By-Election

[Inspector Knacker]

It is a real problem for New 'new Labour'. It seems the old 'old Labour' voters no longer see them as  having any connection with them. All the  studies show that  'class' is no longer and indicator of political affiliation.  The C2/Ds are just as likely to vote Tory as Labour. Indeed London not the North  is the seat of Labour power.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/14/tories-gain-ground-small-towns


The findings will worry Labour MPs concerned that the party is losing touch with traditional supporters and is too focused on metropolitan issues. It comes as the party is struggling to come up with a position on Brexit that satisfies both its urban and traditional working-class supporters.

Analysis of recent elections also suggested that "the more a place has experienced relative decline, the worse Labour tends to perform in electoral terms (and the better the Conservatives do)". At the last election the swing to Labour was far higher in cities than in either large towns (+5.0) or small towns (+4.1), and even smaller in other areas (+3.0).

Lisa Nandy, the former shadow cabinet minister and Labour MP for Wigan, said her party needed to take on concerns about issues such as immigration to tackle the problem. "There is a long-term problem here that shows it is not only Labour has problems in towns, but increasingly people in towns think there is no one in the political establishment who is speaking for them," she said.


One big problem is that the Ds are  far closer to the  UKIP/Tory view on Immigration and The EU than to the  Labour position.

I don't think the Labour electorate have moved one dot, the Party has. The Labour Party is more middle class than working class and the two are drifting apart.

[cobaltman60]

Jeezus that video almost made me bring my tea up..what a crock of s**t!

[steveL]

The picture of an over-flowing smart bin seems to have had an effect. According to a guy from the council cleansing department, the bins are now being emptied more often than ever which rather contradicts the spin which accompanied their launch.

I guess over-flowing bins at £6,000 apiece are just too much of an embarrassment to risk in the middle of a by-election.

Wrong-footed Labour zealots are claiming the picture was staged . . . so whoever took it . . . expect a personal visit from 'Personal Trainer' Ann Marshall any time soon.   

[notenoughsaid]

   I've just played the video.   Is that the voice of Jason Anderson off Hartlepool Radio?. The clue is when he drops the "h" when quoting undreds of people etc. That is unless Mr. Cranney wrote the script. Food for thought.

[DRiddle]

There's some interesting screen shots of Seaton by-election leaflets doing the rounds on facebook. It seems both the Conservative AND Labour leaflets (their latest ones) are fixated on telling people why they should NOT vote for UKIP, PHF or independents.

Mike whatshisface (I forget his name but i remember he has a beard) for the Conservatives has a particularly hilarious one out which tries to lay the blame for both the parking charges and the giant windturbines at the door of PHF for not being an effective opposition. His leaflet fails to mention which parties voted in suppport of both of those things.

Then there's one by Ann thingymajig (her who lost in Seaton twice and who was binned by the people of Rossmere) banging on about how bad PHF are and how good a councillor she 'is' despite her not actually being one.

I'll tell you something, if Ann Marshall does NOT win Seaton on Thursday she needs to call it a day. Not only has she had the whole of the Hartlepool Labour Party doing her bidding, she's also had a hell of a lot of help from the local press, a certain organisations public relations team, the local MP, and she's had responses and action from various council officers the like of which no 'ordinary' member of the public could ever dream of getting. She's also had what looks like orchistrated help from another 'traditional party' who claim to be diametrically opposed to everything she stands for.

Only in Hartlepool. 

[fred c]

Ann Marshall never voted against the Labour Whip in her much spouted 8 years as a councillor...... Not Once.

A bit like the Tory chaps sitting colleagues...... They haven't voted against the Labour Whip...... 

[Inspector Knacker]

Mike whatshisface (I forget his name but i remember he has a beard) for the Conservatives has a particularly hilarious one out which tries to lay the blame for both the parking charges and the giant windturbines at the door of PHF for not being an effective opposition. His leaflet fails to mention which parties voted in suppport of both of those things.

Aren't the Tories supposed to be part of the opposition or have they went into a political civil partnership?

Fact is, they didn't propose parking charges or wind turbines, they were the 'brainchild' of the ruling clique and their lackeys. The responsibility therefore lays with the originator of these crackpot schemes, to blame the opposition is ludicrous logic. 
In this town there is never any chance of the Tories being classed as part of the opposition.

[steveL]

Can someone post a copy of Mike Young's leaflet - always best to share a smile 

[kevplumb]

https://s1.postimg.org/12lxr737db/tory_flyer.jpg

[Inspector Knacker]

So how did the flock last of Tory/lites vote for on wind turbines and parking charges and what effect did it have?

[jeffh]

Can someone post a copy of Mike Young's leaflet - always best to share a smile 

If Mike Young's leaflet is being backed by the Local Conservative Party, isn't the inference then that the Local Conservatives are NOT in opposition but part of a coalition with Labour?  If that is the case then Martin-Well's position as Chair of Audit & Governance needs to be questioned as if there is a Lab/Con coalition then a Conservative can't be the chair of said committee - it needs to be Independent, UKIP or PHF

Might be worth somebody in Seaton asking the Conservative if his leaflet is endorsed by the Local Conservatives.

[DRiddle]

I wouldn't waste your time. It's an open secret in HBC that they're essentially in coalition. Very senior officers in HBC have used that word to describe their relationship. But without it being official they'll continue to do it.

You won't see significant changes in HBC until either the electorate wake up, or the government sends in someone to do a proper root and branch inquiry. That's not me 'giving up', it's just me telling it like it is.

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

Anybody know if Labour have old gadgies stationed outside all the polling stations today ?

[kevplumb]

Anybody know if Labour have old gadgies stationed outside all the polling stations today ?

na I'm not going out in the wet 

[steveL]

canvassing outside of polling stations is illegal