Another great night in Basildon, and nationally.
Angela Smith can begin looking for alternative employment and/or spending more time with her husband who wisely stepped down from leading the disintegrating Basildon Labour group.
With Gordon Brown at the helm, Labour cannot hope to win and is now in at least as hopeless a position as the Conservatives were leading up to 1997.
Roll on the general election!

A good result for Common Sense.

This was a bad night for labour. Labour has fallen on hard times just like the taxpayer.

Be warned though that if we get a general election in the near future and the tories take control brace yourselves for the wind of change. they will bring us right back instead of going forward and before you know it we`ll be regretting the change.

Interesting to note how well the BNP did, often beating Lab/Lib to third or even second place.

It's sad that extemism is creeping into our politics but don't blame the BNP, blame the mainstream parties for not responding to public concern about uncontrolled migration and political correctness

Yes, let's hope they do take us back to a strong economy, to an NHS where you could actually find a GP or a dentist, to schools where excellence matters, to a strong voice in Europe, to a strong policy against drugs, and crime in general, to a firm and fair policy on immigration, to sensible taxation recognising that people should keep as much as possible of what they earn, to a system which incenticvises people to work and not claim benefits, to reverse Brown's theft of pensions, and generally to reverse all the wrongs of the past 11 long years.
This is one case where to go back is progress.

They all know the answers in opposition, the trouble starts when they are in power.

tony wrote:
This was a bad night for labour. Labour has fallen on hard times just like the taxpayer. Be warned though that if we get a general election in the near future and the tories take control brace yourselves for the wind of change. they will bring us right back instead of going forward and before you know it we`ll be regretting the change.

The only thing i regret is labour having this long in power, it will take the tories twice as long to sort out this mess. People thought it was bad the last time, yet they happily forget that when maggie took over uk was being helped out by the IMF and she got us out of that mess. Labour have now dumped us back in it again but are refusing to acknowledge or accept any blame and are now blaming the CREDIT CRUNCH. Are labour soooo arrogant that they cant accept that they make mistakes. The tories have got to sort out the pension mess. Thanks to them, my husband who did have an excellent pension that was a final salary pension, had it forcefully changed because the labour government have messed up the pensions so badly to an index linked pension which is a lousy performer compared to what he had. Thanks for nothing labour. And yet tony thinks we will have it bad..

I think you are all forgetting these were LOCAL Elections to elect LOCAL Councillors NOT a General Election to election a General Government the clue is in the title.

In Wickford the Independent Candidate stood on Local Issues and cut the conservative lead although not quite enough to win, a brave effort and a brilliant campaign on LOCAL issuews.

beth wrote:

tony wrote: This was a bad night for labour. Labour has fallen on hard times just like the taxpayer. Be warned though that if we get a general election in the near future and the tories take control brace yourselves for the wind of change. they will bring us right back instead of going forward and before you know it we`ll be regretting the change.

The only thing i regret is labour having this long in power, it will take the tories twice as long to sort out this mess. People thought it was bad the last time, yet they happily forget that when maggie took over uk was being helped out by the IMF and she got us out of that mess. Labour have now dumped us back in it again but are refusing to acknowledge or accept any blame and are now blaming the CREDIT CRUNCH. Are labour soooo arrogant that they cant accept that they make mistakes. The tories have got to sort out the pension mess. Thanks to them, my husband who did have an excellent pension that was a final salary pension, had it forcefully changed because the labour government have messed up the pensions so badly to an index linked pension which is a lousy performer compared to what he had. Thanks for nothing labour. And yet tony thinks we will have it bad..

You forgot to mention some of maggies other sucesses.

Introduction of Poll Tax and the subsequent riots.

Introduction of a 'greed' culture where the only one who mattered was 'me'.

Created a culture of 'care in the community' where no-one actually cared.

Sold of all our countries assets in the name of privatisation.

Then her cohorts under John Major who Bankrupted the Ban of England, remember black Monday (or was it Wednesday). 15% mortgage rates.

What price arrogance now beth?

I forgot to mention:

Fat cat salaries.

A benefits culture.

3 million un-employed.

What have the above got to do with Basildon Council Elections.

LOCAL Election = LOCAL Issues

Sorry Alan, just replying to Beth's rant about the conservatives and her husbands pension.

They have absolutley nothing to do with Local Government Issues.

miserableoldgit wrote:
Sorry Alan, just replying to Beth's rant about the conservatives and her husbands pension. They have absolutley nothing to do with Local Government Issues.

Agreed, and her posts are like a biography too.

I honestly believe that the Conservatives only won the LOCAL elections because there are some voters out there that got confused about the whole election thing!! I think they thought if they voted Tory, Brown would be on his way! (I WISH!!)
The Conservatives have seriously screwed up with local issues - they should not have the majority.

I don't think voters got confused at all.

They voted for inaction on the illegal travellers site.

They voted to dump all the rubbish on Basildon Golf Course.

They voted for the destrction of Gloucester Park.

etc. etc.

Sue wrote:
I honestly believe that the Conservatives only won the LOCAL elections because there are some voters out there that got confused about the whole election thing!! I think they thought if they voted Tory, Brown would be on his way! (I WISH!!) The Conservatives have seriously screwed up with local issues - they should not have the majority.

Here here! Not all of us in Wickford had the luxury of a vote (lucky for conservatives there I think). And I read in the Recorder tonight the EXACT reason we do not want them in as LOCAL government. A labour councillor is actually being investigated because he stated it was unethical for Mrs Buckley (conservative) to be Chairman of the Planning Committee when she is married to Mr Buckley (conservative and Head of Basildon Council) when Mr Buckley is instrumental in many plans for Wickford that strangely get passed by the deciding vote cast by the Chairman of the Planning Committee. This has been a MASSIVE greivance withing Wickford community. Why is this man being punished for stated the truth? Mrs Buckley asked the gentleman to leave the room when this question was raised. Strangley Mr Buckley takes the same action when he is also questioned on anything that goes against what he insists we want - tell him you do not want the masterplan or to explain his actions with "unofficial" meetings with other developers that are also councillors and personal friends and he will insist you leave the room blah blah. it shows their contempt for residents and arrogance on their own self-importance when Mrs Buckley stated she does not discuss planning matters with Malcolm - impossible - he is Head of Council - he HAS to be consulted.

leftout wrote:

Sue wrote: I honestly believe that the Conservatives only won the LOCAL elections because there are some voters out there that got confused about the whole election thing!! I think they thought if they voted Tory, Brown would be on his way! (I WISH!!) The Conservatives have seriously screwed up with local issues - they should not have the majority.

Here here! Not all of us in Wickford had the luxury of a vote (lucky for conservatives there I think). And I read in the Recorder tonight the EXACT reason we do not want them in as LOCAL government. A labour councillor is actually being investigated because he stated it was unethical for Mrs Buckley (conservative) to be Chairman of the Planning Committee when she is married to Mr Buckley (conservative and Head of Basildon Council) when Mr Buckley is instrumental in many plans for Wickford that strangely get passed by the deciding vote cast by the Chairman of the Planning Committee. This has been a MASSIVE greivance withing Wickford community. Why is this man being punished for stated the truth? Mrs Buckley asked the gentleman to leave the room when this question was raised. Strangley Mr Buckley takes the same action when he is also questioned on anything that goes against what he insists we want - tell him you do not want the masterplan or to explain his actions with "unofficial" meetings with other developers that are also councillors and personal friends and he will insist you leave the room blah blah. it shows their contempt for residents and arrogance on their own self-importance when Mrs Buckley stated she does not discuss planning matters with Malcolm - impossible - he is Head of Council - he HAS to be consulted.

Yes but that is what the voters voted for.

Alan Ball wrote:
I think you are all forgetting these were LOCAL Elections to elect LOCAL Councillors NOT a General Election to election a General Government the clue is in the title. In Wickford the Independent Candidate stood on Local Issues and cut the conservative lead although not quite enough to win, a brave effort and a brilliant campaign on LOCAL issuews.

perhaps he needs a new election agent?

Perhaps he does, I will ask him.

This is fantastic news and I can't wait till the General Election. Common Sense will prevail and this taxing Labour Government will be kicked out of touch.

I did NOT need a dufferent agent - the Wickford North election was fought by me on totally local issues - and my share of the vote increased from last year.
Last year Michael Mowe ( Con) 1592 53% of the Vote
David Harrison (Ind) 1021 33%
Chris Wilson (Lab) 409 14%

This Year Carole Morris (Con) 1250 43% of the Vote
David Harrison (Ind) 974 34%
Anthony Gladwin (BNP) 289 10%&
Chris Wilson (Lab) 230 8%
Michael Woods (LD) 154 5%

As can be seen despite a National Ground-swell against Labour in Wickford North the Conservative percentage was cut and they actually won with a minority (Less than 50%) for the first time in ages.
Wickford North was actually the Conservatives poorest display in winning a seat.
The sad thing is that a seat is winnable in Basildon with 500 votes - yet just under a thousand in Wickford is a losing score! - But that is life!!

This is all a crock.
Only a third of us bothered to vote so I take it that the other two thirds found their White Lighting or the latest Eastenders more important the local issues.

Well, LB, that just means that the politicians should be trying to convince people like ourselves, in these low turnout days, we actually do hold some power.

It seemed to be pensioners who did the majority of voting, so when they 'move on' it might well be just us left to vote!

As somebody who has stood in Wickford in 2006 and 2007 (only one ward up for election in Wickford this year).

I Kind of agree with LB and Shipshape and assume they did not vote, I might be wrong.

What I would ask is why not, what would make you vote?

Remember this is a local election on Local Issues so I beleive it is the time to make a real difference locally and people still do not vote in big numbers very disappionting!

A General question why diid people not vote?

Hi Alan, I did vote, I even went at an 'off peak' time to avoid the rush!
Poor clerks looked relieved to have somone to chat to for ten minutes..

Interesting comments about Angela Smith finding alternative employment...I always find it amazing that people actually vote Tory cos there's no alternative, when in reality its just more of the same. There won't be any long term improvement in the things that matter and there'll just be a return to all manner of sleaze.

Shipshape,

Glad you voted I believe everyone should vote.

A lot of work goes into the Campaigning and trying to get people to vote, for the main parties and smaller groups, I know in Wickford North even the tories worked hard to keep the Independents (Wickford Action Group) out.

Between 25-35% is the norm it should be at least double that.

Why don't people vote?

A general question.

People don't bother to vote because whoever they vote for it turns out to be more of the same.

Too frequently local elections are fought on national issues, this is because local government is predominantly run by the big three parties. The people who tend to vote are 'hard-core' supporters of the three big parties (ie. brainless)

Things have changed since I was younger. I was taught that the vote was one of the most valuable commodities we owned and that to get your vote a candidate had to work hard and win it.

Not so today unfortunately, in my ward there was no canvassing and just a standard conservative, Labour & BNP leaflet pushed through the door.

The only party that I saw on the street was the BNP. So you could say that they were the only party to work for our votes, (thank god they didn't get enough).

I would like to see all candidates being independent of the national parties. I bet more people would vote then.

By the way I did vote, and voted for the only candidate who lived in my ward. The others didn't even live in my town!

Why don't people bother to vote?
I think it important to vote, so I can only guess at the reasons why others don't.

1. Is an interest in politics seen as 'sad'? Therefore voting is only done by 'saddoes'.

2. Do people believe that their votes are worthless, that they'll never change the status quo, so why try?

3. Instant gratification, these days people expect things to be done within days, if they vote someone in they seem to expect the streets to be painted gold the next day, the reality is that we have gradual change, and most have lost interest by then.

4. Rewards/Punishments, controversial to mention, but do we need to make it a legal requirement to vote, or do we have to give voters a 'council tax discount'? I'll bet the second will have the polling stations bursting to the seams.

5. Visibility, You never see a councillor or party going around the houses when theres no election. Why not? Thats when I'd be impressed, when I can just speak to them about issues at the doorstep.
You'd remember the guy who's team comes around regularly to check, advise and help, wouldn't you?

6. Stop the spin and take time to explain yourselves properly, don't overuse statistics, 'big' words or complicated 'overviews', it just turns people off.

7. Listen to people.


Anyway I think it'd take a severe shift in public opinion to get them interested in politics again.

It's a strange world where that little guy who stood in front of a tank brigade in Tiananmen was prepared to fight to his death for his one little vote, his chance at influencing his future, but most of us would rather pay to vote for 'Britains Got Talent'.

Simon Cowell running the next election? Now theres a thought!

Two good posts and I agree with you.

Party Politics has no place in local government, it should be fought on local issues with no spin or half truths.

In Wickford North we fought on these principles and although we did not win our vote held at about 33-34% and the Tory vote dropped by about 9%, which is totally against anything that happened in other places.

This proves that if you fight on genuine local Issues you CAN do well.

Wickford North if you look was probably the worst result for the Torys in the Whole of Basildon District, considering Wickford is Strong Tory and they hold all 7 seats in the town.

The only disappointment was the turn out at 31%, which brings me back to my original question, why don't peoiple vote?

You cant con all of the people all of the time. Basildon, like the rest of the country are tired of the lies, laziness, deceit and lip service offered by Angela Smith and co who sit in the ivory towers promising us the world and giving us nothing but trouble and a life worth zip in reality. If anyone thinks the loons in the Conservative are any closer to reality you have a short memory. It was Maggie who sold the family silver and resided over the biggest decline in family values ever known. yeah sure we have nice cars these days, but I'd rather be able to walk the streets unarmed and still have some faith in mankind. Trouble is with politics these days it's too short sighted, they only care for the next election. We need a thousand year vision and to become an island once again. Sod the rest. Integration my ****! We cant blame anyone but ourselves for this misery we call a life. It's time for the revolution and not groundhog day once again.

Brian Kemp wrote:
This is fantastic news and I can't wait till the General Election. Common Sense will prevail and this taxing Labour Government will be kicked out of touch.

Really? I remember after the 2004 local elections (Labour won 26% of the vote that time) the Tories felt they were in with a chance of winning the next general election. A year later and they were again trounced at the polls. Perhaps the voters remembered the tories record in office: mass unemployment, mortgage rates of 16%, poll tax, VAT increased to 17.5% and extended to luxuries like winter fuel, and two economic recessions. I am still waiting for the first economic recession under this government, and at least the money from oil revenues is not wasted on unemployment benefit (unlike under the Tories who wasted every single penny of North Sea oil money on unemployment benefit).

Rember John Major's mantra, @if it's not hurting,then it's not working. Expect a painful time of it under a future Tory government.

leftout wrote:

Sue wrote: I honestly believe that the Conservatives only won the LOCAL elections because there are some voters out there that got confused about the whole election thing!! I think they thought if they voted Tory, Brown would be on his way! (I WISH!!) The Conservatives have seriously screwed up with local issues - they should not have the majority.

Here here! Not all of us in Wickford had the luxury of a vote (lucky for conservatives there I think). And I read in the Recorder tonight the EXACT reason we do not want them in as LOCAL government. A labour councillor is actually being investigated because he stated it was unethical for Mrs Buckley (conservative) to be Chairman of the Planning Committee when she is married to Mr Buckley (conservative and Head of Basildon Council) when Mr Buckley is instrumental in many plans for Wickford that strangely get passed by the deciding vote cast by the Chairman of the Planning Committee. This has been a MASSIVE greivance withing Wickford community. Why is this man being punished for stated the truth? Mrs Buckley asked the gentleman to leave the room when this question was raised. Strangley Mr Buckley takes the same action when he is also questioned on anything that goes against what he insists we want - tell him you do not want the masterplan or to explain his actions with "unofficial" meetings with other developers that are also councillors and personal friends and he will insist you leave the room blah blah. it shows their contempt for residents and arrogance on their own self-importance when Mrs Buckley stated she does not discuss planning matters with Malcolm - impossible - he is Head of Council - he HAS to be consulted.

I think there is a conflict of interest here as Mr Buckley was an estate agent (or still is) and therefore they should both be investigated. As for them not sharing information, maybe they live in seperate houses, after all they do own more than one!

I always vote and I find the above comments quite curious.
When has a General Election not been about local issues. People seem to forget that MPs are there for us first, their party second. The're our voice in government and need to take note of us so when voting this has to be taken into account too.
With all elections I vote for the person that I feel will work for the improvement of my area or our town.
At the end of the day if our local candidates can't keep our own town in order what chance is there for our country.

I think that politics and politicians have moved so far from reality that a lot of people nowadays think "why should we bother".

I feel that no one represents 'me' anymore. I don't see anyone willing to get their head above the parapet and OPENLY debate the main issues of our times: Education, NHS, the Elderly, Immigration Control, Law and Order, Benefit abuse, Employment issues, Foreign Policy, and enviromental issues (not stealth taxes!) etc.

What do our elected representatives actually do for us? Not a lot, it seems. Plenty of snouts in troughs though.

Local Bloke wrote:
I always vote and I find the above comments quite curious. When has a General Election not been about local issues. People seem to forget that MPs are there for us first, their party second. The\'re our voice in government and need to take note of us so when voting this has to be taken into account too. With all elections I vote for the person that I feel will work for the improvement of my area or our town. At the end of the day if our local candidates can\'t keep our own town in order what chance is there for our country.

I am sorry, but this reall is looking at things through 'rose coloured glasses'. An MP is supposed to represent, and take note of, his/her electorate.

In practice this is virtually impossible because of the diversity of peoples ideas, wishes etc.

In reality they are forced to toe the party line, or get chucked out by the party.

Think of it, when has your MP sought your personal opinion and then acted upon it? I suspect never. It's just the same for the millions of voters in this country.

Your vote gives them the mandate, to toe the party line when it comes to voting, or in the case of a 'free vote' follow their conscience, and I will emphasise their , because they will not consult with the constituents that put him/her there.

This equally applies to our concillors.

tony wrote:
This was a bad night for labour. Labour has fallen on hard times just like the taxpayer. Be warned though that if we get a general election in the near future and the tories take control brace yourselves for the wind of change. they will bring us right back instead of going forward and before you know it we`ll be regretting the change.

Too true!
"Act in haste, repent at leisure."
The 'sugar pill' of paying less taxes amounts to a mountain of problems that become insummountable.
Bring back the core values and strong working class principles of the Labour Party to represent the very best interests of the electorate and the economy of the country.
People like Cameron should swap their egos for Dinky toys!

Sadly you have all missed the most fundamental point. All that is required of a Politician be it at Local government Level or as a Member of Parliament is to remember during the election process to be a **** good convincing liar, promise the earth etc and onve elected forget everything that was promised and follow your agenda,

rob wrote:

Local Bloke wrote: I always vote and I find the above comments quite curious. When has a General Election not been about local issues. People seem to forget that MPs are there for us first, their party second. The\\\'re our voice in government and need to take note of us so when voting this has to be taken into account too. With all elections I vote for the person that I feel will work for the improvement of my area or our town. At the end of the day if our local candidates can\\\'t keep our own town in order what chance is there for our country.

I am sorry, but this reall is looking at things through \'rose coloured glasses\'. An MP is supposed to represent, and take note of, his/her electorate. In practice this is virtually impossible because of the diversity of peoples ideas, wishes etc. In reality they are forced to toe the party line, or get chucked out by the party. Think of it, when has your MP sought your personal opinion and then acted upon it? I suspect never. It\'s just the same for the millions of voters in this country. Your vote gives them the mandate, to toe the party line when it comes to voting, or in the case of a \'free vote\' follow their conscience, and I will emphasise their , because they will not consult with the constituents that put him/her there. This equally applies to our concillors.

Your quite right. Our political system has become twisted into a warped and selfserving business but the point I was making is that in the past my vote has gone to the person and not the party. Now my MP is also the MP for Billericay so he has no time for my area.
When it comes to the local vote the partys need to take a back seat to the local problems then the MPs need to use the council to convey the local feeling to the government on our behalf (I know its a fairytale now) but with only a 3rd of Basildon taking it seriously why should they.

Local Bloke, Pitsea, I wasn't having a go at you.

I posted on another thread on here (to paraphrase).

When I was younger I was taught that one of the most valuable pocessions was my vote.

No-one should get this as some sort of right, but they should work hard to earn it and respect the fact that I have loaned them this right and I can just as easily take it back and give it to someone else.

Sad to say others do not think the same way as me.

Sorry missed a bit out on the above post.
When I was younger I was taught that one of the most valuable pocessions was my vote.

should have read,

When I was younger I was taught that one of the most valuable pocessions I would ever own was my vote.

One of the things I am seriously concerned about with local issues is the constitution of local government. When the new constitution came into force one of the most important changes was where people with truly local issues found themselves. Sadly they weren't the winners!
Top of the agenda was the interest of the council itself, then the whole of the district whilst area issues trailed behind that. To see this in practice, try raising an issue with your council. Two stock answers: "your view has been noted", or "this is an Essex County area and your comments have been passed on". That is the end of a local issue as per the edict of the constitution. Go on, try it for yourself! Then talk about "Local issues!"

Why don't people vote?

A general question.

Because it only encourages them.

In Wickford North the Wickford Action Group did two deliveries to 5000 homes explaining ONLY local issues - but unfortunately it wasn't enough to make enough people want to go out and vote for me. Of four opponents - only the Conservative candidate issued an election address. Yet the three who did absolutely zilch - still attracted 673 votes!!
Someone above mentioned "snouts in troughs" - well in the financial year 2006/7 the seven Conservative Councillors for Wickford took home a staggering £89,000 between them! On top of that Basildon Council has so many Mr & Mrs Councillors that the joint "take home" from our Council Tax must be a nice little earner.
I can remember when being a local councillor was someone serving the community - but that alas is long since past.

The reason they attracted 673 votes was because they had more than one policy. The political ambitions of a few at the detriement of the many is not a policy.

And the reason wrote:
The reason they attracted 673 votes was because they had more than one policy. The political ambitions of a few at the detriement of the many is not a policy.

How do you know they had more than one policy? Tell us what they were because without election litrature how is anyone supposed to know?

As David has said the Wickford Action Group are only concerned with LOCAL Issues, and as this was a LOCAL election that would seem like the right policy to me.

Alan Ball wrote:
I think you are all forgetting these were LOCAL Elections to elect LOCAL Councillors NOT a General Election to election a General Government the clue is in the title. In Wickford the Independent Candidate stood on Local Issues and cut the conservative lead although not quite enough to win, a brave effort and a brilliant campaign on LOCAL issuews.

Actually I think people are fully aware of this fact.

They were simply using this election as a chance to kick Labour up the @rse and a very good job they did too.

Trouble is, it's the same old same old.

Nothing will change and in four years' time when those seats are next up for grabs, the same dire situations will exist in the Basildon administration areas..

They were there four years ago and are still there now.

Only worse.

God only knows what it will all look like in 2012.

In answer to Mr Ball
I didnt vote as Id lost my ballot card, in these days of scrutiny over everything why the hell cant we turn up with a passport and prove who we are they can check we are paying council tax on ( god forbid) a pc and bobs your uncle sending out a ballot paper costs a fortune money better spent elsewhere and then with a passport or pension book the ID of people isnt in question. I dont know if any ballot papers get lost in the post but this system sucks as itself its open to abuse as all you need to produce is a piece of card, if the peice of card doesnt get to you ( but say ends up in the wrong hands or as in my case its been mislaid you have no vote! (please dont tell me I should have looked after my card as thats obvious I know exactly where my passport is though!)

the wickford action group only has one policy STOP BUILDING

ben -I agree with you.

-Wickford High St is crying out for 700 flats
-Wickford High St needs to become a HIGH St with five or six story buildings-who cares about infracture improvements!
-Barn Hall is crying out for 200 houses to be built on it - more building on green fields I say!
-Wickford needs more congestion - who needs to get in and out of Wickford anyway!
-loss of the swmming pool for eighteen months-super! I really hope we don't get it back and that we'll all have to go to Basildon to the super Olympic park, which will eat up even more green space!

I really cannot wait until all these lovely projects are completed.

Oh, and don't worry, I am sure all the houses that are being built on Runwell Hospital will have a nice big knock on effect in Wicford as well.

I cannot wait!