My analysis of yesterday's local by-elections (from 29/01/15) and thoughts on housing

Readers, the result of the local by-election from yesterday which had Green Party candidates was as follows:

St Albans DC, Marshalswick South (2 seats, average votes and vote share of candidates noted): Conservative 657 (33.5%, -5.1%), Liberal Democrat 492 (25.0%, +5.8%), Labour 359 (18.3%, -4.4%), Green 308 (15.7%, +5.5%), UKIP 148 (7.5%, -1.7%).
All changes are since May 2014.

It is clear that even with only one local by-election in England and Wales so far in 2015 that had Green Party candidates standing, the Green surge is already starting to take effect. It is also meaning that there are more Green Party PPCs across the UK than ever before.

Tomorrow is an important housing march in London, as I have mentioned before-and I would like to say that a land value tax is better than a mansion tax for taxing the rich and dealing with our nation's housing crisis because wealthy property owners in London (and in a few other affluent areas in the UK) are already beginning to split their properties into parts so that both parts will evade the mansion tax, installing 'conference facilities' in part of a property, or by claiming some parts are not being used for residential purposes. A land value tax, which the Green Party advocates, will prevent this type of tax avoidance, since land cannot be split or moved with respect to a property built on said land.

Alan.

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