#uklocalelections

Unfortunately, we just know that Labour's takeaway from the local election results will be: "Reform has won lots of seats, we must be even more like Reform," rather than: "Reform has won lots of seats, how did we lose so many people who didn't vote for Reform?" #UKLocalElections #UKPolitics

The local election results so far illustrate just how much local factors (and turnouts) produce extremely variable results. FPTP doesn't seem to be as effective in homogenising these results the same way it does in General Elections. Having said that, the national public agendas of wanting to give Labour a kick in the shins for being a wilful disappointment and Reform's appeal to people terminally disillusioned with Westminster politics is pretty evident. The results so far in Greater Manchester seem to correlate with the tattered St George's flags hanging limply from lampposts and, sadly come as no surprise. Nor does Halton, Runcorn in particular does feel very much part of the land forgotten by the Westminster Bubble. #UKPolitics#UKLocalElections

Voted. I've been quite insistent over the years that local politics is local and national politics is national but this time felt different. Had my local councillor stood on their own merits without party affiliation I'd have voted for them in an eyeblink. I might even had held my nose and voted for them in the end despite the current government and its pursuit of The Hero Reform Voter. The clincher was Labour's odious local elections campaign which said not one jot about how it's going to finally start helping local public services recover from the ravages of Austerity but just retreaded old anti-Corbyn attack lines and directed self-loathing Jew tropes at Polanski. After that there was no question, just as the Home Secretary told people like me to fuck off, so off I fucked. #UKPolitics #UKLocalElections