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Post by tonygreaves on Feb 8, 2019 21:55:23 GMT
Irrelevant facts: my grandparents all lived in Bolton and Undercliffe ward as it is now (and parents grew up there). One great grandparent was headmaster of Eccleshill school just up the hill form Bolton junction and organised the petition for the extension of the trams to Eccleshill top. One of my grandparents used to take (a very young) me up there on an adventure to watch the "tracklesses" turn round.
Interesting fact in this week of party suspensions etc: David Ward is a Councillor for this ward.
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Feb 17, 2019 12:08:43 GMT
can I just say I was v pleased with the result in the Jewel (once I had warmed up, it was bloody cold on the cliff edge which is Bolton) How would you characterise the result here? Looking at the previous elections, would it be fair to say that the 2018 result was the unusual one and this was more of a return to normal service, or is there stuff going on below the headline results? |
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Crimson King
Lib Dem
Be nice to each other and sing in tune
Posts: 9,846 
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Post by Crimson King on Feb 18, 2019 13:22:28 GMT
I did wonder if someone would ask, however as the least interesting result of the week I'm not surprised it was overlooked. In answering I should make it clear that we haven't done the formal washup yet and although I was at the count I dont know the ward well enough to know which box was which so these are just off the top of my head thoughts (which suits me as I am not risking giving away any secrets)
As you say the last result was somewhat atypical, although it is fair to say that the ward is undergoing some demographic changes which might be assumed to be unhelpful to our chances. Possible factors in the result were a well known, well connected and high profile Labour candidate, calling in a lot of help. It has been suggested that there was a tacit agreement that the favored family candidate would get the nod this May in return for falling in behind him last May, certainly when I was out in the afternoon there were taxis out picking up voters throughout the period. Our vote was depressed for a couple of reasons - IIRC the weather wasn't that brilliant and I got the feeling that some people were not bothering to vote either because they expected us to win anyway, and/or because they were fed up with how the party had treated David Ward. We failed to squeeze the residual conservative vote as well I think (It's probably fair to say that we were not firing on all cylinders following the Ward affair and that we were more concerned about Eccleshill and mis-directed our efforts, by the time we realised our usual voters were not turning out it was too late.
This time we had a far less well known Labour candidate, and a lower key Labour campaign (no Taxi fleets for example). Our voters had learned what happens if you don't turn out to vote, and we were much more on form. I had thought we were squeezing the Tory vote successfully, but they were up slightly I suspect with a Sikh candidate they picked up a proportion of the (not insignificant) Sikh community, which might otherwise have gone to Labour, to balance the (non Sikh) Tories who moved to us.
One vignette which may be of no significance. When we were canvassing down one of the more inner city streets there was a couple of Asian blokes at the door of an Asian chap across the road from us. Voices were being raised and I heard 'Labour' and 'Lib Dem' mentioned amongst the Urdu. My impression from the tone of the conversation was that he was being called on to confirm his support from Labour and rather vocally, to there annoyance, declining to provide it. Certainly when I, with a certain amount of trepidation, knocked a little later he alleged he was voting for us.
Oh and I saw a Red Kite circling over waste ground by Oxford Road, Udercliffe, which was rather jolly
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