Another year, another round of local elections, this time in England, and Northern Ireland. Today's the voting day for the elections in England and Wales. As always, individual elections will ultimately be decided by local issues, but across the country they do tend to indicate which parties are doing well and which aren't, and are a chance for parties to flex how much support they have, with general elections expected next year. Here's the main contenders, in order of number of candidates:
The Conservative Party
Since their landslide election victory in 2019, the Tories have had a torrid few years that have brought us COVID, the scandalous downfall of Boris Johnson, a cost of living crisis, and the ill fated Truss ministry. Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has somewhat improved his party's polling since taking office, essentially by not being the worst prime minister imaginable, but they are still trailing Labour by a wide margin. The only thing protecting the Tories from serious losses this time is that the seats up for election were last contested during the 2019 local elections, where the struggling Tories under Theresa May lost a large number of seats.
The Labour Party
Keir Starmer's bland centrist vision for Labour isn't exactly sexy, but since Labour aren't the ones wrecking the country his party has a strong polling lead anyway. Labour will probably be looking to secure at least a 10% lead over the Tories in Projected National Share.
The Liberal Democrats
Under Ed Davey, the Lib Dems are slowly putting their shattered reputation back together, and are now feeling bullish about their ability to take seats from the main parties with targeted campaigns, especially the Tories, over whom they have scored several stunning parliamentary by-election victories.
Green Party of England and Wales
My party, that I'm standing as a candidate for. The Greens have increased their seat count in local elections year on year for a while, and our leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey have set ambitious targets for us to win even more this time. Our local election strategy is strong and highly focused on local issues, which means we can take seats from anyone. However, it will still be hard for us to turn local election success into national representation, and Labour seem bullish about taking our stronghold of Brighton.
Independents and Localists
Because electoral divisions in local elections are very small, it's generally reasonably viable for independent candidates and small local parties to have a go.
Reform
Formerly known as the Brexit Party. Not massively interested in local elections, and only fielding a few candidates compared to more major parties. May do alright, now the Tories are no longer led by fellow right wing populist Boris Johnson, but only if their candidates actually campaign.
The Conservative Party
Since their landslide election victory in 2019, the Tories have had a torrid few years that have brought us COVID, the scandalous downfall of Boris Johnson, a cost of living crisis, and the ill fated Truss ministry. Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has somewhat improved his party's polling since taking office, essentially by not being the worst prime minister imaginable, but they are still trailing Labour by a wide margin. The only thing protecting the Tories from serious losses this time is that the seats up for election were last contested during the 2019 local elections, where the struggling Tories under Theresa May lost a large number of seats.
The Labour Party
Keir Starmer's bland centrist vision for Labour isn't exactly sexy, but since Labour aren't the ones wrecking the country his party has a strong polling lead anyway. Labour will probably be looking to secure at least a 10% lead over the Tories in Projected National Share.
The Liberal Democrats
Under Ed Davey, the Lib Dems are slowly putting their shattered reputation back together, and are now feeling bullish about their ability to take seats from the main parties with targeted campaigns, especially the Tories, over whom they have scored several stunning parliamentary by-election victories.
Green Party of England and Wales
My party, that I'm standing as a candidate for. The Greens have increased their seat count in local elections year on year for a while, and our leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey have set ambitious targets for us to win even more this time. Our local election strategy is strong and highly focused on local issues, which means we can take seats from anyone. However, it will still be hard for us to turn local election success into national representation, and Labour seem bullish about taking our stronghold of Brighton.
Independents and Localists
Because electoral divisions in local elections are very small, it's generally reasonably viable for independent candidates and small local parties to have a go.
Reform
Formerly known as the Brexit Party. Not massively interested in local elections, and only fielding a few candidates compared to more major parties. May do alright, now the Tories are no longer led by fellow right wing populist Boris Johnson, but only if their candidates actually campaign.
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