Local Elections on Thursday.

[shillelagh]

The tories lost 3 seats in Rossendale Labour took 2 and Lib Dems took 1.

And one tory got in by 2 votes and another by 12.

[cashman]

was over 100.000 spoiled votes nationwide that to me is a ridiculous state of affairs.

[grannyclaret]

Originally Posted by cashman

was over 100.000 spoiled votes nationwide that to me is a ridiculous state of affairs.

I think a lot of the spoiled votes in Scotland had something to do with the new electronic voting ....

[cashman]

Originally Posted by grannyclaret

I think a lot of the spoiled votes in Scotland had something to do with the new electronic voting ....

yeh but was far more spoiled in england, was wondering if the 100.000 are included in the 38% that did vote?

[SPUGGIE J]

Originally Posted by grannyclaret

I think a lot of the spoiled votes in Scotland had something to do with the new electronic voting ....

There are a lot of unhappy people up here because of it and a lot reckoned they were robbed. The was 40 foriegn journilists following this and some hoped it would be a way forward now they must be laughing their socks off.

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by spinner

i just cant uderstand it, most people seem to have a strong dislike for pb than how is it that he gets the votes

It is an unfortunate fact that the Tories can get there voters to come out to vote more easily than Labour. In the wards in Hyndburn where Labour won, they won easily, with very large majorities.
Also, where there is a candidate who is a retiring councillor, many voters do vote for the person not the party. Although there were a couple of Tory councillors re-elected who have done very little for their areas but still got re-elected.

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by cashman

yeh but was far more spoiled in england, was wondering if the 100.000 are included in the 38% that did vote?

The spoiled ballot papers are counted in the number of votes cast.

When you see the ballot papers some papers are obviously ment to be spoilt, being left blank are writing neither candidate are examples.

But there are some people confused with the postal votes, if the declaration is not received as well as the ballot paper, the vote does not count. I know that there has to be some proof of who the voter is in postal voting, but some people do get confused by how to complete everything.

In my ward there were 1362 ballot papers counted, the candidates got the following votes - Labour 837. Tory 514, which means there were 11 spoilt ballot papers.
Figures for spoilt ballot papers in Hyndburn wer
Altham 11
Barnfield 4
Baxenden 12
Central 22
Church 8
Clayton-le-Moors 16
Huncoat 1
Immanuel 9
Milnshaw 14
Overton 19
Rishton 12
St Oswald's 13
Total spoilt votes in Hyndburn 141 out of 17850 votes cast - this is 0.79% of votes cast

[panther]

i wasnt allow to vote, in my area, but dont understand why they need a few just for ossy, it should be one for all the town

[cashman]

ta for info claytonender,interesting to see a low % of spoilt here.

[Owd Bert]

Originally Posted by spinner

i just cant uderstand it, most people seem to have a strong dislike for pb than how is it that he gets the votes

"most people --- " Do you mean the people who have indicated their dislike for him on AccyWeb or are you privy to the views of the vast majority of people in the area who know nothing of AccyWeb ?

[Owd Bert]

Originally Posted by garinda

It's not dislike for the women, it's what she stood for, and the fact that the vast majority of Tories still support what she did, especially to the north.

Well said -- and I can probably go back farther than most who post on here and even now remember the bitterness and frustration felt by my parents and other working class neighbours in the 30s. ( Please, please don`t use that "working class" expression as a means to divert the thread)

While I have never voted Tory in all my years I am not blind to the pandering to "Big Business" and other issues that to me have been a disgraceful chapter during Blair`s tenure in charge of New Labour.

I recently had a thread about the pension scandal which didn`t rate a peep by AccyWeb`s staunch Labourites. I wonder why?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Owd Bert

I recently had a thread about the pension scandal which didn`t rate a peep by AccyWeb`s staunch Labourites. I wonder why?

I certainly wouldn't class myself as a Blairite, but I didn't post in that particular thread because I probably didn't understand it fully enough.

As far as I could make out, these were private pension schemes that aren't going to pay out. I agree with the government's decision not to bank roll those people's pensions with tax payer's money. Every effort, both financial and supportive, should be made available for those people to get help, which as far as I can make out, the government are doing. Lloyd's names weren't bankrolled by the tax payer's when they lost a lot of money in the 80's/90's, and to me this is no different.

Like I say, perhaps I haven't understood it fully, so forgive my ignorance if I'm way off the mark.

[g jones]

Originally Posted by garinda

I certainly wouldn't class myself as a Blairite, but I didn't post in that particular thread because I probably didn't understand it fully enough.

As far as I could make out, these were private pension schemes that aren't going to pay out. I agree with the government's decision not to bank roll those people's pensions with tax payer's money. Every effort, both financial and supportive, should be made available for those people to get help, which as far as I can make out, the government are doing. Lloyd's names weren't bankrolled by the tax payer's when they lost a lot of money in the 80's/90's, and to me this is no different.

Like I say, perhaps I haven't understood it fully, so forgive my ignorance if I'm way off the mark.

The Conservatives handled this all much worse than Brown. Their suggestion was to bankroll the lost pension schemes from all current pension schemes. Cameron tried to play clever and suggest it was only current pension surpluses within those companies he was going to use but the Pension Industry told him that there were no surpluses, those so called surpluses are always reinvested as part of current pension scheme payments and the removal of so-called surpluses would in fact reduce the pension payments to their members pension schemes. Pension schemes like mine. Cameron acted really stupidly for quick political gain and it wasn't Labour that embarrased him the most, but Pension Companies.

[cashman]

to me the people that should be accountable for private pension deficits are the people who run them and have taken in many many cases (pension holidays) cos they had a surplus, not the labour party, or any party in power, saying that though ANY goverment should be able to regulate to stop these pigs creaming the pension funds.

[Lilly]

Originally Posted by claytonender

Garinda - I was at the count last night and it was pointed out at the time that Janet Storey had got 'Number of the Beast'. which as she can be very rude - to say the least- did seem appropriate

It certainly is an eye-opener going to a count for the first time.I say anyone who votes Labour should go to a count and see how their candidates conduct themselves.Certain councillors really let their party down with their jeering and sneering and snide remarks.I was shocked.There really is no need for it.I didn't see any of that from any other party.