The new Liberator has arrived. Tomorrow, you lucky people, I shall start posting Lord Bonkers' latest diaries, but for tonight here is something from Radical Bulletin on the Lib Dem performance in last month's London borough elections:
While the number of councillors in London increased from 115 to around 150 the majority of this growth came in the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond.
Lib Dems are also represented on Sutton, Haringey and Southwark (all current or former parliamentary seats) and elsewhere only on Merton, Ealing, Camden and Kensington and Chelsea.
Indeed the number of boroughs with no Lib Dem councillors actually increased as beachheads held even during the massacre of 2014 in Harrow, Brent, Barnet, Hackney and Redbridge fell this time.
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The electorates in Kingston and Richmond are contrary; they vote small "C" conservative and small "L" liberal at different elections. I'm talking about aggregates, crude definitions. They are socially liberal, of course, and rarely Conservative Club members.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to Putney? It was a hippy swinging place. Adrian Slade won 20%/15% of the vote in 1974 -- but no campaigning occurred subsequently and liberal vote share has always been less than average.
Liberalism has re-sprouted in Metro-land when natural liberal voters have been pushed out of London. A Lib Dem mayor of Watford -- how did that happen?
True, but I would rather have a substantial number of Liberal councillors on just a few councils, rather than a thin scattering across London. I also think longer term prospects are good - an inept Labour Mayor and Labour councillors voting themselves pay rises while cutting services is being noticed by voters.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what happens on Thursday night...