At the moment the Lib Dems facebook pages and websites are rocking with the surprising news that party membership has soared since election day, and you can join here….
But if you want to help the local onlinefocus team without becoming a member we’d still like to hear from you. Locally we are already looking ahead to next years elections and beyond. We want to set up a group of people to help with our campaigning, but also to enjoy themselves , broaden their horizons , try something new and hopefully improve our community. If you want to help quietly with paperwork behind the scenes that would be great, but there are opportunities to stand for election if that’s what you want to do. Please email Chris at cllrchrisblack@gmail.com if you would like to get involved.
Latest figure is now apparently 10,220 new members, we have overtaken UKIP again.
Still got some way to go to replace the millions that deserted you…..
It is now expected that the EU Referendum will be held in 2016 alongside the London Elections and whatever local elections are due. The Local Boundary Commission published yesterday the New Electoral Ward Boundaries for Rochford District. That means that all 39 seats on Rochford District Council will be up for election in May 2016.
I have no doubt that both national and local parties will be interested in contesting all or certain seats/wards based on the resources that they have available in terms of willing and electable candidates,money and manpower to knock on doors and to deliver leaflets to each ward at least three times during the campaign.
But if the EU Referendum is held in May 2016 then the national political parties will no doubt devote a vast amount of all resources to backing Yes or No or In or Out. This might simply come down to IN/YES Vote Conservative,Labour,Lib Dem or OUT/NO Vote UKIP.
In terms of local choices, ignoring those candidates with significant personal votes built up over many years, will there be any real campaigning by the local national political parties on what they see as the future of the whole of Rochford District?
Going by the leaflets I saw from the Conservatives locally there was no vision of the future put forward just snippets of what they had done in the past and UKIP delivered a stream of promises which could not be delivered by representatives on the District Council even if they were elected.
The issue of immigration seemed to be on many residents minds even locally where the fact is that there is only 3.2% of the population of the Rochford District who were born outside of the UK even including the EU.
Residents are going to vote by a huge turnout in the highly politically charged EU Referendum but will they also listen to the local issues and discover that there are different relevant choices that can be made in the local election. Or will they just vote for the same parties in both?
So residents please tell me what are the local issues that you would like to hear our views upon so that you can make an informed choice upon and which feature in your needs for the future of Rochford District?
Heard the Mighty Oz is joining. Any truth in the rumour.
Bruce the total optimist.
The Mighty Oz / Oz the Thoughtful / Oz the Amused / Oz the Historian / Oz the Happy / Oz the Happier still etc etc
I now think ‘Oz the Negative’ is revealing his true identity 😉
All 39 Council position up for grabs in 2016 should be a great opportunity but overshadowed by the EU in/out referendum ( which incidentally will mean staying in regardless ) – that is the whole reason for having them all at the same time.
As reflected in the recent local elections the public at large do not see a difference between local and national “party” issues – unfortunately , so it will be same old,same old……
I think you’re wrong Jim. People do vote differently on local issues quite often. I think all,prospective councillors of whatever persuasion should see this as an opportunity to vastly increase the turnout for the council election and go all out to engage people in local issues, explain why the cabinet system is such a bad idea, explain why an independent can do as good a job if not better as a party member can. Trouble with RDC is that with the current cabinet system you have to have a massive change in overall makeup to get rid of it, which is possibly why people didn’t vote for the independents, they know they can change nothing. Next time is a true opportunity for a democratically run council, but it won’t happen if the electorate don’t realise why change is needed. It’s up to the candidates to make the most of the next year to start ramming home the message
Having promised us a referendum in 2017 I too suspect the government will endeavour to put it to the country at the same time as the Local Council election thus muddying the water again. The problem will be the funding of the campaigns and the multi-nationals that will support staying in with their access to media etc. Sadly I fail to see how it can ever be fair just like the 1975 fiasco where spending on the ‘yes’ (note:- the positive which is deemed more attractive to voters) proposal was much greater than that of the ‘no’ group. Then if they don’t get the answer required they just keep asking using tax -payers money to fund the process until they do. How any liberal group can support such manipulation is beyond me. It appears to fly in the face of all they claim to stand for. Is that the democracy you support??
Sorry, Linda, I don’t quite grasp your question?
Christine @7 – the majority of voters do not think about it as deeply as you do , I wish they did , as we have just witnessed in recent local elections concurrent with a general election, it will be the same ……….. One of us will be proved wrong in the fullness of time.
I am not sure but I think I heard something about there being equal funding for both campaigns. How this can work I am not sure. If I am wrong then I agree that both sides should have equal opportunity.
Sorry I was making the point that it is fact that the Libdems support remaining in the EU which is a de facto United States of Europe. This change in our system of governance has never been debated or voted on by the British public. If by chance the referendum is fair and a decision is taking to leave the EU and change our relationship to a system similar to that of Norway will the Libdem’s refuse to sanction repeated referenda until the EU enthusiasts get the result they want? Should they fail to do so it is my view they would further undermine their oft claimed role to be the conscience of the electorate.
Linda, I’ve never seen any discussion on a Lib Dem Forum about campaigning for a second referendum to return to the EU if we ever left! An equally pertinent quwstion is what would UKIP do if we voted to stay in. Would they campaign for another “Out” referendum?
Christine @ 7 – Unfortunately, Independent / Resident candidates do not have the ammunition or financial resources which are available to National Political Parties. The Conservatives don’t just canvass, they swarm and have the man/womanpower available to knock on all doors and quickly cover a lot of ground and it’s in their interest to blend national with local!
Unfortunately, as I saw last week, a lot of people (may recognise a political colour) but just don’t read the leaflets / newsletters which candidates distribute, so they then turn up to vote stating that they don’t know what the Independent candidates represent! How can this problem be resolved?
One memory embedded in my head from election day is a husband & wife coming in to the polling station which led to the following conversation:
“Why don’t they have information about the candidates on display so we know who to vote for?” She asked me
“Surely you received leaflets through your letterbox from all the candidates over the last few weeks?” I asked
“Err, yes but you don’t expect us to read those do you?” She said!
Yes, actually I do!! I encountered several other similar examples of this on election day!
One senior Conservative said to me following the results that hopefully I had now learnt the lesson that people vote for the party not the person!! Nice…
It’s sometimes hard for well intentioned Independent / Resident candidates not to feel like they’re just hitting their head against a brick wall!
I also think some people were confused when confronted with a local ballot paper on a General Election day!
A high turnout is good, but it will always favour the National Parties. If the focus is purely a ‘Local Election’, the turnout will be lower, but at least everyone deciding to vote, knows that they are voting on local issues and should therefore have be more informed about the local matters and which candidates address their concerns.
Of course it is the responsibility of anyone who puts themselves up as a candidate to work hard getting their message across, meet and speak to residents. But in order for change to happen and for the message (Cabinet system v Committee system etc etc) to reach as many people as possible, it is also important for other residents who are informed about the issues, to start having these conversations with their neighbours, family and friends etc and to offer support to the Independent / Resident candidates not just by voting for them but they can also help spread the word, deliver leaflets, knock on doors and encourage much more community engagement with the process…
Toby – based on the Senior Tory comment you mentioned, he is right , nobody would vote for them if it was down to personalities ( witness his conceited statement to you).
Unfortunately you Independent’s got caught in the General Election crossfire for sure,
a deliberate strategy I think , just like next year if they pitch the EU Referendum alongside the local elections.
But I will say what you can’t say – the general public are pretty apathetic when it comes to local politics , how can you turn up without an understanding of the choice –
Pathetic in my view.
Toby, I take your point about resources. Perhaps a statutory limit on the amount any one candidate could spend on local elections would level the playing field a bit. As for canvassing, locally we had the Lib Dem leaflet and Chris and Ron knocked at the door one morning. We had nothing at all, not even a leaflet from either of the other two candidates. Nationally we had all the leaflets, via the post, which we read, but not one single person bothered to canvass our road. Now I may be old fashioned, but I take the view no one is entitled to get my vote, they have to persuade me they are worth voting for. I don’t vote the same way every time, I’m not some sort of sheep. It amazes me that people turn up to vote unaware of the issues. Even if they don’t read the leaflets it’s all,over the papers and television.
This is a time for reflection , a stand back and face the facts , and I think there is a
clear theme to what just happened in the elections, an example :-
In her election Manifesto Councillor June Lumley explains why she has ended her long term Lib Dem allegiance and moved to the Conservatives ( quote ) ” The Liberal Democrats have only 2 out of 39 seats on the Council and I feel that, to be heard, the Grange Ward now needs to be represented from within the CONTROLLING Conservative Party.” I not go into the non democratic ‘Cabinet’ system here!!!.
Maybe the electorate ( subconsciously) were moved by the same instinct – any form of say is better than no say at all, and you could apply this theory Nationally too, maybe
the limited role in the Coalition is what underlined the LibDem collapse.
However another way of looking at this is , there is now no hiding place for the ruling party , Health / Education / Highways / Services are firmly the responsibility of our MP and RDC – but of course NO , the Teflon shoulder pads ( non stick ) will be in place and ” all that is Essex County Council responsibility “………
So Admin where do I go to find which District and Town Councillors make up the ECC?, which is now presumably also Conservative CONTROLLED.
Jim, the County Council is indeed controlled by the Conservatives. In our district we have 5 County Councillors:
Rayleigh North- Malcolm Maddocks Conservative
Rayleigh South- Keith Gibbs UKIP
Rochford West – Michael Hoy- Green
Rochford North – Terry Cutmore – Conservative
Rochford South – Colin Seagers Conservative
Here’s a mad crazy guess, maybe its Conservative controlled because that’s what the majority of people voted for and wanted. Is it me…..
Thanks admin, I think these are the real target now, they need to explain what they are going to fight for in the ECC in terms of absorbing/ mitigating the impact of District Council Core Plans on all the basics – Health / Education/ Highways / Services.
Think I will submit a common open letter to all of them and invite them to explain their plans as they ( via ECC ) are responsible – as I said above “no hiding place now”.
Oz – I think it was 45% of the vote that won 85% of the Council seats, , even your hero ( Nigel ) got 4 million and just one MP , whereas Nicola ( SNP ) landed 56 MP’s with
much less of the vote – sO YES OZ IT IS YOU THAT DOES’NT GET IT ????
Sadly Oz is right. For whatever reason the District Council seats were won by Conservative candidates. But equally correct is that you get what you vote for I.e a cabinet system and less opposition to the housing development in Rawreth / West Rayleigh.
I see a Planning Inspector has turned down the Maldon Core Plan , apparently because it does’nt include any Traveller Sites – and there was I thinking that the Localism Act gave the “local” Council the say in determining these things ( that is what the Government said was’nt it ? )……….it’s a stitch up folks.