Happy Christmas

A solid result but still more to do

Have been reading over some of the right wing comment locally you would think it was all sweetness for the Tories and a disaster for Labour.

Of course the results were more mixed. Below:

- Wales was clearly a success. With 30 seats we equalled our previous highest number from 2003.

- Scotland was clearly a catastrophic failure. Our 37 seats were down 7 even on our previous worst performance in 2007 and Ed Miliband has rightly ordered a full inquiry into what went wrong.

- National vote share in the English council elections was up significantly compared to 2007 when most of these seats were last contested (when Labour scored just 26%) and on the 29% we got in the 2010 general election. The BBC even calculates we came top (with 37% compared to 35% for the Tories and 15% for the LDs. Professors Rallings and Thrasher do a similar projection (both they and the BBC use a sample of wards where all 3 main parties stand, and also factor in areas that had no council elections this time such as London, Wales and Scotland) but have arrived at a slight Tory lead, 38% for them, 37% for Labour, 16% for the LDs. In due course these get reconciled to produce an “official figure” that gets quoted by the BBC in future years.

Either way they both agree we got 37% which is 11% up on 2007 and 8% up on 2010, so significant progress and our best score outside a general election year since 1998 – in fact better than our general election score when we won in 2005.

- Raw number of Labour councillors (including all the ones not up for election this year). It will be somewhere above 5,600 taking us back to above 2007 levels even though we have yet to re-fight all the seats lost in the wipe-out years of 2008 and 2009, which will include lots of relatively easy regains.

- Number of gains. The BBC figure is an appealing round number of 800. This excludes ten councils where there were boundary changes but in some of which we got a good increase in the number of Labour seats, such as Cheshire West & Chester, Mansfield and Northampton. Hence Sky News quote a higher figure of +866. Whether 800 or 866 this significantly exceeds Labour's internal target for a "good" result and is the third highest number of Labour gains since 1979.

- Control of councils. We gained control of 26 councils so that takes us (including councils not being contested on Thursday) to 80 Labour controlled councils, the best number since 2005. This is broadly in line with the 20 gains I suggested last week. We missed a few (Dover, Erewash, Thanet, Thurrock) by either a seat or two or by tiny margins in key wards – we need to look at whether there were organisational reasons. There were some councils electing by thirds like Birmingham and Bradford that would have fallen to us if there were all-out elections but will have to wait until next year.

- “Toehold” councils. We secured Labour representation on councils where there had been none before the election in places including Broadland, Guildford, South Hams, Torridge, and Winchester.

This blog would content that for a first election we have regained our strongholds in the North, Midlands and Wales. Indeed in some Mets we took every seat being contested and could not physically have done better. It was particularly good to see heavy gains in two areas of concentrated parliamentary marginals, Lancashire and the East Midlands.

In the South East, South West and East there were a few bright spots (gaining Gravesham and Ipswich, good hauls of seats in Exeter, Luton, Thanet, Forest of Dean, Stroud, Waveney) but also some areas like Dartford where the Tories consolidated their general election gains, and many areas where the organisational weakness of our CLPs meant we fielded too few candidates or were unable to campaign visibly enough to present a credible anti-Tory alternative even though the LDs had left a vacuum.

We can celebrate having seen off the existential threat to Labour’s base of the LDs decade-long Northern Strategy.

At the general election this will free up activists who had been on the defensive in Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, Manchester and Sheffield to attack Tory-held marginals. We should keep our foot on the LDs’ throat - as further destruction of their councillor base, and with it their funding through levy payments and ability to mobilise their activist base (one Tory has estimated each lost LD councillor takes 10 activists off the street) is possible in both the 2012 and 2013 rounds of local elections.

And we have made more headway in areas where the Tories are our competition than would have seemed possible a year ago, retaking places like Ipswich, Lincoln, North Warwickshire, Telford & Wrekin, Bury and Blackpool. Tory MPs in these areas now have a real strategic weakness.

This is a good start given the electoral result last year, but Ed now needs to focus on crafting a message and set of policies that explicitly appeal to Labour/Tory swing voters in the South of England and Medway, who stuck with this lame and lacklustre administration despite its palpable and clear mismanagement of the local authority.

Labour locally need to refine its image and brand to appeal to the moderate voter.

Caroline Flint MP on trail in Gillingham

Caroline Flint MP on the stump with Gillingham North Labour team

Caroline Flint MP, the Shadow Local Government and Communities Minister visited Gillingham yesterday to join our campaign and listen to the community.

The Fresh Ideas event was attended by a number of senior local representatives including those from charities, youth organisations and faith groups. All expressed grave concerns at the cuts being inflicted by the Conservative Government.

A key issue raised were the cuts on young people and the future impact of worklessness that will impact future generations.

The Tories have cut the Education Maintenance Allowance, cut the Future Jobs Fund, risen tuition fees to £9,000 and have cut local Connexion and youth services. All of these are having real impacts on the ground from All Hallows, Hoo to Rainham and Watling.

Labour is standing a candidate under 30 in every target ward in Medway reflecting a generation of change for Medway Council. The future for our towns against a tired and out-of-touch Conservative front bench.

Before the event Caroline Flint went out on the stump with the Gillingham North action team who are running a positive campaign of local change for May.

The team have attracted a number of campaigners from Progress and more high profile visits are due. It promises to be a very exciting local campaign.

Caroline met with a number of residents close to the train station, including a number of former Liberal Democrats, who feel let down locally by an ineffective group which has done little locally.

They are looking for a change in May. For Councillors that will fight with others across Medway against the savage and over aggressive cuts.

Ferrets in a sack!

Like ferrets in a sack. Cameron has not got a clue and Gideon Osborne 'gets up your nose'

And these are comments from the governments own ministers!

No wonder this useless rabble are behind in the polls.

Unexpected support...

Just holding the line

Liberal Democrat suppport has plummeted since the general election in the North East and South West of England, new analysis of Ipsos MORI polls shows.

As controversy over Liberal Democrat support for the government’s policy on university tuition fees reaches a peak, Ipsos MORI’s aggregate analysis of their monthly polls since the general election shows that support has swung from the Liberal Democrats to Labour across the country, but much more sharply in some regions than in others.

Across Great Britain as a whole, Liberal Democrat support has averaged 15% between June and November, less than two-thirds of the 24% of the vote that the party secured at the general election; the swing has been almost entirely to Labour, with the Conservatives holding the 37% they won in May.

But there have been big differences in the changes in support in different regions. In the North East, Liberal Democrat support has almost disappeared, falling to just 4% of those certain to vote, an overall swing to Labour of 19%. In the South West, the Lib Dems’ strongest region at the election, the swing has been almost as high, 16%, and they have lost half their support in London, with an 11% swing to Labour.

Most recent polls have shown the Lib Dems well below that post-election average of 15% nationally, which suggests that they may well be even worse off now in many regions than these figures show.

However, the party has held on to most of its support in the Midlands and South East, as well in Scotland and Wales where devolved elections are due next May.

Voting highlights government division

There are riots on the streets of the capital tonight as the Conservatives rushed through the tuition fee vote despite protestations from the opposition parties that rushing the proposal would lead to trouble.

The proposals have sparked outrage amongst young people who now see the true malign face of the Conservatives. Cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance will hurt the poorest pupils, rises in tuition fees will penalise thousands of middle class families. The cuts to University funding which will harm the quality of education.

The actions of a minority of rioters tonight should be utterly deplored but there are reasons why we are observing this type of street protest. When governments mis-manage a legislative programme it hs a tendency to create significant public tension. This is a case of government mismanagement.

When government mis-manage a government programme, MPs who ordinarily vote with the government do not rebel.

The policy was approved by a scant 21 votes, with the coalition's majority cut by almost three-quarters following an impassioned five-hour Commons debate.

Three ministerial aides quit the government in order to vote against it.

The coalition motion, backed by 323 votes to 302, would raise fees to a maximum of £9,000 a year.

The debate took place while thousands of students staged protests at Westminster and after the outcome became clear, violence intensified and windows in Treasury buildings were smashed.

Ministers said that the fees increase was necessary and fair, but Labour argued it would deter the poor from going to university.

Some 21 Lib Dems rebelled, while 27 - including the party's ministers - backed the change, and eight abstained.

Medway Labour have waged a significant campaign both on the doorstep and in the Council chamber to ensure our MPs vote against tuition fee increases. We have publicly called for our MPs to oppose the fee rises and successfully tabled a motion to full council which drew support from across all benches.

Today, Mark Reckless MP, did put residents first and did vote against the fee increases. This blog will no doubt receive a letter in due course as to his motivations. He has, like Bob Marshall-Andrews before him, taken an independent stance.

Tracey Crouch MP faced tough barracking from Conservative whips today and decided to abstain on the issue. She has shown bravery, and has gained some respect from this member of the opposition. Many will perceive an abstention as a tacit approval, but in this case, I believe it was as much as could be delivered, given the pressures she was under.

Rehman Chisthi MP has shown no concern for local residents or young people on this issue and fully supported the government. His careerist ambitions are now all but confirmed and it is expected he will become a bag-holder for a minor minister at some point. Alas, he will likely not survive any local re-selection as a result of boundary changes. His standing tonight stands in tatters locally as he has ignored not only the public but also his own Councillors.

Make no mistake however. It is a Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government which has introduced this regressive policy.

They can not hide from this fact in 2015; the public do not make such distinctions.

Opposing fee's. Opposing violence

UMSA students with Medway Labour Council candidates

Medway Labour activists stood with the Universities at Medway Students Association (UMSA) today in support of the NUS campaign to oppose the Conservative and Liberal Democrat hike in fee's to £9,000 per year.

A hike in fee's that will leave a middle-class grammar school child in Medway a debt of £25,000 and a medical student a debt of £50,000

This blog believe it is grossly unfair that intelligent people should be penalised at the earliest point in their professional lives with unmanageable levels of debt. This blog does not believe that a 17 year old should face a financial burden which will weigh him/her down for close to two decades, and at a time when leaving University, they are joining an unstable employment market and thinking about housing and perhaps marriage.

The Conservatives opposed tuition fee's in 2003 under Howard and Ian Duncan-Smith. They have undertaken a change in stance, blaming the deficit, knowing full well that the deficit reduction period is driven on an electoral cycle (four years) and not an economic cycle. They have made a political choice out of ideology - marketisation of the University sector, marketisation of trains, marketisation of schools. These are all choices.

Around 50,000 students, lecturers and members of the general public took part in what is being labelled as the biggest student demonstration in a generation, jointly organised by NUS and the University and College Union (UCU). The majority marching were doing so peacefully.

The march covered a route pre-approved by police from Horse Guards Avenue to a rally outside the Tate Britain where protestors heard from UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, NUS president Aaron Porter and TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady.

The rally focused on the Liberal Democrats who opposed tuition fee's for the General Election in May. They pledged to students they would never support an increase. They pledged to student families that any increase in fee's would be regressive. They have betrayed their voters and for that in May 2011 they face decimation in Medway.

NUS will target Liberal Democrat MPs for a recall ballot if they betray voters trust and vote for fee hikes.

NUS and not one member of its executive team support violent action. It was a minority of individuals who hijacked a just cause for personal ends.

The Tory spinners tonight are making out that the entire NUS protest was violent and was hell-bent on disorder. They can casually sneer at the hard-pressed middle class families of Medway but the fact is Mark Reckless, Tracey Crouch and Rehman Chisthi will leave an average grammar school pupil from Medway a £25,000 legacy of debt, before he/she starts working. If you become a medic, and help save peoples lives, you will have a £50,000 debt. It is the wrong values. It is Tory values.

Next week the windows will be be replaced, the glass cleared, the signs removed - but young people will still have the threat of Tory debt. Parents, pupils, teachers and lecturers all oppose a rise in fee's.

Today, they made that point.

A £9,000 fee is regressive. It is wrong. It is Conservative Party ideology against the interests of the majority of people in this Country.

Liberal Democrat prospects flagging

Remember this??

With Medway Liberal Democrats apparently confident about winning in the local elections next year, we cant but ignore the glaring u-turns and inconsistencies in the national party and just point out to residents that the yellow peril can never be trusted.

Many voters will have lent the Liberal Democrats their votes because of Iraq, Tuition fees or because of fair taxation.

Despite their commitments on tuition fees reduced to smouldering ashes, it seems that the Libereral Democrat manifesto bonfire continues apace!

Having spent years railing against a new generation of nuclear power plants, eight prospective sites for precisely that were announced last by energy secretary Chris Huhne.

The “No to Nuclear Power” microsite was a flagship implementation of their (rather good) ourCampaign system. Starring, erm, energy secretary Chris Huhne,

The page has mysteriously vanished from the internet in the last month but the video is still visible:

Such honesty...

Liberal Democrats in Medway will be given a lesson at the ballot box next May across Medway.

The party can delete its web pages but people will remember where your manifesto commitments and how Nick Clegg has sold out.

You have sold out on your principles for a few red boxes. The doorstep is pointing to a true humbling of the Liberal Democrat next May

Lies, Damned Lies and Lib Dem Lies

Nothing more needs to be said... It is the biggest Lib Dem lie...

So... Tuition Fees

Remind me again what the Lib Dems actually stand for? ...

'An alternative to the Tories? nope, propping up a Tory minority. Abolishing tuition fees? nope, raising them. Scrapping Trident? nope, replacing it. Fighting a VAT rise? nope, introducing it. Proportional representation? nope, weak support for AV. A fair & rational immigration policy? nope, arbitrary caps that damage business. Protecting public services & opposing vicious Tory cuts? nope, ripping them apart and plotting cuts worse than Thatcher's.'

The Liberal Democrats have sold out to a Conservative Nick Clegg. Sooner or later they may actually have the second brain cell to realise it.

Lib Dem Conference Split

The Cameron-Clegg love in. All Lib Dem announcements vetted by Downing Street...

The Liberal Democrat leadership is under assault from its own party today as the membership of the Party attack Nick Clegg and the minority who have usurped the party and shifted it to the right.

Measures announced today, all of course vetted by Downing Street, will not prevent acrimony in full public view as the membership comes to realise it has been manipulated into supporting a Conservative agenda of vicious cuts to the public sector.

Senior Liberal Democrat MP, Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South) has written to Nick Clegg ahead of his leader's speech to conference saying that he should end the dictatorship over the party by 20 Lib Dem ministers.

In his letter, he says that anything that goes beyond the coalition agreement should come back to the party's democratic triple lock procedures as defined by the party constitution. He points out that this did not happen with the VAT rise or the Academies Bill - measures that he voted against.

Mike Hancock said:

"If Nick wants to change the party's constitution then he should bring forward the appropriate motions to conference, otherwise he should abide by it."

Mike also calls for the party not to abandon its traditional support of the public sector.

He invokes Nick Clegg's words to the 2008 party conference: "In Britain today, some people are still more free than others. Pensioners spending a whole winter in the bedroom, because it's the only room they can afford to heat. That isn't freedom. Children shunted from one damp, temporary flat to another - sharing a bed with their parents because there's no space for a room of their own. That isn't freedom."

Mike calls the cuts to housing benefit vindictive and wants them not to go ahead. Mike Hancock said: "I don't think it is easy to live on benefits today - but if PM, Deputy Prime Minister and ministers think it is then I invite them to do so for a month."

Mike said:

"Nick can make it clear to the party in his leader's speech that we are not abandoning our way of conducting our business or our values. I hope he does so."

The membership were given a clue to the position of Nick Clegg in an interview on Saturday when he made clear that the party was no longer a party of the left. Clegg has betrayed his party, his values and is leading them off an electoral cliff.

Who is the greater fool? The fool, or the fool that follows?

Tory Cuts undermining Economic recovery

Ideological and brutal cuts to schools, hospitals and local services. Privatisation of health and school services. Undermining of the police and criminal justice system. A Tory government is now in full swing.

Now we have 'credit' bounty hunters being paid by the government to spy on the citizens of our country targeting the poorest in society.

This Conservative Government has scared consumer confidence and cut too early and too quickly. House prices are wobbling and people are fearful for their jobs.

The Coalition has squandered the economic recovery that they inherited by Labour. A recovery that came after a recession caused not by government, but by the greedy market.

Tory cuts. They must be opposed.