Alan's Green Thoughts

Readers, the results of this week's local by-elections were as follows: Barnsley MBC, Kingstone: Labour 740 (57.5%, -2.4%), Liberal Democrats 247 (19.2%), Conservative 113 (8.8%, -3.5%), Green 87 (6.8%, -4.1%), BNP 75 (5.8%, -5.2%), Demos Direct Initiative 25 (1.9%). All changes are since 2016. Breckland DC, Thetford Priory: Labour 503 (57.7%, +29.5%), Conservative 257 (29.5%, -4.4%), UKIP 112 (12.8%, -24.3%). Labour gain from Conservative. Durham UA, Trindon & Thornley: Labour 1150 (65.4%, +15.2%), Independent 351 (20.0%), Liberal Democrats 117 (6.7%, -3.7%) Conservative 112 (6.4%, -12.8%), Green 29 (1.6%). East Staffordshire DC, Stretton: Conservative 762 (47.2%, +2.1%), Save Our Stretton 455 (28.2%), Labour 311 (19.2%, -0.4%), UKIP 52 (3.2%, -24.4%), Liberal Democrats 36(2.2%). Harlow BC, Toddbrook: Labour 702 (52.2%, +1.7%), Conservative 486 (36.1%, +11.2%), UKIP 98 (7.3%, -17.4%), Green 41 (3.0%), Liberal Democrats 19 (1.4%). All changes are since 2016. Ha...

The German Bundestag election of 2017 has just produced the most multi-party Bundestag since 1949. Not only did AfD enter the Bundestag and finish third in the polls, but the FDP (Free Democratic Party) returned as well, meaning that there are now six different parties represented in the Bundestag. In a similar way to UKIP, Alternative for Germany (AfD) hit both SPD (Social Democrat) and CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union) votes, especially in working-class areas, Bavaria, and Saxony (they did well in the other eastern states as well, of course). In fact, AfD did well enough to pick up 3 single-member seats (direktmandaten) in Saxony which even if they had not passed the 5% threshold would have qualified them for list seats as well. In Germany, a party that wins 3 constituency seats can win list seats even if they did not pass the 5% threshold (this hurt Die Linke particularly badly in 2002, since they fell below 5% and only won two direct mandates); ...

After some wavering uncertainties, the latest New Zealand general election has not dealt the blow to the Nationals that progressives were helping for, even though Labour under Jacinda Ardem did indeed make a significant surge. The National vote dropped by 2.0% to 46%, but this resulted in only a loss of 3 seats; despite also losing the electorate of Christchurch Central to Labour they captured Hutt South from Labour and recovered Northland from NZ First's maverick leader, Winston Peters, who had captured it in a 2015 by-election. Labour also captured Ohariu from United Future (in fact, the United Future candidate who replaced the retiring Peter Dunne, Bale Nadakultavukl, polled only 212 votes and finished second-last) and the sole Maori Party held electorate, Waiariki. These particular electorates were the only 5 of the 60 to change hands. Labour's vote increased to 35.8%, giving them as many as 45 seats (an increase of 13), their best result since 2008 and an important...

Readers, the results of this week's local by-elections were as follows: Chesterfield BC, Holmebrook: Liberal Democrats 510 (50.0%,+22.1%), Labour 435 (42.6%, -8.8%), Conservative 62 (6.1%, -7.4%), Chesterfield Independent 14 (1.4%). Liberal Democrat gain from Labour. Oadby & Wigston BC, Oadby Uplands: Liberal Democrats 435 (39.0%, +3.3%), Labour 384 (34.5%, +1.1%), Conservative 295 (26.5%, -4.4%). Liberal Democrat gain from Labour. Waveney DC, Oulton Broad: Conservative 527 (50.2%, +11.5%), Labour 357 (34.0%, +4.8%), UKIP 112 (10.7%, -12.8%), Liberal Democrats 54 (5.1%). Another quiet week for local by-elections, but a very good one for the Liberal Democrats, and a bad one for Labour on all fronts. The Liberal Democrats controlled Chesterfield Borough Council from 2003 to 2011, but after their crushing 2011 defeat they were knocked back further by Labour. Given that they only narrowly saved their deposit in the Chesterfield constituency earlier this year (their vote sha...

It was recently announced that voter identity checks, where voters must present a valid form of identification (e.g. passport, driving licence) will be trialled in five council areas at the next local elections in England. The five areas for this trial are Watford, Bromley, Gosport, Woking, and Slough; only one of these areas (Slough) has a substantial proportion of Asian voters, the ethnic group where postal vote fraud has been repeatedly cited to be most prevalent, as infamously seen in Birmingham and Bradford. The reality is that ID checks are in fact a waste of time, taxpayers' money and effort for three important reasons: 1. They will not be effective in preventing electoral fraud. Impersonation of voters can already be stopped by checking polling cards (as only one is issued per voter per address) as each voter comes through the polling station. ID checks cannot reliably prevent cases of 'double voting' by students registered at a university address and a h...

Readers, the results of this week's local by-elections were as follows: Mid Devon DC, Westexe: Conservative 279 (36.4%, +11.2%), Independent (Gerard Luxton) 179 (23.4%, +7.6%), Labour 164 (21.4%, +11.5%), Liberal Democrats 144 (18.8%). Conservative gain from UKIP. Trafford MBC, Bucklow St Martin's: Labour 1050 (64.7%, +26.3%), Conservative 456 (28.1%, +11.0%), UKIP 65 (4.0%, -9.3%), Green 33 (2.0%, -2.5%), Liberal Democrats 18 (1.1%, -1.8%). West Dorset DC, Lyme Regis & Charmouth:  Independent 622 (52.3%), Conservative 396 (33.3%, -14.0%), Labour 171 (14.4%). Independent gain from Conservative. In many metropolitan areas, the two-party squeeze continues anew, even where only one of the two can actually win (Labour in the case of Bucklow St Martin's, a safe Labour ward in the only Conservative-controlled northern metropolitan borough). There is actually more competition in the rural areas and small towns, especially when independents of varying abilit...

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, also known as the Great Repeal Bill, intends to mainly not only legally withdraw Britain from the EU but also bring existing EU legislation into the British statute books. However, there is a major flaw with this bill-"Henry VIII" clauses that allow government ministers, and especially Theresa May herself, to use secondary legislation to change and delete those laws without any parliamentary oversight. This, alongside a proposed bill of would-be Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom which would allow the governing party to dominate select committees even without said governing party having an overall majority (the current case in the UK, of course), constitutes a major power grab that could see critical rights lost through Brexit, especially those of EU citizens living in Britain, and even those rights not strictly connected with EU membership. They intend to do more than just bring EU law into British law. This bill also exposes the need f...

The Norwegian general election of 2017 took place yesterday, and resulted in heaved sighs of relief by some, and humiliating disappointment by many. The title of my post means in Norwegian 'Norwegian election 2017: so many disappointments'. It was particularly disappointing for the Norwegian Green Party (MDG) who were frequently predicted to exceed the 4% threshold in this election having made a critical breakthrough in 2013 when they obtained their best ever result by far and secured themselves a seat in Parliament. Their vote in fact only increased slightly, from 2.8% to 3.2%, which meant they only kept their solitary seat in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. Even in Oslo, though, they were beaten by the Red Party (Rodt) who won their first seat in the Storting, although they were also disappointed by their 2.4% vote share, especially when Labour (Arbeit)'s campaign had come unstuck to the point where they were sometimes finishing behind the Conservatives (Hoyre) in opinion ...

Readers, the results of the 14 (yes, 14) local by-elections this week were as follows: Babergh DC, Sudbury South:  Labour 336 (42.7%, +16.3%), Conservative 335 (42.6%, +5.3%), Liberal Democrats 116 (14.7%, +1.6%). Labour gain from Conservative. Cannock Chase DC, Hednesford Green Heath: Labour 359 (43.9%, +11.1%), Conservative 301 (36.8%, -3.7%), Green 86 (10.5%, +7.4%), Chase Independent 42 (5.1%, -0.2%), UKIP 29 (3.5%, -14.7%). Labour gain from Conservative. All changes are since 2015. Cannock Chase DC, Hednesford South: Green 513 (48.3%, +42.1%), Conservative 311 (29.3%, -11.9%), Labour 190 (17.9%, -13.2%), UKIP 48 (4.5%, -16.9%). Green gain from Conservative. All changes are since 2015. Colchester BC, Shrub End: Conservative 681 (38.6%, +19.4%), Labour 572 (32.4%, +20.5%), Liberal Democrats 373 (21.4%, -13.9%), Independent 54 (3.1%, -9.7%), UKIP 52 (2.9%, -10.9%), Green 34 (1.9%, -5.6%). Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat. Croydon LBC, South Norwood: Labour 1...

Readers, the results of this week's local by-elections are as follows: Scarborough BC, Mulgrave: Conservative 395 (46.5%, +12.2%), Labour 299 (35.2%, +18.4%), Independent Armsby 118 (13.9%, -3.4%), Yorkshire Party 37 (4.4%). North Somerset UA, Weston-Super-Mare North Worle: Labour 589 (36.4%, +21.4%), Conservative 525 (32.4%, +6.1%), Liberal Democrats 265 (16.4%, +3.7%), Independent 132 (8.2%), UKIP 108 (6.7%, -15.2%). Labour gain from Conservative. As I mentioned earlier in the blog post 'The road to Downing Street now runs by the seaside': https://greensocialistalan.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-road-to-downing-street-now-runs-by.html , the coast is now a key proving ground for Labour and the Conservatives, and both this week's by-elections were in seaside resorts that were once solidly Conservative territory. Weston-Super-Mare managed 73 years of Conservative representation with 1992 being the only time before 1997 when the Conservative position was threatened, an...