All results for the general election are through. Despite expectations that they would increase their majority - possibly drastically - the Conservatives instead lost several seats and with it, their majority in Parliament. As a result, in order to govern, the Prime Minister has had to make a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, a party in Northern Ireland, who have enough seats to support the Conservatives and give them a small majority.
The Labour Party, which had long been expected to losses masses of seats to the Conservatives, instead gained 30 seats. Labour was able to seize long-term Tory seats such as Canterbury and Kensington, both of which (and other seats) were attributed to heavy turnout of the under-25s, which is estimated to have been over 72% this election. While Labour did lose a handful of seats through a combination of them being in Brexit-voting areas or the UKIP vote went to the Conservatives, Labour otherwise weathered the Brexit vote and also increased its margins in many Remain areas, taking out Tories in the process.
The Scottish National Party lost nearly half of its seats but nevertheless remain the largest party in Scotland and the third-biggest in Parliament. Their losses can be attributed to them overplaying their hand at another independence referendum; Scots mostly consider the matter settled and are likely tired of voting, seeing as they've had more national referendums to vote on when the AV from from 2011 is included.
The Liberal Democrats increased their numbers from 8 to 12 but had their margins reduced in some seats and their former leader, Nick Clegg, was defeated in Sheffield Hallam; his loss marked the first time that Labour has won that seat. Despite taking a heavily pro-Remain stance, Liberal Democrat gains were fairly minor.
The United Kingdom Independence Party/UKIP again failed to win any seats and its share of the vote severely collapsed, in both number and percentage. Many UKIP voters returned to the Tories although there were a large number who returned to Labour, too.
It is hard to predict where British poltics will go from here. Some are expecting another election in the fall but that will depend on how well the Tories can govern with their DUP-backed minority administration. It also depends on if any political infighting takes place within any of the parties; while Jeremy Corbyn appears to have emerged from this election unscathed thanks to his strong campaign and achieving the first Labour seat increase since 1997, many on the Tory side are annoyed with their leader for calling an election which they were supposed to win and, instead, ended up losing.
Showing posts with label Northern Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northern Ireland. Show all posts
Friday, 9 June 2017
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Results of the 2014 local elections
Nearly all of the results for the 2014 local elections have been declared. In England, Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party were the two parties that saw the most gains while the Conservative and Liberal Democrat seat losses continued. Labour won 31% of the vote, while the Conservatives, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats won 29%, 17% and 13%, respectively. Labour gained over 330 seats while UKIP gained 161. The Conservatives lost over 230 councillors while the Liberal Democrats lost over 300. Labour took control of six councils while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats lost 11 and two, respectively. No Overall Control gained the most councils: seven.
Several of the smaller parties made gains: Independents won a total of 68 seats, up from 53 in this cycle, and the Residents' Association added 14 from 39. Most of the Green Party of England and Wales' incumbents were re-elected and the party picked up 16 additional councillors. The British National Party held onto its councillor up in this cycle. Some small parties experienced losses: The Liberal Party held two seats but lost two others, the Independent Community and Health Concern won one and lost two, and the Respect Party lost its sole local government seat. Overall, though, the small parties and independents performed fairly well.
In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party won the most amount of councillors (130) but came second to Sinn Féin in the popular vote (24.07% to 23.09). The Ulster Unionist Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party won 88 and 66 councillors, respectively. The Northern Irish results received little attention, as the media focus has been on UKIP's performance in England.
I am not surprised by the results, as they're roughly what was predicted in the polling and discussed in the news, although once again I had thought that the Conservatives would lose much more than they did. Both Labour and the Conservatives have blamed UKIP for why they didn't win in certain areas; for example, in the London Borough of Croydon, the local Conservatives blamed UKIP for why they lost control of the council. Labour and the Conservatives are both trying to figure out how they can win back UKIP voters while the Liberal Democrats are still working on how they can reverse - or at least stop - their continuing losses.
The next general election is less than a year away now. It is too early to speculate how the parties will perform then.
Several of the smaller parties made gains: Independents won a total of 68 seats, up from 53 in this cycle, and the Residents' Association added 14 from 39. Most of the Green Party of England and Wales' incumbents were re-elected and the party picked up 16 additional councillors. The British National Party held onto its councillor up in this cycle. Some small parties experienced losses: The Liberal Party held two seats but lost two others, the Independent Community and Health Concern won one and lost two, and the Respect Party lost its sole local government seat. Overall, though, the small parties and independents performed fairly well.
In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party won the most amount of councillors (130) but came second to Sinn Féin in the popular vote (24.07% to 23.09). The Ulster Unionist Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party won 88 and 66 councillors, respectively. The Northern Irish results received little attention, as the media focus has been on UKIP's performance in England.
I am not surprised by the results, as they're roughly what was predicted in the polling and discussed in the news, although once again I had thought that the Conservatives would lose much more than they did. Both Labour and the Conservatives have blamed UKIP for why they didn't win in certain areas; for example, in the London Borough of Croydon, the local Conservatives blamed UKIP for why they lost control of the council. Labour and the Conservatives are both trying to figure out how they can win back UKIP voters while the Liberal Democrats are still working on how they can reverse - or at least stop - their continuing losses.
The next general election is less than a year away now. It is too early to speculate how the parties will perform then.
Thursday, 22 May 2014
European Parliament election, 2014
The European Parliament election of 2014 has begun and will end on 25th May. The European Parliament is the only legislative chamber of the European Union that is held accountable to the people; it has 751 members and the citizens of the 28 nations within the European Union will be voting to either re-elect or replace their respective Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). While the election lasts for four days, every country but one has a day to vote; the exception is the Czech Republic, which votes on two of the four days.
How are MEPs chosen? Each country is a component of the election and there are regional constituencies within each country. For example, the United Kingdom has 12 constituencies and 73 MEPs allocated to it; my family and I live in the East Midlands constituency, which has five MEPs. MEPs are elected through proportional representation: this means that when a political party reaches a certain percentage of the vote - say 10% - they will win seats. By using this method of electing candidates, each constituency is often represented by several parties.
What's the predicted outcome for this election? From what I've read and from what my brother has told me, political parties that are either against the European Union or want its power over member countries reduced are set to perform strongly; many of these parties as regarded as far-left or far-right. People are voting for such parties because many Europeans feel as though the European Union is compromising each member nations' sovereignty and/or has not done enough to help regular Europeans; they think that the main parties in their respective nations have failed to tackle the European Union's problems. Also, over the past few years several European governments have used austerity to handle the economic crisis (unlike the United States, which chose to spend money on its economy); people now feel that the austerity has gone too far and many of these other parties are capitalising on this.
As for how the United Kingdom will vote, like I wrote in yesterday's post, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are expected to perform poorly in the local elections; that expectation holds for the European elections, too. Again, Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party are expected to gain the majority of the MEPs; the Green Party of England and Wales and the Scottish National Party aim to secure additional seats, while the British National Party is hoping to keep its sole MEP, although that is extremely unlikely. In this country, 39 parties are participating and they are fielding 747 candidates (not in every constituency, though, as some parties are regional, such as the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which is only on the ballot in Northern Ireland).
This is the first time since 1994 that my family and I have been in the United Kingdom while a European Parliament election has occurred; the European Parliament elections that took place between then and now were in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
How are MEPs chosen? Each country is a component of the election and there are regional constituencies within each country. For example, the United Kingdom has 12 constituencies and 73 MEPs allocated to it; my family and I live in the East Midlands constituency, which has five MEPs. MEPs are elected through proportional representation: this means that when a political party reaches a certain percentage of the vote - say 10% - they will win seats. By using this method of electing candidates, each constituency is often represented by several parties.
What's the predicted outcome for this election? From what I've read and from what my brother has told me, political parties that are either against the European Union or want its power over member countries reduced are set to perform strongly; many of these parties as regarded as far-left or far-right. People are voting for such parties because many Europeans feel as though the European Union is compromising each member nations' sovereignty and/or has not done enough to help regular Europeans; they think that the main parties in their respective nations have failed to tackle the European Union's problems. Also, over the past few years several European governments have used austerity to handle the economic crisis (unlike the United States, which chose to spend money on its economy); people now feel that the austerity has gone too far and many of these other parties are capitalising on this.
As for how the United Kingdom will vote, like I wrote in yesterday's post, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are expected to perform poorly in the local elections; that expectation holds for the European elections, too. Again, Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party are expected to gain the majority of the MEPs; the Green Party of England and Wales and the Scottish National Party aim to secure additional seats, while the British National Party is hoping to keep its sole MEP, although that is extremely unlikely. In this country, 39 parties are participating and they are fielding 747 candidates (not in every constituency, though, as some parties are regional, such as the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which is only on the ballot in Northern Ireland).
This is the first time since 1994 that my family and I have been in the United Kingdom while a European Parliament election has occurred; the European Parliament elections that took place between then and now were in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
Local elections, 2014
The United Kingdom's local elections are upon us once again; all day tomorrow, thousands of councillors will be up for election across the country. The regions that will be voting are: all London boroughs, all metropolitan
boroughs, 74 second-tier district authorities and 20 unitary authorities; some new councils in Northern Ireland are also up for a vote this year. In addition to the local elections, the United Kingdom will also be participating in the European Parliament election, which occurs across the European Union every five years. For this post, I'll cover the UK's local elections only and will write about the European Parliament election tomorrow.
What is the predicted outcome of these local elections? The two ruling parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which both form the coalition government in the UK Parliament, are again expected to lose councillors, much like they have done for the past two elections (the Liberal Democrats also lost councillors in 2011); the losses are again expected to be in the hundreds for both parties. Once again, the Labour Party is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of those seats; however, since 2013's locals the United Kingdom Indpendence Party (UKIP) has improved its standing among non-Conservative Party voters, which has made this batch of local elections harder to predict than the last. UKIP's gains can be attributed to significant public fatigue with the three main parties and their unwillingness to hold a referendum on the UK's membership in the EU.
As for some of the other parties, the Green Party of England and Wales seeks to increase its amount of councillors nationwide; the Greens are effective at winning small amounts of new councillors and have a good record of re-electing their existing ones. The British National Party, which was expanding and regarded as a problem five years ago, is as irrelevant in these local elections as it was in 2013's; the party is not expected to gain anything. There are also a few tiny regional parties and independents running in some areas; how these candidates perform is based on the strength and characters of the individuals themselves.
The next general election, when the UK Parliament itself will be up for a vote, will take place in May 2015. While council elections aren't always an accurate predictor of how the public will vote in a general election, they can indicate overall national mood; both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will be in serious trouble in 2015 if their heavy losses continue.
What is the predicted outcome of these local elections? The two ruling parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which both form the coalition government in the UK Parliament, are again expected to lose councillors, much like they have done for the past two elections (the Liberal Democrats also lost councillors in 2011); the losses are again expected to be in the hundreds for both parties. Once again, the Labour Party is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of those seats; however, since 2013's locals the United Kingdom Indpendence Party (UKIP) has improved its standing among non-Conservative Party voters, which has made this batch of local elections harder to predict than the last. UKIP's gains can be attributed to significant public fatigue with the three main parties and their unwillingness to hold a referendum on the UK's membership in the EU.
As for some of the other parties, the Green Party of England and Wales seeks to increase its amount of councillors nationwide; the Greens are effective at winning small amounts of new councillors and have a good record of re-electing their existing ones. The British National Party, which was expanding and regarded as a problem five years ago, is as irrelevant in these local elections as it was in 2013's; the party is not expected to gain anything. There are also a few tiny regional parties and independents running in some areas; how these candidates perform is based on the strength and characters of the individuals themselves.
The next general election, when the UK Parliament itself will be up for a vote, will take place in May 2015. While council elections aren't always an accurate predictor of how the public will vote in a general election, they can indicate overall national mood; both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will be in serious trouble in 2015 if their heavy losses continue.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
The "Thankful Villages"
Two days ago, my family and I visited the village of East Carlton, located here in Northamptonshire, to visit the East Carlton Country Park. When we returned home later that day, I did a little research about the place and learnt that it is one of England and Wales' "Thankful Villages".
What is a Thankful Village? Well, the Thankful Villages (also known as "Blessed Villages") are the 51 places in the United Kingdom whose military personnel at the time survived World War I; 14 of those villages then became known as "doubly thankful" when all their soldiers also survived World War II. Unfortunately, there are no places in Northern Ireland or Scotland that hold these titles, and East Carlton is not among the 14 doubly thankful locations.
I'm not sure which is more remarkable, while at the same time deeply saddening and horrifying: that there were a few places in the UK that managed to escape tragedy from the world wars or that nearly every place in the UK did receive at least one fatality from those wars. Either way, it's a reminder that conflicts such as the world wars should not happen again and that we should continue working towards a peaceful planet.
Perhaps what surprised me more that day was telling Mum and Dad that we had visited a Thankful Village: neither had heard of the term before I told them. They're highly knowledgeable about British history and I assumed that this was something they were well-familiar with.
I consider it an honour to have visited East Carlton; I would like to visit it again. I have respect for this village and the others that share in its corner of history.
What is a Thankful Village? Well, the Thankful Villages (also known as "Blessed Villages") are the 51 places in the United Kingdom whose military personnel at the time survived World War I; 14 of those villages then became known as "doubly thankful" when all their soldiers also survived World War II. Unfortunately, there are no places in Northern Ireland or Scotland that hold these titles, and East Carlton is not among the 14 doubly thankful locations.
I'm not sure which is more remarkable, while at the same time deeply saddening and horrifying: that there were a few places in the UK that managed to escape tragedy from the world wars or that nearly every place in the UK did receive at least one fatality from those wars. Either way, it's a reminder that conflicts such as the world wars should not happen again and that we should continue working towards a peaceful planet.
Perhaps what surprised me more that day was telling Mum and Dad that we had visited a Thankful Village: neither had heard of the term before I told them. They're highly knowledgeable about British history and I assumed that this was something they were well-familiar with.
I consider it an honour to have visited East Carlton; I would like to visit it again. I have respect for this village and the others that share in its corner of history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)