We should expect, therefore, Labour...

Chance to set out national plan after Thursday's pollsConstitution and cabinet reshuffle are prioritiesGordon Brown's aides believe he needs to endure only one more week of torture over his leadership before the Labour party and the media realise he is staying until the election, and he can then start to be judged fairly alongside David Cameron. But Brown also knows the next few days could be the most perilous for his premiership since he took office in May 2007.He needs to seize the initiative quickly by resolving sharp differences of view within the cabinet on a full programme of constitutional reform.He needs to navigate a fraught reshuffle, probably on Friday, that could see changes to the chancellorship and the Home Office, two of three great offices of state.And he will have to...

Things are indeed achanging in the Guardian Media Group. Sunday say The Observer unequivocally urge its readers to vote Liberal Democrat for the first time. And now Polly Toynbee is urging a vote for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections and in many local elections too: Throw out bad councils, and vote for Lib Dems in Europe… The most consistently wise party on Europe, [the Lib Dems] never flirted with Tory press populism, but that principled stand came at a high price. On the economy or crime co-operation, “stronger together, poorer apart” is a good Lib Dem pro-EU slogan. They best deserve the vote of every pro-European on Thursday… It is bad for local government when councils are voted in or out regardless of quality, and bad too when virtually all...

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. (And how true does that sentence read after the contrasting results in successive days from Populus and ICM, the former showing the Lib Dems as laggards, the latter as the real opposition.) Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends. Here, in chronological order, are the results of the nine polls* published in May: Tories 43%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 18% - YouGov/S. Times (10th May 2009) Tories 39%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 22% - Populus/Times (12th May) Tories 41%, Labour 22%, Lib Dems 19% - YouGov/Sun (15th May) Tories 40%, Labour 21%, Lib...

Disabled Kevin asks do we know or care about local politics In most of Devon there are local elections as well as European elections. Did you know, do you care? Is your council tax too high and are you happy with your local services? Have you met or received any information about what the local parties are planning if they take control on Devon County Council? UKIP are standing in the European and county elections and will receive many protest votes, but can they run a council, are they interested in organising recycling or do they just want to take the Republic of South Devon out of Europe? Do the Green Party have realistic plans to attract more tourists to the region, and after the British National Party send all the foreign workers home, who is going to look after the elderly and...

Election round up by Disabled Kevin Until Thursday 14th, I was going to write a piece arguing why you should not use your vote in the European and local elections on June 4, as a protest vote but I cannot think of a good reason why to argue this! I don’t mind MPs claiming expenses and having second homes, were appropriate but I cannot understand why some MPs think it is ok to claim for such things as £1000 TVs, claiming interest payments on mortgages which have been paid off, dog food, moat cleaning and multiple second homes. I do not accept the defence ‘it was within the rules’! I hope if I ever got elected, if I felt it was necessary to buy a TV on my expenses I would claim less than £75! If I ever claim for biscuits I hope everyone would question my sanity. MPs must be paid...