2008 Local/London Elections
Huge Loss for Labour
The 2008 London Elections have been a massive blow for Labour, and Gordon Brown. His economic incompetance, and the New Labour system of huge, Centralised Government have come back to bite them. The people have overwhelmingly rejected Labour, have been beaten to third place by the Liberal Democrats.
Labour have lost Reading, leaving them with not a single council in the South-East, a devastating blow to them. This comes on top of the devastating loss of a total of 9 councils across the country.
Great news for the Liberal Democrats in Cheltenham, where we took over the council (previously, we had 17 seats, and the Tories 17, leading to a particularly heavily contested council), taking one seat off Labour, one off the Tories, and one off an Independant. The seat from Labour was their last, so now Labour have no seats in Cheltenham at all.
Results Summary
| Party | Councils | Councillors | ||
| / - | Total | / - | Total | |
| Conservatives | 12 | 65 | 256 | 3154 |
| Labout | -9 | 18 | -331 | 2368 |
| Liberal Democrats | 1 | 12 | 34 | 1805 |
| Plaid Cymru | -1 | 0 | 33 | 207 |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 5 | 893 |
| No Overall Control | 3 | 64 | 0 | N/A |
Success for the Liberal Democrats
Following these elections Liberal Democrats are just one seat short of overall control in: Oldham (4 gains), Warrington (1 gain) and Cheltenham (3 gains).
Liberal Democrats will continue to be the largest party in Cardiff (2 gains), Sefton (1 gain), North East Lincolnshire (1 gain) and are now also the largest party in Derby (5 gains) and Exeter (1 gain).
Continuing the Win at the 2004 Elections
We must remember, the 2004 elections were a very good time for the Lib Dems. There was strong anti-Tony-Blair and strong anti-War sentiment, leading to more pro-LibDem voting. So, for Labour to do worse than they did in 2004 (which was disastrous for them) is amazing. In truth, even a loss of a few councillors would have represented a success for the Liberal Democrats, whereas a gain of 34 councillors and one council is amazing.
It's heartening to know that the votes from people in 2008, which many dismissed as protest votes against the Iraq War, were clearly held by us over the four years. It indicates the strong position the Liberal Democrats are in Nationally, and reflects the hard work by our Councillors over the years.
London Mayoral Election
The loss of Ken Livingstone would be an unspinnable loss for Labour, it has been said, and it has been confirmed that indeed, Boris Johnson has won the London Mayoral race. Our opinions on the London Mayoral race could not have been put better than by Paddy Ashdown on Question Time on the day of the elections (speaking before the confirmed results of the elction, but with the assumption that Brian Paddick had not won).
"The real tradgedy about London is that if either Boris or Ken won, it would be a disaster for London. It is a choice between two men who I would not put in charge of a whelk stall"
- Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown
In a city in which low-level crime has become so prelevent, nobody beleives Ken Livingsone's figures saying that crime has dropped year-on-year, especially as it has been revealed that Police have been ordered to ignore Criminal Damage (smashing car windscreens and windows, etc.) to ease the official Crime Statistics [Source]. We stand by our opinion that the best person to deal with Crime in London would be one of the country's top-ranking police officers, with a proven track record of crime. Sadly, the personalities of Ken and Boris turned the fight into a two-way race.
Quotes
"We were 13% a few months ago, we're now 25%. We've over-taken Labour, we've taken seats off the Conservatives, we've taken seats off Labour... If you call that a disappointment then we inhabit different planets. I am actually delighted, we are regaining momentum."
- Nick Clegg
"Is suicide a suitable way out?"
Veteran Labour MP Austin Mitchell
"very disappointing indeed"
- Harriet Harmen, Labour Deputy Leader.
Click here for a reaction to the Local Election results by Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Lord Rennard.