There was recently an election for the local council in Cornwall. These were the results:
| Party | Councillors | % councillors | Votes | % votes |
| Reform UK | 28 | 32.2 | 47846 | 29.1 |
| Liberal Democrats | 26 | 29.9 | 40259 | 24.5 |
| Independents | 16 | 18.4 | 22564 | 13.7 |
| Conservative | 7 | 8.0 | 25881 | 15.7 |
| Labour | 4 | 4.6 | 15100 | 9.2 |
| Greens | 3 | 3.4 | 6524 | 4.0 |
| Mebyon Kernow | 3 | 3.4 | 6408 | 3.9 |
So, who should run the council? A governing group would need 44 councillors for an overall majority. The exact number of Reform + Independents. Or maybe Reform + Conservatives + a few Independents.
As it turned out, no-one was willing to work with Reform. The Independents proposed a Liberal Democrat as leader and he won the support of 53 councillors with 23 abstentions. The remainder registered as Not Voted. Which I would have thought is the same as abstaining but maybe they couldn't get out of bed.
A cabinet was elected, comprising 4 LibDems and 4 Independents.
Is this how democracy is supposed to work? A party that has the largest number of councillors and was voted for by nearly a third of those who voted gets zero say in council policy for the next however many years?
It's a stitch-up, not democracy. Does anyone care?
Probably not many! Until we have a proper PR system this sort of nonsense will continue. What was the turnout? Compulsory voting would give a fairer result.
ReplyDeleteTurnout was 37.21% which is probably quite high for local elections
DeleteExactly. So not democratic at all. Just apathetic. Not that it will make much difference. The officers run the Council and unless a Cllr is very experienced and knows how to manage and override them it won’t make much difference.
ReplyDelete