2022 Scottish Local Elections 5th May ** Official Match Thread**

[DrewDon]

Just now, Ludo*1 said:

Went to school with that Lib Dem councillor. Absolute fucking oddball. Remember he did his work experience in the school library and just substituted his school tie for a normal one and went around demanding kids hand books back.

Takes a special sort to become a Councillor.

That is the most Lib Dem thing ever. 

[flyingscot]

11 minutes ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

I'll be delighted to see Chris McEleny punted from Inverclyde. A worthless gobshite.

It happened. 126 votes is really poor. 

[101]

It's Alba...

Getting a shoeing

[WhiteRoseKillie]

12 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

I think you mean the Executive. And the nationalists can't form it on their own.

It will be a very bad look if they don't. Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't, all the same.

Yeah, didn't express that well. Am I right, though, that increased nationalist power makes the prospect of a referendum likelier? What form would it take and what's the time-scale for setting it up?

 

[The Master]

I notice that the Lib Dems in Dundee (maybe elsewhere?) stood as "Liberal Democrat Focus Team".

 

 

[flyingscot]

11 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Surely it's a bit more complex from a ROI perspective than NI voting for a united Ireland, and ROI just going 'mon in then'?

Is there even a majority in ROI in favour of a united Ireland? A few ROI residents I've spoken to want absolutely no part of the sectarian shitshow in the North.

Well yes it is, you need polls both sides of the border. However the NI poll called by the NI Secretary who is, debatably more influential in the process. 

[carpetmonster]

2 minutes ago, 101 said:

It's Alba...

Getting a shoeing

I think that show about your man with the cock on his arm rather than down his trousers during the week's rendered them entirely pointless.

[Granny Danger]

4 minutes ago, flyingscot said:

It happened. 126 votes is really poor. 

That’s really misrepresenting his position.  He also got 4 second preference votes!

[Ludo*1]

4 minutes ago, The Master said:

I notice that the Lib Dems in Dundee (maybe elsewhere?) stood as "Liberal Democrat Focus Team".

 

 

Richard McCready being out is top class news.

[welshbairn]

3 minutes ago, The Master said:

notice that the Lib Dems in Dundee (maybe elsewhere?) stood as "Liberal Democrat Focus Team".

Same in a couple of Inverness wards, they put out a regular newsletter called Focus. Ours didn't mention the party or leadership at all, nor national politics.

[GiGi]

Hartlepool must be the most gammony town in England these days.

[betting competition]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss my ward has knocked out the tories for the SNP

 

 

[101]

3 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

I think that show about your man with the cock on his arm rather than down his trousers during the week's rendered them entirely pointless.

Knob news!

[welshbairn]

 

[Michael W]

31 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

This is a point which has been glossed over, especially in the context of "the tories are doing well up north". Eh, no they fucking aren't, and it's glorious to see. The minute you saw Dowden squirming on Burley's sofa this morning you knew what they know - Operation Save Big Dog has become Operation Save Our Own Skins. The problem they have with the less-engaged majority of the electorate is that Johnson was their "Waldo" - a character whose lies and poor performance would be excused by it being "just Boris". None of their potential next leaders have anything like the image needed to prevent collapse at the next GE. From misanthropic verging on actively evil (Patel) to demonstrably thick (Truss, Dorries and Raaaaab) to simply criminal (Hancock, Jenrick) or fraudulent (Javid, Sunak), none of them will appeal to Mr and Mrs Floating Voter. Without a leader who has that "cheeky chappie, what is he/she like"* appeal, they're fucked.

The good news is that Labour are probably going to need the SNP to form a robust Government. I wonder what the price for that deal would be?

 

*Which I have never, ever understood. How many cheeky chappies leave their wives while they're undergoing cancer treatment or arrange for journalists to be beaten? Or get sacked twice for lying to their employer(s)? All these happened well before he absofuckinglutely did not get Brexit done.

The spin machine is in desperate overdrive, that's for sure. Maybe Labour aren't exactly decimating the Tories, but they are having a good night nonetheless. And of course there are a number of losses to the Lib Dems as well. 

They have lost my council (Wokingham), according to Peston. He's said they've shipped 5 seats to the LDs, but so far I can see 3 to the LDs and one to Labour. It's an election three years out of four here, so if this was an all out they would be suffering an absolute scudding today. 

Wokingham is amongst the primest of prime Tory territory. Very affluent and the Parliamentary seat has been Conservative since its creation. The closest the opposition have gotten in recent history were 6000 votes in 2001 and 7000 in 2019. The council likewise was under NOC from 2000-2002, but has otherwise been Tory since 1998. If they are in the shit here, they are in real trouble; holding a handful of the 'red wall' seats isn't going to save them. 

The MP is John Redwood, so we'll see if he starts getting jittery...

They have been extremely fortunate that many of their home counties seats aren't up for election this time around. The mess of local government has saved Johnson from serious pressure. 

[TheScarf]

Are Scottish Labour staunchly pro-Union? 

Edit - It's not a good day for the Union if they aren't.  (I know it's a council election before anyone starts, but it gives an indication).

Edited May 6, 2022 by TheScarf

[Ivo den Bieman]

10 minutes ago, flyingscot said:

It happened. 126 votes is really poor. 

Into the relegation play-off for McEleny, with only the oddball local independent keeping him from the bottom of the table

[Boo Khaki]

West/Central Edinburgh continues to be a national disgrace. Only time it's no Tory is when the real Tories go a bit too Tory, so they just elect the diet Tories instead -

 

[invergowrie arab]

24 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

I think you mean the Executive. And the nationalists can't form it on their own.

 

Yep and the GFA says nothing of the sort.

[Jacksgranda]

1 minute ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Yeah, didn't express that well. Am I right, though, that increased nationalist power makes the prospect of a referendum likelier? What form would it take and what's the time-scale for setting it up?

 

I don't think "power" is the right word, % of votes is what would swing it, not just SF & the SDLP but the other parties which designate as "nationalist".

Alliance complicates things as they are "other", so how would their % of votes be allocated?

I would think the % of nationalist voters would need to be pushing 50%, as the (UK) government only calls a unification referendum if they think it has a chance of winning.

The RoI, if serious about reunification, needs to get its arse in gear and publish proposals for this "new, agreed Ireland", including fleg, anthem, etc not to mention important things like health service (no NHS down south), police, civil service, infrastructure (the A5 dual carriageway hasn't been done yet and the RoI reneged on the money they promised for it), education etc. Even the colour of road signs and their wording, e,g, "Yield" not "Give Way". (Some of these issues are fairly trivial compared to others.)

Those are just areas off the top of my head, no doubt better informed posters could come up with more.