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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 20:00:59 GMT
I've tried FOIs on Returning Officers (in Greater Manchester) and it's been refused on the grounds that “the Returning Officer is independent of the local authority and holds information in his or her own right”.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 18:20:27 GMT
Full list of forthcoming byelections:
23 May Melton: Wymondham. Cause: Resignation of Malise Graham (C) on 10 April 2024.
30 May Birmingham: Kingstanding. Cause: Resignation of Rick Payne (Ind elected as C) on 10 April 2024.
4 June Powys: Rhiwcynon. Cause: Resignation of Heulwen Hulme (Ind) on 5 April 2024.
6 June North Lincolnshire: Axholme North. Cause: Death of John Briggs (C) on 12 March 2024. North Lincolnshire: Brumby. Cause: Death of Steve Swift (Lab) on 8 March 2024. Telford and Wrekin: The Nedge. Cause: Resignation of Leanne Powers (Lab) on 28 April 2024. Torbay: Wellswood. Cause: Death of Patrick Joyce (Prosper Torbay elected as C) on 12 April 2024.
13 June Greenwich: Mottingham, Coldharbour and New Eltham. Cause: Death of John Hills (C) on 24 April 2024. Highland: Tain and Easter Ross. Cause: Death of Alasdair Rhind (Ind) on 3 April 2024. West Dunbartonshire: Clydebank Central. Cause: Resignation of Craig Edward (Ind elected as Lab) on 15 March 2024.
20 June Coventry: Radford. Cause: Postponed poll. Mansfield: West Bank. Cause: Resignation of Ben Brown (C) on 9 April 2024. Mid Devon: Tiverton Westexe. Cause: Disqualification of Jamie Frost (Ind elected as L Dem) in April 2024. Oxfordshire: Sutton Courtenay and Marcham. Cause: Resignation of Richard Webber (L Dem) on 30 April 2024. Vale of White Horse: Sutton Courtenay. Cause: Resignation of Richard Webber (L Dem) on 30 April 2024.
27 June Hackney: Hoxton West. Cause: Resignation of Yvonne Maxwell (Lab) on 26 April 2024.
3 July/4 July Corporation of London: Cripplegate Alderman. Cause: Surrender of office of Susan Pearson (n/p). Corporation of London: Farringdon Within. Cause: Resignation of Graeme Doshi-Smith (n/p) on 22 March 2024.
4 July Doncaster: Town. Cause: Resignation of Jake Kearsley (Lab) on 7 May 2024. Eilean Siar: Na Hearadh. Cause: Resignation of Grant Fulton (Ind) on 1 May 2024.
Unspecified Argyll and Bute: Kintyre and the Islands. Cause: Death of Robin Currie (L Dem) on 8 May 2024. Caerphilly: Aberbargoed and Bargoed. Cause: Death of Dianne Price (Lab) on 20 April 2024. Chesterfield: Spire. Cause: Death of Peter Innes (Lab) on 12 April 2024. Cumberland: Harraby North. Cause: Death of Cyril Weber (Lab) on 4 April 2024. Denbighshire: Rhyl Trellewelyn. Cause: Death of Win Mullen-James (Lab) on 1 May 2024. Essex: Pitsea. Cause: Death of Luke Mackenzie (C) on 15 March 2024. Gosport: Grange and Alver Valley. Cause: Death of Maggie Morgan (C) on 14 April 2024. Ribble Valley: St Mary's. Cause: Resignation of Stewart Fletcher (Prog L elected as L Dem) on 2 May 2024. Sefton: St Oswald. Cause: Death of Paula Spencer (Lab) on 27 March 2024.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 11:05:17 GMT
I think that's Oadby and Wigston with the big drop, not Leicester.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 10:58:28 GMT
There's more than a hint that the Lib Dems are suffering from the same problem they had in the inter-war period. There are something like 300 seats which the Liberals won at various elections in 1918-39, but each of them seemed to go through a phase of being Liberal and were not winnable again after it. Had they managed to keep hold of their seats, the Liberals would have been able to remain a major player.
The next election looks like being a big Lib Dem opportunity for seat gains, but they're generally coming in seats the Lib Dems didn't hold in 1997-2015.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 8:47:49 GMT
This is interesting, in light of the seat's history.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 8:38:09 GMT
Corbyn supporters have, behind the scenes, been preparing for an Independent candidacy - but the man himself can't engage too closely with it, or else he will be automatically excluded and lose his ability to go to local members and branches to get support. The recent removal of access to Labour Party membership and campaigning databases was apparently because of suspicions it was being used to plan an Independent campaign - something which would need a lot of logistical arrangements which are found automatically through the party.
It is possible Corbyn himself will not go ahead with it, but there is an issue over that because everyone knows whoever is selected by the Labour Party, however left they are, is going to get an absolute monstering by devoted Corbyn fans (mostly outside the party). That prospect will deter all but the bravest, and especially local candidates. It would be a lot more difficult for Corbyn to stand against a locally-based, left-aligned Labour candidate, and he might stand down - but will there be any credible such candidates willing to volunteer to go through that treatment?
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 17, 2024 7:50:47 GMT
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 16, 2024 18:30:54 GMT
Likely to be influenced by the Greens in south coast towns, who are far more concerned about the housing crisis there than they are about preserving the countryside.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 16, 2024 15:25:21 GMT
Something appears to have gone a bit awry there... One of the reasons I am generally against local ward boundaries being decided on the basis of projected electorates is that the projections are almost always way out of line with what actually happens.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 15, 2024 15:04:51 GMT
Nominations have opened to be the Labour candidate in this seat. labour.org.uk/updates/members-updates/governance-legal-hub-candidate-selections/Applications open Tuesday 15 May 2024 Applications close Monday 20 May 2024 Shortlisting Wednesday 22 May 2024 Postal ballot opens Friday 24 May 2024 Online ballot opens Saturday 25 May 2024 Online hustings Wednesday 29 May 2024 Ballot closes Saturday 1st June 2024
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 13, 2024 20:43:12 GMT
Has Labour ever won Prittlewell in the post-1973 era? I remember it as a very, if not exactly monumentally, safe Conservative ward. Not that I can pretend to know the area. It was won by the Liberal Party, the SLD and the Liberal Democrats at almost every election from 1973 to 1999, and 2006 to 2012. Labour consistently third though.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 12, 2024 23:13:06 GMT
Both Bournemouth seats are being fought properly as stretch targets, with East generally considered slightly more winnable than West. Much may depend on tactical voting.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 12, 2024 9:53:35 GMT
"I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God."
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 11, 2024 23:15:58 GMT
Absolutely unbelievably, The Times picked Lamont to do the review of Edmund Dell's rather excellent The Chancellors, and Lamont's piece is so gloriously lacking in self-awareness that it makes for very entertaining reading. Have you read Oliver Kamm's story about Geoffrey Howe's reaction to his omission from the list of good quality Chancellor memoirs?
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Trivia
May 11, 2024 21:43:24 GMT
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 11, 2024 21:43:24 GMT
They were both named Michael Sheridan Phillips, so I'd think it's fairly likely they were the same candidate.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 10, 2024 18:00:47 GMT
A controversial proposal
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 10, 2024 17:55:22 GMT
Another place that the Tories never recovered even any slight competitiveness in It’s interesting how they were only really competitive under Thatcher, with no obvious sign it before or after. To put it a bit more plainly, the Conservatives were only competitive when the Labour administration of Waltham Forest council had just put up local tax by 56.6%.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 9, 2024 12:55:05 GMT
Have to have a heart of stone etc.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 9, 2024 11:27:18 GMT
The proposals passed yesterday and will come into force for the 2026 Elections. Increase from 60 to 96 Members. 16 Constituencies each electing 6 members. Parings of the 32 Westminster seats to make 16 larger seats still tbc. www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw07kprpg74oThere's a bit of a gap, when the Counsel General and Secretary of State check it is within legislative competence, before the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill gets Royal Assent. Then we get the joy of the Democracy and Boundary Commission deciding on the pairings.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on May 8, 2024 16:16:22 GMT
And to all intents & purposes all the MPs who went to National Labour from Labour in 1931 made a similar move even if they did not call themselves Conservatives. I would dispute that. The Labour MPs who declared their support for the National Government were expelled; they did not intentionally leave the party. It was the Labour Party's choice to regard this decision as leaving the party.
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