Local Elections

Elections in a pandemic

• 29th January 2021
• inlogov
• Local Elections, local government, Partner Posts

Jason Lowther Well over a thousand British citizens are currently losing their lives each day to Coronavirus in the UK, tens of thousands more are still dealing with ‘long Covid’ aftermaths.  As new variants of the virus appear more infectious, and the vaccination campaign gets into high gear, is the Government’s insistence that 65 million … Continue reading Elections in a pandemic

A year in the life of the newly-elected Independent Council

• 25th June 2020
• inlogov
• Local Elections, local government, Partner Posts

Analysis by local government academic Chris Game shows that there were a total of 45 District Councils where no one political party/grouping could command a majority after the 2019 local elections. In the majority of these cases where the result was ‘No Overall Control’, rainbow coalitions were formed. East Devon provided a rare exception to this rule, and this article explores the struggles of running a minority administrations under a Leader-Cabinet system. 

Situational irony, coronavirus and the French local elections

• 6th April 2020
• inlogov
• Chris Game, Local Elections, local government, Partner Posts

President Macron faced a dilemma. French municipal and mayoral elections happen only every six years. This year’s, therefore, would be the first since he became President in 2017, thanks rather amazingly to his newly created LREM party, La République En Marche!, winning a substantial majority in the National Assembly elections.

What if December 12th were repeated in the May mayorals?

• 10th January 2020
• inlogov
• Devolution, general election, Local Elections, local government, metro mayors, Partner Posts

It seems worth asking: what would happen in the May mayoral elections, which include London this time, if everyone voted just as they did in December’s General Election?  Happily, Centre for Cities’ Simon Jeffrey got there first, so the stats are his, the interpretation mine.

Why voter registration matters

• 30th January 2019
• Chris Game
• Birmingham City council, Chris Game, Councils, Featured, Local Elections, Opinion, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended

In 1967/68, while attempting concurrently to write a PhD thesis (no!) and earn enough to live (just!) , I had the good fortune to work as a research assistant to

Local elections – unlike boxing, they’re not over at the count

• 21st May 2018
• Chris Game
• Birmingham City council, Councils, Dudley Council, Featured, Local Elections, News, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended, Walsall Council

For most of the national media, the year’s local elections were over, if not quite when the polls closed, then certainly when enough votes were counted to allow an announcement

Council: Ward breaks new boundaries

• 17th May 2018
• Kevin Johnson
• Birmingham, Birmingham City council, Cllr Ian Ward, Cllr John Cotton, Cllr Lisa Trickett, cllr waseem zaffar, Councils, Featured, Local Elections, Opinion, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended, Sir Albert Bore

Ian Ward may have been the leader of Birmingham city council for little more than six months, but he’s already achieved two things of significance that eluded his immediate predecessor,

Council: Cabinet reshuffled – Trickett goes, Zaffar returns

• 15th May 2018
• Kevin Johnson
• Birmingham, Birmingham City council, Cllr Ian Ward, cllr waseem zaffar, Councils, Featured, Local Elections, News, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended, Sir Albert Bore

Lisa Trickett and Peter Griffiths are the casualties in the first Cabinet reshuffle following recent council elections, reports Kevin Johnson.  Waseem Zaffar rejoins the Cabinet whilst Kate Booth and Jayne

Never mind who you voted for, where did you do it?

• 14th May 2018
• Chris Game
• Featured, Local Elections, Opinion, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended

They’ve become a standard feature of the election season – complaints about the complete or partial closure of schools selected as polling stations. Chris Game looks at where, and when,

Vote2018: the story so far

• 4th May 2018
• Kevin Johnson
• Birmingham City council, Councils, Coventry City Council, Dudley Council, Featured, Local Elections, News, Partner Posts, Popular, Recommended, Walsall Council

What do you mean, you weren’t up for Dudley? Well, for those who opted out of the election night marathon Kevin Johnson reports on the story of the Local Elections 2018 –