Who was the biggest victor last night? The Apathy Party had tremendous success. In Harlow, the voter turnout was incredibly low - and across the country not much better.
What does this mean? That the public are fed up with all main political parties and there is a real plague on all our houses. Increasingly, the public are disillusioned with Westminster politics. National party membership is on the decline as is general support for political parties. Many people agree with Ken Livingstone, on at least one thing: "if voting changed anything, they would abolish it".
The victory of The Apathy Party does not negate that it was not a good night for Conservatives. In Harlow, our vote share across the Town held up at around forty percent and the swing to Labour was around two percent from last year. Nevertheless, we lost a number of seats and some excellent hard-working Councillors who had really dedicated themselves to their local communities.
I was very proud of our Councillors, the battle we fought, the work that has been done in the past four years to restore the Council to financial health, to implement a three year council tax freeze and protect community services. Four years is a long time in politics and however good Councillors were, it is difficult to resist the national tide.
We Conservatives need to get back on our feet, strengthen our party machine, and talk about the issues that matter to local people. We need to have a refocus on our policies to ensure that everything that is said and implemented, reflects real Conservative themes of aspiration, community, fairness and opportunity. Above all we should ensure that not everything we do is seen through the prism of the deficit and cuts.
P.S. I have no hesitation congratulating all the Councillors who got elected, including Harlow Labour Party who fought a tough campaign.
by Robert Halfon - Working Hard for Harlow.
The "Conservative themes" are laudable. But would that (nationally) bring back the UKIP defectors who feel we are weak on immigration, Europe and general politics of the right or, those who think that an "Eton Mess" cabal with little in common with rank and file members runs the Tory Party?
ReplyDeleteIn the local elections, the Greens won 34 seats - a net increase of 11.
ReplyDeleteThe Greens opposed the NATO destruction of Libya.
The SNP won the largest number of seats in Scotland.
The SNP opposed the NATO destruction of Yugoslavia.
The recent Tory budget gave each millionaire a tax cut of around £40,000.
The Tories lost a lot of seats.
The Liberals under Asquith helped to start World War One, by supporting Russia in its quarrel with Austria, after elements of the Austrian military aided the assassination of the Archduke.
Now the Liberals are supporting the CIA's Arab Spring.
The Liberals have lost a lot of seats.
Cheers,
Aangirfan