PHF Wins Seaton By-Election

[admin]

The date for the Seaton Ward bi-election has been announced as Thursday, 25th October

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Looks like HBC received the two formal written requests that this be held within the statutory 35 days...would certainly have been more cost effective to wait and hold the by-election at the same time as votes were being cast for the referendum and police role.

[christine blakey]

I think if UKIP Members had been at the meeting tonight, they would have cringed at the flack received.  I do not think anyone agreed and further, that there is an aim to make Seaton voters aware that UKIP were responsible. 

I chuckled when they said they could not do anything against electoral law or ignore breaches, if Members were to try and change the date.  They do sometimes....

overall, for how close it is to the Police Commissioner and Referendum activities, it is a real concern that a calculation to a five figure sum can be developed for this bi-election.  Maybe they could have asked Mike to hold on to his resignation for three weeks if nothing else could have been done.  Could he not withdraw it and then put it in again?

[Ryehill]

            There are a number of issues relevant to the voters of the Seaton Ward which deserve proper debate. If the Seaton bi-election was held on the same day as the Police Commissioner elections and the Mayoral Referendum, those issues would be buried in the general discussion about those two issues. It does not seem unreasonable to have the bi-election on a different day.
           On the question of cost I doubt whether it will cost  a five figure sum ,which could be anything upto £99 K. Over the past few years we have had a number of elections/referenda which have cost millions of pounds . Remember AV. Was that worth it? Democracy costs money to adminster so lets debate the issues facing the voters of Seaton and accept that any election will cost money. 

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

Mike tried hard but was one voice against a large choir of self serving prima donnas.

He was the only Seaton councillor that responded to me about my concerns for the A&E and he was also very vocal about the landfill situation.

Cath Hill appears to be too busy but do anything other than suck up to the mayor and get platitudes published in the Mail.

No idea about Paul Thompson, maybe he has been out on a canoe.

Seaton needs to replace Mike with somebody just like him but less polite and with a massive gob.
I hope PHF has somebody lined up !

[steveL]

Whatever you think of those UKIP signatures triggering an earlier than expected election, we mustn't forget that they were perfectly entitled to do so - as were any of the ward residents. I would probably argue, along with everyone else, that it would have been more sensible to wait until November 15th purely on cost.

However, perhaps it is no bad thing to remind the local politicians now and then that they don't get to control everything according to their own interests - which is what all of the whining in the council chamber was really all about.

Whatever the costs, it won't come close to matching Mad Marge's £50,000 to employ one of her mates on the laughable 'furniture project' so there's a fair bit of hypocrisy going on here.

[Ryehill]

               Perseus, holding the bi-election on the 25th. October does reduce the time for debate by 3 weeks but it still leaves 6 weeks for any debate. Surely this is long enough? After all a general election can be called with only 3 weeks notice. You are insulting the intelligence of the Seaton electorate.

[steveL]

It's not really a question of legality because clearly that is not the issue. The vote on November 15th will be dominated by the Mayoral Referendum and less so the Police Commssioner vote. There is some validity in the argument that the issues within the Seaton Ward will be swamped by both and that Seaton Ward voters deserve to have their concerns properly aired.

The Tories were telling everyone on their website two days after Mike Turner resigned that the bi-election would be held on November 15th - an asumption on their part and something of an arrogant one which ignored the electorate's right to decide otherwise.

As I said, maybe its not such a bad thing now and then to remind the politicians who's actually in charge and it is a bit absurd to hear some of the local councillors, particularly those prone to bouts of meglamania, to be complaining of the waste of a few thousand quid when they repeatedly demostrate their own ability to waste far larger amounts of money when it suits their own interests.

[steveL]

You might be right, but then being constrained by fallibility like the rest of us, you may also be wrong. We're still all at the 'in my opinion' stage and in stating our individual views none of us can yet claim to have achieved deity status. (although I do have plans  )

Even if you are right about UKIP using this as a low-turnout tactic, you can't possibly claim that other parties would not do the same if the circumstances suited them. It will be a long time before any other party matches the sheer cyncism of Labour with their John Marshall ruse and when that is the sort of people you're dealing with then surely it's a case of All's Fair in Love, War and Local Elections.   

[mk1]

All Politicians put the needs of the Party above everything else.
They will lie, cheat, steal and do anything if they think it gains them an advantage.
The error being made here is to assume UKIP are anything other than the normal double-dealing lying sh*its that passes for the norm today.
Treat any UKIP spokesman as you would the SCABs or 'Parkie' Wells.

[christine blakey]

I have just spoken to Peter Devlin, specifically about the waste of money.  It seems we need to ask Parliament to start getting up to date with the recession and considering the wording, within 35 days an election SHALL be held.  Maybe we need to add a sentence regarding combining elections to save resources.

This truly is rediculous and quite frankly, it seems to have backfired politically?

[mk1]

Of course no one's contributions to this site can match those of that 'intellectual colossus' MK1 - such eloquence, such clarity of phrase, such reasoned debate!!!!!!!!!!!.

Be nat wrooth, my lord, though that I pleye. Ful ofte in game a sooth  I have herd seye

[Ryehill]

       In the Seaton by-election there is a strong possibility that there will be one or more Independent candidates. Holding the election on a  different date to the Mayoral/Commissioner election will enable such candidates a chance to air their views without being submerged in the bigger elections.
      The cost of elections should be only a minor consideration .If we start holding elections on the basis of cost analysis then it won't be long before elections are not held because the result ,in certain wards/constituencies, is a foregone conclusion.

[Ryehill]

 Perseus, that's pretty pathetic , even by your standards.

[steveL]

Quote: "Steve, you generally come across as an intelligent man"

I take this to mean excepting the instances when I disagree with your good self when obviously my intelligence fails me. 

In any case, I find that intelligence can be trumped by experience every time. Some of the most intelligent people I know have also managed to be complete prats - doh - is that one 't' or 2?