Village News’ readers may be aware from national media
reports that there are elections taking place next month to the European
Parliament. What hasn’t been quite so widely publicised, as it’s not happening
nationally, is that there are some local elections taking place on the same
day. This includes the election of councillors to Bromley Council.
Here at Village News we’ve yet to see one single election
leaflet drop through our letterbox, despite the election being barely three
weeks away. Therefore we’ve decided to bring you some facts and figures with a sprinkle
of Village News fairy dust to help you make your decision on 22nd
May.
How many Councillors?
There are sixty seats up for grabs on Bromley Council, the same as in 2010.
Those with even not very long memories will remember around the time of the
last election in 2010 that Bromley Council was putting it about that in 2014
the number of councillors would be reduced from sixty to forty. This has not
happened, the subsequent excuse being that it wasn’t “feasible,” the reason
being “because of the electoral cycle,” according to a Bromley Council
spokesman. However, Village News understands that the proposal will now be
considered for 2018. Shall we hold our breath? In the meantime, in a poll taken
last year by News Shopper, of those that expressed an opinion (there were 6%
“don’t know”), 89% agreed that local councils should be reduced in size and
have fewer councillors. Given that we have had a London Assembly for a number
of years that administers some of the work in the Village News
area, there is a debate to be had regarding London borough councils being split up into
parish councils, overseen by the London Assembly, with elected representatives
being local residents first and having party allegiances second. In next month’s elections
there are representatives of only seven parties, plus one Independent.
Which party to vote
for?
The Conservatives: The Conservatives currently hold 53 of
the 60 seats on Bromley Council, up from 49 in 2006. They are fielding 60
candidates. In both 2006 and 2010 the Conservatives won all of the 11 seats in
the Village News’ area. (3 in Bickley, 3 in Chislehurst, 2 in Mottingham &
Chislehurst North, and 3 in Petts Wood & Knoll.) In 2010 some of the
Conservative councillors gained huge numbers of votes, due in part to the general
election being held on the same day, so more coming out to vote and voting as
they would be traditionally expected to in this area. There had never
previously been a council election and a general election held on the same day since
the formation of the boroughs in 1964.
Labour: Labour currently hold 3 seats, down from 4 in 2006. They
are fielding 60 candidates. Labour did particularly badly in Petts Wood in 2010
with one candidate amassing 522 votes which was just one tenth of one of the
Conservatives who gained 5,197 votes. Interestingly, in 2010 Petts Wood was the
ward with the second highest turnout across all of the 32 London boroughs.
Liberal Democrats: Liberal Democrats currently hold 4 seats,
down from 7 in 2006. It wasn’t that the Liberal Democrats didn’t do well in 2010
in the number of votes that they gained, it was just that the Conservatives did
better. In Bickley the Liberal Democrats
increased the number of votes by an average of a whopping 92% whereas the
Conservatives “only” managed 49%. However the Conservatives still managed to
gain an average of over three times as many total votes as the Liberal
Democrats. What Village News finds a little more alarming is that for 2014 the
Liberal Democrats are only contesting 47 seats, whereas in 2006 they contested
all 60, and 59 in 2010. It may be that they see no point in contesting seats
where they haven’t a hope of winning, but it doesn’t give much confidence to
the voter who wants to back a winner and not an also ran. After all, Labour is
contesting all 60 seats and yet Labour have had fewer seats on Bromley Council
in both 2006 and 2010 than the Liberal Democrats.
UK Independence Party (UKIP): In 2006 UKIP contested just 1
seat, in 2010 they contested 10. Next month they will be contesting 35 seats in
all of the wards, presumably hoping to do well on the back of the European
elections being held the same day.
Greens: The Greens are fielding 22 candidates. In 2010 they
fielded 15 and in 2006 just 10. In the 5 wards where both Greens and UKIP
stood in 2010, UKIP gained more votes than the Greens in 4 of them.
British National Party: Contesting 3 seats. (3 in 2010 and 2
in 2006).
Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition: Contesting 1 seat.
Independents: The only Independent standing next month is
Colin Willetts who is to be found in Cray Valley West ward. In 2006 Willetts
was one of the 4 Labour councillors – he represented the same ward – but in
2010, in his absence, the seat went to the Conservatives. Back in 2010 there
were 5 Independents, the most notable was Peter Bloomfield who stood in Darwin
ward - the last remaining single seat ward in London. Bloomfield had represented the
Conservatives in that ward from 1982 until 2010, when he was deselected by the
Conservatives. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens did not field a candidate
in Darwin ward in 2010, although they had in 2006, presumably to allow
Bloomfield a run at the Conservative candidate. He fell short in his endeavour
by just 67 votes. Had the UKIP candidate not stood, who gained 299 votes, there
would have been every possibility that Bloomfield could have won. But he did,
so he didn’t, so to speak. In 2006 there were 8 independents standing. It
appears that Independents are now choosing to align themselves with the smaller
parties, this certainly so in the interesting case that is Julian Grainger.
Back in 2010 Grainger complained that Village News had suggested that
Bloomfield had been “dumped” by the
Conservatives. “He hasn’t been ‘dumped’, it’s just that we've chosen not to
reselect him.” Now the same has happened to Grainger, but instead of standing
as an Independent, he’s joined UKIP and will be fighting in the same ward where
he was a Conservative councillor for many years: Chelsfield & Pratts
Bottom.
Who’s going to win in
Bromley? It may seem that the answer is going to be the Conservatives,
although between 1998 and 2001 – just after Tony Blair became Prime Minister - Labour
and Liberal Democrats managed to scrape together a coalition. Given the
problems that the party of national government often has in the popularity
stakes, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will not do as well as in 2010.
The Conservatives’ share of the vote fell below 50 per cent for the first time in
the three elections to 2010 and Village News predicts their share will
fall further in May. In 12 of the 22 wards the individual Conservatives hold the most
number of votes followed by the Liberal Democrats. In these 12 wards Labour
are some way behind so will not pick up any seats in these. Bloomfield is not
standing in Darwin so this ward will stay with the Conservatives. Although only
1 Independent is standing, the number of candidates standing from outside the
three main parties has gone from 21 in 2006, to 33 in 2010, to 62 for 2014, a
tripling of the number in 8 years. This increase has come in part from the
Greens but mostly from UKIP, up from one in 2006 to 35 for 2014. This increase
may be just a triumph of hope over experience but the relative unpopularity of
the coalition, the fact that the European elections are on the same day,and the
rise of the smaller parties' share of the vote may give UKIP something to look
forward to.
Wards to look out
for? Undoubtedly Chelsfield & Pratts Bottom where Grainger is standing
for UKIP. A 3 seat ward, Grainger received the most votes in 2006 and 2010 when
a Conservative. With a popular local man who lives in Chelsfield, (two of his
Conservative opponents don’t even live in the ward) and with UKIP in the
ascendency, anything could happen.
Crystal Palace ward holds two of the Liberal Democrat
councillors - who may struggle against Labour. If the Labour candidates hold
their votes they may cause an upset. However, both the Labour candidates are
new to the ward whereas Tom Papworth is seeking re-election as a Liberal Democrat,
this time with his wife, Vicki. Jobs for the boys?
Do our candidates
live in their wards? Here at Village News we believe the electorate is best
served at local level if our elected representatives actually live in their
wards. In Bickley ward only one Conservative lives in Bickley. In Chislehurst
ward two Conservatives live there although the third, Ian Payne, lives in West
Wickham. Do Chislehurst voters have an interest in West Wickham? The answer may
explain why Payne received 988 fewer votes in 2010 than Katy Boughey who has 24
years as a local Councillor under her belt. One of the two Conservative
candidates in Mottingham ward lives in Mottingham, the other in Bickley. The
reason for this is that the Bickley resident, Charles Rideout, lives with
Catherine Rideout, who is a Bickley ward councillor. More jobs for the boys? Then
again, one of the Labour candidates in Mottingham ward lives in Penge, which is
about as far away as one can get whilst remaining in the borough. Finally,
Petts Wood, which seems to have the worst deal. One Conservative lives in
Orpington, another in Pratts Bottom and a third in West Wickham.
Jobs for the boys? There
are other examples. There are two Huntington-Threshers. They don’t appear to
live together but with a surname like that Village News assumes they’re from
the same family. There may be others, but for now we’ll end with the Webbers.
There is a Sam, a Jon and a John all standing as Liberal Democrat candidates.
Supper round their dining table must be riveting.
As for policies and promises, we wait by the letterbox...
What do you think? Don't forget to leave your comments below.
