As the vox pop people on the telly seem to say there's too much politics around at the moment. So, the mayoral elections on 4th May seem to have disappeared completely from view even though they could, now, be a trial run for the general election and potentially mark a significant change for eight areas in England. Maybe the Londoncentric media aren't interested even though the rest of us suffer through the London election presented as though it was a national event.
Anybody excited to be casting their vote in this? Anybody understand the point?
Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell.
Comments
I will be manning a polling station here in Bristol on 4 May. I am totally unexcited by it and am expecting a low turnout.
My opinion of the need for regional mayors: an absolute stitch up. For the West of England, Bristol is the only Labour/leftie place. Bath and all the surrounding areas are blue. The Bristol PCC turnout was high and went Labour: the surrounding areas was low. For this area, it is quite likely the regional mayor will be a Conservative, thus putting a bit of a check on the powers of the Bristol mayor despite Bristol being the clear economic powerhouse around this area.
I'm mildly interested in how it pans out - devolved Labour power in the north with a Tory government in Westminster, el Burny might have a bit of a fight for funding on his hands.
He's chosen to stand down as Labour candidate for Parliament in the expectation of becoming Mayor, but it's a pretty safe seat for whoever replaces him (they'd vote for a donkey as long as it was wearing a red rosette).
I can' say i'm very excited about the whole Mayoral thing; all candidates are promising the same things, namely improvements to Health, Transport, and Jobs.
We both had a brochure through the post, showing us how to complete the ballot paper. It contained statements from 5 of the 8 candidates - the other 3 (all independents, as far as I could see) couldn't or wouldn't stump up the £5000 towards the cost of the brochure.
So my choice is between Conservative, English Democrat, Green, Labour, or UKIP, all promising me the same thing.
I wonder how much this is all costing?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-38715884
Take any estimate with the usual big suck on the salt lick though.
UKIP are fairly strong in parts here so I guess it's a good test of their popularity now that Brexit is agreed to see if anyone is still interested.