Election Results

[chris_j_wood]

So the Greens, with 7 councillors, are now the second largest party on Reading council, beating the Tories with only 6 councillors. And the LibDems have taken a clean sweep of Tilehurst ward, and now have 3 councillors. Labour has 32 councillors, so they have control.

In Wokingham, the LibDems took four seats off the Tories, and Labour took another, leaving Wokingham with no overall control.

[OLDMAN]

So the Greens, with 7 councillors, are now the second largest party on Reading council, beating the Tories with only 6 councillors. And the LibDems have taken a clean sweep of Tilehurst ward, and now have 3 councillors. Labour has 32 councillors, so they have control.

In Wokingham, the LibDems took four seats off the Tories, and Labour took another, leaving Wokingham with no overall control.

So much for all those speaking out on social media saying they would be voting elsewhere to get ‘this’ council out

[piwacket]

So much for all those speaking out on social media saying they would be voting elsewhere to get ‘this’ council out

Reading or Wokingham?

[dave m]

several people post online about how "bad" RBC is, but they remain in control.
People vote for them so obviously like what they get

Wokingham has been Tory for years and is a far more mixed electorate.
The average voter nearer Reading won't vote Tory, while the leafy suburbs and other areas of Wokingham will not vote much else.
It's about time (IMHO) that Wokingham was out of Tory overall control.

Personally I cannot fathom why anybody would vote for Redwood as MP, regardless of party affiliation.

[piwacket]

several people post online about how "bad" RBC is, but they remain in control.
People vote for them so obviously like what they get

I don’t know what the overall turnout was, but presumably there’s more ‘likes’ than discontents… or people just can’t be bothered or maybe cynical that not a lot would change …

Yes, you’re right, Wokingham is a very mixed electorate - so there will inevitably now be some who vote other than Tory. From my past dealings with them on matters affecting me (locally) I’ve found them reasonable, and the other main party quite the opposite ….

… don’t hear much of Redwood these days …

As for Tilehurst - it used to be a Liberal stronghold for years and years.

Rightly or wrongly, I think people vote locally for the person who’ll get things done to their own personal satisfaction, and doesn’t necessarily relate to the outcome of a General Election.

[Fed-up]

Where I live I only recognised the sitting councillor on the ballot paper. They are also active on social media helping to promote community events and trying to resolve problems. They were also the only one to deliver a leaflet saying what they stood for. None of the other candidates seemed to bother with leaflets and were unknowns.

Unsurprisingly, the well known sitting councillor was re-elected.

[piwacket]

Where I live I only recognised the sitting councillor on the ballot paper. They are also active on social media helping to promote community events and trying to resolve problems. They were also the only one to deliver a leaflet saying what they stood for. None of the other candidates seemed to bother with leaflets and were unknowns.

Unsurprisingly, the well known sitting councillor was re-elected.

Where we are we had numerous leaflets from both Tory and Labour - visits from both - zilch from the LibDems - and yet they have more to say generally in their various occasional newsletters on how they ‘would do this and that’ … complacency

[dave m]

I guess areas have door to door in wards that are acheivable?
I had Tory/Lib Dem but to be honest Labour wouldn't have a chance in all likelihood
Think I had a green leaflet as well.

[Frank Blank]

several people post online about how "bad" RBC is, but they remain in control.
People vote for them so obviously like what they get

Wokingham has been Tory for years and is a far more mixed electorate.
The average voter nearer Reading won't vote Tory, while the leafy suburbs and other areas of Wokingham will not vote much else.
It's about time (IMHO) that Wokingham was out of Tory overall control.

Personally I cannot fathom why anybody would vote for Redwood as MP, regardless of party affiliation.

Hardly. Where I live it's a Limp Dumb stronghold

[Frank Blank]

So the Greens, with 7 councillors, are now the second largest party on Reading council, beating the Tories with only 6 councillors. And the LibDems have taken a clean sweep of Tilehurst ward, and now have 3 councillors. Labour has 32 councillors, so they have control.

In Wokingham, the LibDems took four seats off the Tories, and Labour took another, leaving Wokingham with no overall control.

And for sheer predictability (like death and taxes) the Fulham football fan got in yet again. How many years is now? About 45? Christ, that's getting into Biden territory. At least in Page's case he does still appear to have his marbles.

[OLDMAN]

I guess areas have door to door in wards that are acheivable?
I had Tory/Lib Dem but to be honest Labour wouldn't have a chance in all likelihood
Think I had a green leaflet as well.

We’re a Green stronghold in Park Ward and have had the same local councillors for quite a few years now - but Labour aren’t happy about it and keep trying - problem is they seem to keep changing who is standing for the local elections about every two years or so!
You then don’t know who they are, not what they stand for / hope to achieve - especially if not ‘local’ as some have been, so its all on the back of the mains council
I had the last one come round the other week, doorbell rang and I answered to a large scruffy West Indian looking guy and thought WTF is he - as if in answer he said ‘Hi I’m ??????? (didn’t get the name) your local Labour councillor’ - my answer was ‘Hi nice to meet you but sorry in the middle of dinner’ (my usual to get rid!)

Mind you the Conservatives tried to gain hold in 2019 and came mob handed with TM herself putting a appearance in - oddly though it still didn’t work!

[windrush]

Where I live I only recognised the sitting councillor on the ballot paper. They are also active on social media helping to promote community events and trying to resolve problems. They were also the only one to deliver a leaflet saying what they stood for. None of the other candidates seemed to bother with leaflets and were unknowns.

Unsurprisingly, the well known sitting councillor was re-elected.

Where we are we had numerous leaflets from both Tory and Labour - visits from both - zilch from the LibDems - and yet they have more to say generally in their various occasional newsletters on how they ‘would do this and that’ … complacency

Same here Pi, in their regular newsletter (and no other party locally sends one out) every other party is doing everything wrong but as they have little chance of being in control it's easy to say that. However we had no elections this time, it seemed to be larger towns and cities. I don't know John Redwood but I do know he helped my family a lot a few years ago, I'm surprised that he is still active nowadays though as he must be getting on a bit!

Pete.

[Frank Blank]

So basically, Sir Beer and the Ginger Growler have confirmed they'll resign if fined by Durham Plod. Presumably then, the pressure will be put on Boris again should they go.

More's the point though, Sir Beer has now put undue pressure on Durham Plod when the proper procedure should have been for Starmer to say nothing and allow the investigation to be conducted ufettered.

[spectrum64]

So basically, Sir Beer and the Ginger Growler have confirmed they'll resign if fined by Durham Plod. Presumably then, the pressure will be put on Boris again should they go.

More's the point though, Sir Beer has now put undue pressure on Durham Plod when the proper procedure should have been for Starmer to say nothing and allow the investigation to be conducted ufettered.

How do Starmer's statements affect the police inquiry? It is perfectly normal for public figures to comment in this way. He is not doing anything like bribing witnesses or tampering with evidence which would hinder the police.
Have you been reading too many Daily Mail articles?

[Frank Blank]

So basically, Sir Beer and the Ginger Growler have confirmed they'll resign if fined by Durham Plod. Presumably then, the pressure will be put on Boris again should they go.

More's the point though, Sir Beer has now put undue pressure on Durham Plod when the proper procedure should have been for Starmer to say nothing and allow the investigation to be conducted ufettered.

How do Starmer's statements affect the police inquiry? It is perfectly normal for public figures to comment in this way. He is not doing anything like bribing witnesses or tampering with evidence which would hinder the police.
Have you been reading too many Daily Mail articles?

Because it politicises the investigation, given the police have now been placed in the invidious position of de facto determining who the next leader of the opposition might be. Personally, I hope Sir Beer stays on. But if he does fall on his sword of principled virtuousness then I would go for someone like Dianne Abbott or David Lammy in any leadership contest.

[MickEdge]

In Reading, with elections in all wards the parties struggled to find enough candidates, and presumably this reflected in their ability to find enough supporters willing to trudge round delivering leaflets, never mind the printing costs. Reading turnout, helpfully provided by the Council, was 35%. I couldn’t find Wokingham’s.

[Fed-up]

Wokingham have provided a per ward turnout rate at https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/council-an ... ults-2022/

Looks like it varies between 33% and 46%.

[spectrum64]

So basically, Sir Beer and the Ginger Growler have confirmed they'll resign if fined by Durham Plod. Presumably then, the pressure will be put on Boris again should they go.

More's the point though, Sir Beer has now put undue pressure on Durham Plod when the proper procedure should have been for Starmer to say nothing and allow the investigation to be conducted ufettered.

How do Starmer's statements affect the police inquiry? It is perfectly normal for public figures to comment in this way. He is not doing anything like bribing witnesses or tampering with evidence which would hinder the police.
Have you been reading too many Daily Mail articles?

Because it politicises the investigation, given the police have now been placed in the invidious position of de facto determining who the next leader of the opposition might be. Personally, I hope Sir Beer stays on. But if he does fall on his sword of principled virtuousness then I would go for someone like Dianne Abbott or David Lammy in any leadership contest.

I assume that Durham police don't have any worries over being pressured by this inquiry being made public or they wouldn't have announced themselves that they were reopening their investigation. Clearly once it becomes public knowledge journalists will pose questions and comments will be made.

[C.A.Versham]

I've been wondering whether the introduction of PR into local elections would encourage turn out but this would I suspect be fiercely resisted by the two main parties. It also leads to situations where a very small minority of councillors can hold undue sway over policy. More radically we could go for only those members of households who pay their council tax on time get a vote!

Turnout in one area of Caversham seems to have been relatively quite high at around 50%. I know of at least one voter who only voted for candidates who lived in the ward.

As for Sir Keir, listen to his words carefully. "If I am fined..". He will know that the Durham police have had a policy of not issuing fines for first offences. So even if they do find him in breach of the law (which by the way I very much doubt will happen), he has a get out clause. My other speculation is that, if Mr Sunak had challenged the Met about his fine and asked Sir Keir to present his case, Sir Keir would have argued rigourously on Mr Sunak's behalf that it was an unreasonable interpretation and not one followed by other police forces (Ref Durham Police vs Cummings).

[dave m]

Frank Black.
Priti Patel is in charge of the Met - do you not think that pressure was on the Met in Partygate?

Starmer has no control over Durham Police. He is also not stupid, and will have ensured that he can withstand the factors that would support a prosecution - after all, it was his job. Apparently there is documentary evidence supporting the work/eat/ work story.
Several Tories have suggested that it is very risky for Boris.

[MickEdge]

I've been wondering whether the introduction of PR into local elections would encourage turn out but this would I suspect be fiercely resisted by the two main parties. It also leads to situations where a very small minority of councillors can hold undue sway over policy. More radically we could go for only those members of households who pay their council tax on time get a vote!

Turnout in one area of Caversham seems to have been relatively quite high at around 50%. I know of at least one voter who only voted for candidates who lived in the ward.

Almost anything is better than FPTP and one would hope PR might encourage higher turnout, but I think the problem is that local councils have such heavily constrained budgets that people don’t think it’ll make much difference. In Reading the Greens and to some extent LibDems are moving forward, whereas the Conservatives need to forget the national party narrative, and stop hiding in Caversham if they want to be serious about running the Council.

[OLDMAN]

I’ve always smiled at the people standing outside polling stations asking for your ‘number’ - this time I said don’t know as haven’t got my polling card (it says you don’t need it) but the guy was insistent and asked for my address, so I asked WHY?
His answer was so they can check if you didn’t vote then come and chase you about it that day - but it didn’t think any more about that at the time
Funny bit was I told the people inside the OH couldn’t make it down as not too good on her legs

Next evening I saw a guy with an ID lanyard / clipboard wandering around there knocking on doors, and saw him talk to a neighbour - I later asked the neighbour and she said he was going around asking why they hadn’t voted, my her answer was basically Sod Off its none of your business

But got me thinking why do that the next day as too late for them to go and vote from eth day before, so negates the people outside asking for your address etc?
Especially as OH didn’t get a visit as told them ‘inside’ she wasn’t coming

[OLDMAN]

........................ the Conservatives need to forget the national party narrative, and stop hiding in Caversham if they want to be serious about running the Council.

Thanks that gave me a good laugh - and oddly something we were talking about the other day

All the years Rob Wilson was Reading East MP he never once visited our area and it was so obvious as many people complained about it plus would have a go at any conservative councillors when they came round, and why no chance of ever getting voted for in Park Ward!
He would always do Caversham (of course) but would also go out to Woodley / Winnersh and even as far as Wokingham, down past Whitley to the South and most of central reading, some of it outside the RE borders
For years I’ve helped at the East Reading Festival in Palmer Park and he never once visited that - plus he never tuned up at any of our local meeting, all the other party reps’ used to come along, but we know he went to other smaller group meetings!
In fact all the time he was MP I never got to meet him, and only saw him at a few council meetings - and it was often said he would turn up at the opening of a crisp packet if a photo opportunely........unless it was in Park Ward..................

Matt Rodda on the other hand gets everywhere and is interested in it all, I’ve met him on many occasions and he is far more approachable and gets involved in what’s happening all over the RE area

[chris_j_wood]

........................ the Conservatives need to forget the national party narrative, and stop hiding in Caversham if they want to be serious about running the Council.

Indeed. The Conservatives now have the grand total of one councillor south of the river.

It is quite odd how geographically clustered Reading's election map is. A bulk of red in the centre and to the south, with clusters of yellow to the west, green to the east and blue to the north.

[Stargazer]

We're in the new Thames ward (confusingly completely unconnected with the old one), and had Labour out in force campaigning including a personal visit from Matt Rodda to our doorstep. Apart from a blitz of Labour leaflets just one generic Tory circular and nothing else, but I appreciate our area isn't up on the priorities list for the other parties. In the end Labour won convincingly in our area, unsurprisingly.

I noticed two well-known Caversham councillors decided to jump over to Thames ward this time and was wondering if they were worried about how safe their existing seats would be (as it turned out I don't think they'd have had much opposition in Caversham). The surprise of the day was a Labour councillor in the new Caversham Heights ward - I believe she thought of herself as a paper candidate so was somewhat shocked to be elected.

[piwacket]

Matt Rodda on the other hand gets everywhere and is interested in it all, I’ve met him on many occasions and he is far more approachable and gets involved in what’s happening all over the RE area

We’ve never seen Matt Rodda round here ever, nor anywhere else - in fact never met Rob Wilson in the area either, although did meet him a couple times at Theatre functions. At General Election times the only visible presence was a nearby LibDem Councillor, but she didn’t call here, or nearby neighbours on this side of the road, presumably because she got a drubbing from us for ‘allowing’ some in-fill housing to which we had fiercely objected.
Just before last week’s elections a couple of Conservatives called and one Labour, who was met en route as he came through the gateway.

[Frank Blank]

((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
·
8m
I’m not sure if it’s his intention, but this is the most boring and lacklustre critique of a Queen’s Speech I can remember. Much more of this and Labour backbenchers will be dialling 999 and asking for Durham police…

[chris_j_wood]

I’m not sure if it’s his intention, but this is the most boring and lacklustre critique of a Queen’s Speech I can remember ...

Great. Bring it on. After the current comedian, "boring and lacklustre" sounds wonderful.

[mikejee]

To me, the presentation by the flower-whisperer was pretty boring and unconvincing, as well as the content