UK Local and European Elections-2014

[Jaanbaz]

Millions of people are voting in the European election and local council polls in England and Northern Ireland on Thursday.

It is the final big test of public opinion before 2015's general election.

All 73 UK seats in the European Parliament - the EU's only directly elected body - are up for grabs, along with 4,216 seats on local councils, nearly half of them in London.

Polling stations are open for voting between 07:00 and 22:00 BST.

• There are elections across the UK to the European Parliament on Thursday and elections to 161 councils in England and 11 in Northern Ireland.
• Results for the local elections will come on Friday. Results for the European elections will be announced late on Sunday. You can follow full coverage with all the latest updates at bbc.co.uk/vote2014

The last European elections took place in 2009. Voting will take place in the EU's other 27 member states over the next four days, with 751 MEPs in total being chosen. Thursday sees voting take place in the Netherlands.

In England, a third of seats are being contested on dozens of district and unitary authorities and in the 36 Metropolitan Boroughs, including Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, South and West Yorkshire, Merseyside and the West Midlands.

In London, every seat on all 32 London boroughs is up for election - the first time this has happened since the day of the 2010 general election.

Voters will also choose mayors in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

In Northern Ireland, voters will elect 462 representatives to 11 so-called "super districts" following a reorganisation that took place in 2012, reducing the number of councils from 26 previously.

There are no local elections in either Scotland or Wales.

The weather forecast suggests that some people could have a very wet trip to the polling booths, with a Met Office weather warning covering Wales and southern England for heavy rain and possible localised flooding in areas hit by slow moving thundery downpours.

What about Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

In 2009 in Scotland the SNP got 29.1% of votes, Labour 20.8%, Conservatives 16.8%, Liberal Democrats 11.5%, Greens 7.2% and UKIP 5.2%. In Wales, the stage is set for a fascinating contest. In 2009, four parties shared the spoils - with one MEP each for Labour, the Conservatives, UKIP, and Plaid Cymru. Northern Ireland is very different to the rest of the UK when it comes to the Euros. MEPs are elected using the Single Transferable Vote system - there are no party lists and you vote for a candidate by order of preference rather than a party. Ten candidates are vying for three seats.

 

[Jaanbaz]

And the smaller parties?
Smaller parties love the European elections because since 1999 it has used proportional representation. This year's crop of hopefuls include theEnglish Democrats, which campaigns for English independence, andAn Independence From Europe, founded by former UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass, both of which are running full slates of candidates. TheChristian People's Alliance, and No2EU, a left-wing Eurosceptic party founded by the late RMT leader Bob Crow, are the next two largest parties, by numbers of candidates. But 30 parties in all are contesting seats across the UK.

A big day in London

Every seat in all 32 London boroughs - more than 1,800 in total - is up for grabs on Thursday, 22 May. This has not happened since the day of the general election in 2010, when Labour bucked the national trend by getting 36.4% of the vote to the Conservatives 34.5%. Ed Miliband's party lost to Boris Johnson in the 2012 mayoral contest. Mayoral elections are also taking place in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

What happened last time?

The last European elections were in 2009. The Conservatives got the biggest UK share of the vote, 27.7%, UKIP got 16.5%, Labour got 15.7%, the Lib Dems 13.7%, the Green Party 8.6% and the BNP 6.2%.

 

[Jaanbaz]

Lib Dems braced for complete wipeout in European parliamentary elections
Top party figures advised to say that winning no seats was 'expected'

The Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, are bracing for difficult European parliamentary election results. Photograph: Dave Thompson/Getty Images

An internal Liberal Democrat document reveals that the party is braced for a complete wipeout in the European parliamentary elections.

As voters go to the polls for the European elections across the UK and local elections in England and Northern Ireland, senior party figures have been briefed to say that a failure to win any seats in the European parliament should be "expected" at this stage in the electoral cycle for a governing party.

The document, the contents of which have been leaked to the Guardian, advises Lib Dem spokespeople about what to say if the party wins between no seats and two seats in Strasbourg.

In that scenario, the document advises party figures to say: "Disappointed with the result but the party remains resolute and this was expected at this point in the electoral cycle."

Amid rumblings about Nick Clegg's leadership, the document also says that the party's best hopes are to win five seats in Strasbourg – more than halving the 11 seats the party won in 2009.

A wipeout, or even a dramatic reduction, in the Lib Dem contingent in the European parliament would represent a serious blow to Clegg's authority. The deputy prime minister, who made his name as an MEP, may face calls to end the coalition with the Tories – or even to stand down.

The embarrassing leak comes as Britain's final national electoral test before next year's general election begins. David Cameron is braced for defeat at the hands of Nigel Farage in the European elections because Ukip has been placed first in a series of opinion polls in recent weeks.

In the final YouGov/Sun poll on the eve of polling day Ukip was on 27%, followed by Labour on 26% with the Tories third on 22%. The Greens were fourth on 10% with the Lib Dems in fifth place on 9%.

The prime minister is expecting the Conservatives to come third in the European elections behind Ukip and Labour on the grounds that they are always "tricky" for a governing party. Tories on the right, who had indicated that they might move against the prime minister after a bad defeat, are keeping a lower profile amid the economic recovery and as they prepare for a major showdown on Europe in the runup to a possible 2017 referendum.

David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, indicated that some on the right will be prepared to criticise the Tory leadership over their tactics towards Ukip. He told the Guido Fawkes website: "The only way to fight Ukip is to occupy their ground. Cameron has started to try and do that, but it's too late…They only react when they are panicking and then no one believes it."

The Conservatives, who are also braced for losses in the council elections, want to turn the focus on Labour which should, No 10 believes, be making gains of 500 seats – around the number identified by the psephologists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. Labour, which says it struggled in the European elections even at the height of Tony Blair's popularity, dismisses the Tory projection and is hoping for gains of 150 in the local elections.

Labour, which believes that the local elections will provide a much better pointer to the general election, believes it will do well if it wins 25% in the European elections – increasing the number of Labour MEPs from 13 to 22. But the main focus of the Labour campaign has been on areas in the local elections which include its Westminster target seats. Labour hopes to make progress in Redbridge, Croydon and Cambridge.

Labour sources say the Tories are in retreat in large parts of the country. They believe the Tories may suffer setbacks in key Westminster electoral areas such as Basildon, Peterborough, Southend and Swindon.

The private thoughts of the Lib Dems have been disclosed by an internal document presented to the Wheelhouse group, the body chaired by the general election coordinator Paddy Ashdown. The document suggests language to be adopted under three scenarios – from winning no seats to winning five seats. The height of the party's ambition in the document is five MEPs – a loss of six seats on the eleven they won in 2009. The Lib Dem numbers grew by one when Edward McMillan-Scott joined the party in 2010.

If the party retains two to three MEPs, senior Lib Dems have been advised to say that it represents "a good result considering the circumstances", while if it secures three to five MEPs, the document suggests talking about "a very encouraging result … much better than almost everyone predicted".

Lord Ashdown, the former party leader and Clegg's original patron, is due to come out fighting on his behalf in a newspaper article at the weekend. "Putting Paddy Ashdown in charge of the general election campaign [as campaign coordinator] is probably one of the brightest things Nick Clegg has done – he will fight to protect him," one party source said.

But the knives are already sharpening for the leadership amid concerns that the Lib Dems could suffer major setbacks in the local elections. There are fears that the party may lose control of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, which the Lib Dems have held since 2002 – five years after the parliamentary seat was captured by Ed Davey, the energy and climate secretary.There have been complaints that major resources are being poured into the elections in Burnley borough council simply to save the council seat of Gordon Birtwistle because he is also the local MP. The council has been controlled by Labour since 2012 which has 26 councillors compared with 14 for the Lib Dems and five for the Tories.

A close eye will be kept on the business secretary Vince Cable, whose close ally Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay has publicly called for Clegg to stand down, and on the chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander. Eyebrows were raised recently when Alexander met Lib Dem councillors in Essex – no parliamentary stronghold but an area with plenty of party members who would vote in any leadership contest.

One party source said: "Nick Clegg is probably safe if Vince and Danny are the main people in the frame. Vince will not wield the knife – he just wants the job to fall into his lap. Danny as leaders would be bonkers – he is the continuity candidate."

A Lib Dem spokesperson said of the document: "It's no surprise that, like all parties, we prepare for all sorts of outcomes. We know it will be a tough night but we are proud of our campaign. Nick Clegg is the only leader that has stood up to Ukip's divisive politics and defended British jobs and Britain's place in Europe."

One party source said the party is realistic about its chances because all the polls have placed the Lib Dems below the 13.7% they secured in the last European elections in 2009. The source said there is a fine line between failing to win any seats and winning five because the special form of proportional representation used rewards a party's percentage share but then assess a performance in relation to other parties.

Lib Dems braced for complete wipeout in European parliamentary elections | Politics | The Guardian

@Aeronaut @Jungibaaz @WebMaster @nuclearpak Can you make this thread sticky please?

 

[Pakistani E]

Don't particularly like Ed Miliband, but the local Labour councillors are decent and always helpful. Probably going to vote Labour.

 

[Jaanbaz]

Local and European elections: the main parties' hopes and fears
The main parties' best and worst case scenarios as voters prepare to go to polls in local and European elections

David Cameron addresses a rally on the last day of campaigning before the local and European elections. Photograph: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images
Conservatives
Good day

The best David Cameron can hope for is minimising losses in the local elections to fewer than 100 out of its 1,574 seats and taking a few areas off the Liberal Democrats, such as Kingston. Having played down expectations, the prime minister would be able to spin this as a victory of sorts, given the electorate's tendency to give the government a kicking outside general elections. To make it an extraordinarily good day, he would have to win seats in the north, showing that he has the potential to win a majority at the next election by breaking into Labour-dominated areas. In the European elections, it would be considered good for the party to get more than 20 seats and come first.

Bad day

A poor result in the local elections would see the party failing to keep control of battleground councils such as Trafford in Greater Manchester, Amber Valley in Derbyshire and West Lancashire. These are crucial for the Conservatives if they are to keep any sort of presence in the north of England. Hanging on to Swindon will also be a key test. If the party loses anything more than about 200 seats, it will start to look poor for the prime minister and deal a blow to revived Tory optimism about the general election. In the Europeans, it would be pretty bad for the Conservatives to come third behind Ukip and Labour. Getting fewer than 15 seats could lead to some serious unrest on the backbenches over Cameron's European strategy.

Labour

Ed Miliband's party is in the best position to make gains. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Good day

Labour should gain 300 to 500 council seats to show it is on course to win the general election next year, although party sources are dampening expectations by suggesting a good night would look like gaining 150 to 200 seats. As the opposition, Ed Miliband's party is in the best position to make gains, with London boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Merton, Croydon and Redbridge looking eminently winnable. A very good day would see Labour winning in areas outside its northern and city heartlands such as Crawley and Cambridge in the south. In the European polls, more than 20 seats and a win would be a victory.

Bad day

Miliband (pictured right) has the most to lose if he does not add substantially to Labour's 1,788 council seats. With expectations high, it will be a bad day if it looks anything like a continuation of the status quo, with only modest gains. Losing control of a council like Great Yarmouth because of Ukip would not look good, as would a failure to make in-roads in the south of England. Labour is prepared for a Ukip victory in the Europeans but it would still pile pressure on Miliband if the party were to fall into second place – or even, as an outside possibility, into third placebehind the Conservatives.

Ukip

Nigel Farage will claim victory if Ukip becomes the official opposition on any council and a double victory if it manages to take control of one. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA

Good day

Ukip will claim victory if it becomes the official opposition on any council and a double victory if it manages to take control of one. Last year it got a large number of councillors on the Kent and Lincolnshire county authorities. The party will be hoping to replicate this in places like Great Yarmouth, Basildon, Eastleigh, Thurrock and Gosport, plus maybe some unitary authorities with a third of seats up for elections like Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton and Southend. In the Europeans, nothing short of a victory will satisfy Nigel Farage, who has said he believes Ukip will triumph.

Bad day

It would look like the Ukip bubble has burst if the party only manages to get one or two seats on councils here and there. Regardless of the European election results, Ukip needs to show it is trusted to deal with national and local issues. It will have little hope of a breakthrough at the general election next year if it has not built up a strong presence on local authorities, like the Lib Dems did in the 1990s. Coming second and getting fewer than 20 seats would be very disappointing for Farage given how much he has built up the contest.

Liberal Democrats

Nick Clegg' party is likely to lose at least 200 seats out of its 732 seats. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Good day

The Lib Dems are likely to lose at least 200 seats out of its 732 seats. Holding on to anything more than that will be counted as a success and a sign that it can maintain its strongholds in the general election. Keeping the London borough of Kingston out of the hands of the Tories as well as areas of the south-west from falling to no overall control will be key. For Clegg's party, a good day means holding their ground as there is little talk of any actual gains. It is a measure of the party's predicament that losing up to two-thirds of their 12 MEPs would see senior people in the party breathing a sigh of relief that it was not even worse.

Bad day

A bad day looks like heavy losses in their strongest London boroughs of Kingston and Sutton, as well as areas of the south-west. Really heavy losses of more than 400 – over half their contested seats – could even trigger a leadership challenge to Clegg with Danny Alexander, Vince Cable and Tim Farron waiting in the wings as potential successors. There is talk he could stay as deputy prime minister while someone else leads the party. In the Europeans, it is not inconceivable that the party will be wiped out, getting no MEP seats at all, casting doubt on Clegg's decision to tackle Nigel Farage in television debates on Europe.

Greens

Almost any gains will be a good day for the Greens, led by Natalie Bennett. Photograph: Flckr

Good day

Almost any gains will be a good day for the Greens. The party is targeting Camden, Westminster and less traditional places such as Solihull. Like Ukip, the party wants to build up local strongholds that that give it a chance of gaining more MPs than its single one in Brighton. In the Europeans the party is currently polling higher than the Liberal Democrats and will be hoping to win up to five seats on a good day.

Bad day

The Greens will be gloomy if they fail to make headway outside of their usual council territory in the south-east. It would be particularly tough for them if they have to watch Ukip scoop up the majority of protest votes from former Labour and Lib Dem supporters, as the leader, Natalie Bennett (pictured above), has attempted to steer the party beyond its core message on the environment to talk about wider issues such as rail renationalisation and protecting the NHS. In the Europeans, the voting system means it would not be hard for the Greens to get nothing at all, losing both their two current seats.

Local and European elections: the main parties' hopes and fears | Politics | The Guardian

 

[AUz]

National Front of France, Greet Wilder's Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Britain's UKIP or Britain First etc. are parties to look for. These are anti-Muslim, right-wing, white supremacist parties who believe everyone else other than "whites" is inferior and that immigrants should be expelled from Europe (specially Muslims).

If these hate-filled, uncivilised barbaric parties win big in European elections, then it is a very bad sign for all of us.

Minorities in Europe should align themselves with progressive mainstream political forces in order to stop the above mentioned hate parties from getting to power...

 

[Hyde]

Election day today!!!

I am ready to vote.... Will go to the polling station in an hour or so

 

[Jaanbaz]

National Front of France, Greet Wilder's Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Britain's UKIP or Britain First etc. are parties to look for. These are anti-Muslim, right-wing, white supremacist parties who believe everyone else other than "whites" is inferior and that immigrants should be expelled from Europe (specially Muslims).

If these hate-parties win big in European elections, then it is a very bad sign for all of us.

Minorities in Europe should align themselves with progressive mainstream political forces in order to stop the above mentioned hate parties from getting to power...

Its the failure of mainstream parties to engage and deal with the issues of local people. Most of these ''racist'' parties will lose most of their votes if the economy was to pick up again.

Election day today!!!

I am ready to vote.... Will go to the polling station in an hour or so

Who do you plant to vote bro?

 

[Hyde]

Who do you plant to vote bro?

Well historically my family/relative tends to vote for Labour but in last general election they opted for Conservative and so did I

But in this election I opt to stick with conservative while they are preferring Labour once again.

 

[AUz]

Its the failure of mainstream parties to engage and deal with the issues of local people. Most of these ''racist'' parties will lose most of their votes if the economy was to pick up again.

I know...but still, this isn't a very bright sign. So when chips are little down--racist/bigoted parties rise in Europe? That is bad.

In last election here in the U.S, Muslim-Americans were hyper-active. People worked tirelessly to defeat some of the most powerful Islamophobic representatives from Republican side. For example, Allen West was defeated by a newbie Democrat candidate in Floride...and Muslim political organizations worked very hard to make sure that Allen West loses his seat.

Same goes for Joe Walsh and other anti-Muslim retards.

See here how the "main" anti-Muslim representatives were defeated all throughout United States...and how efforts of local Muslim organizations and populations contributed to the defeat of these powerful anti-Muslim candidates from Republican party

Election 2012: The Defeat of Islamophobia

I wonder what is the level of political engagement amongst European Muslims?

European Muslims must organize themselves really effectively, focus a lot of community engagement, go into the fields of arts, culture, film, science, politics etc, and always remain vigilant against bigoted/hate-filled parties. Inshallah, this approach will yield positive results.

 

[Jaanbaz]

Well historically my family/relative tends to vote for Labour but in last general election they opted for Conservative and so did I

But in this election I opt to stick with conservative while they are preferring Labour once again.

I think in local elections its less about the parties and more about the work the local councillor does and how good communication he/she has with their local residents.

 

[Pakistani E]

Well historically my family/relative tends to vote for Labour but in last general election they opted for Conservative and so did I

But in this election I opt to stick with conservative while they are preferring Labour once again.

Voted conservative? Your family must own a business or something. Conservatives are only good at rewarding businesses and their corporate pals with massive tax breaks. Vote Labour. Lol.

 

[Jaanbaz]

I know...but still, this isn't a very bright sign. So when chips are little down--racist/bigoted parties rise in Europe? That is bad.

In last election here in the U.S, Muslim-Americans were hyper-active. People worked tirelessly to defeat some of the most powerful Islamophobic representatives from Republican side. For example, Allen West was defeated by a newbie Democrat candidate in Floride...and Muslim political organizations worked very hard to make sure that Allen West loses his seat.

Same goes for Joe Walsh and other anti-Muslim retards.

See here how the "main" anti-Muslim representatives were defeated all throughout United States...and how efforts of local Muslim organizations and populations contributed to the defeat of these powerful anti-Muslim candidates from Republican party

Election 2012: The Defeat of Islamophobia

I wonder what is the level of political engagement amongst European Muslims?

European Muslims must organize themselves really effectively, focus a lot of community engagement, go into the fields of arts, culture, film, science, politics etc, and always remain vigilant against bigoted/hate-filled parties. Inshallah, this approach will yield positive results.

More and more Muslims are engaging themselves in the electoral process. All mainstream parties tries to win the votes of Indian and Pakistani community.

 

[Pakistani E]

I know...but still, this isn't a very bright sign. So when chips are little down--racist/bigoted parties rise in Europe? That is bad.

In last election here in the U.S, Muslim-Americans were hyper-active. People worked tirelessly to defeat some of the most powerful Islamophobic representatives from Republican side. For example, Allen West was defeated by a newbie Democrat candidate in Floride...and Muslim political organizations worked very hard to make sure that Allen West loses his seat.

Same goes for Joe Walsh and other anti-Muslim retards.

See here how the "main" anti-Muslim representatives were defeated all throughout United States...and how efforts of local Muslim organizations and populations contributed to the defeat of these powerful anti-Muslim candidates from Republican party

Election 2012: The Defeat of Islamophobia

I wonder what is the level of political engagement amongst European Muslims?

European Muslims must organize themselves really effectively, focus a lot of community engagement, go into the fields of arts, culture, film, science, politics etc, and always remain vigilant against bigoted/hate-filled parties. Inshallah, this approach will yield positive results.

I don't know about other countries, but in England, most muslims used to overwhelmingly vote left of centre, parties like Labour. But after the Iraq war fiasco, the vote has splintered among different parties, with labour still retaining the majority of votes.

Of course then you have some professional types going for Conservatives, but they usually are upper middle class voters. There is no way a working class Pakistani in any area of Britain voting for conservatives toffs.

As for anti muslim parties, I don't think any fringe sectarian parties have a chance in this election, as the UKIP are probably going to absorb all fringe and protest votes from the likes of BNP, NF, English democrats. I don't have a problem with UKIP if they drop the Tory rejects, but they do talk of banning the Burka in public places. I don't know how much of it is political speech or real policies, but they are going to give a lot of trouble to the mainstream parties.

 

[Hyde]

I think in local elections its less about the parties and more about the work the local councillor does and how good communication he/she has with their local residents.

It indeed is true

Almost every party has stood candidates from Pakistan in our constituency... Ethnically most of the candidates are Pakistani followed by Bangladeshi and Indians and the issues they brought up were equally funny for exanple one party claimed that they will (for Friday prayer) provide free parking for two hours outside Mosques in our area and another party claimed they will provided free parking for 30 minutes in high street... Another party also talks about mosques and special rules for safety of children who may come outside mosque during the pray time

The Labour candidate is uncle's friend hence he pursued all relatives to vote for him... I just follow what I feel is right