United Kingdom - Election Site

Two by-elections in October

Two British parliamentary by-elections will be held in October in a test of how Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks Conservatives fare in the partys heartland and whether opposition Labor is regaining support in Scotland.

The votes will decide replacements for two outgoing lawmakers and are seen as a key electoral test for both major parties ahead of a national election expected next year, with Labor currently ahead in the polls.
On October 19, Sunaks Conservatives will try to retain the seat of Mid Bedfordshire in south-east England, which was vacated by Nadine Dorries, who criticized Sunaks leadership when she formally stepped down last month.

Dorries, an ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson, had announced in June that she would step down but delayed her departure. Votes to replace Johnson, who also resigned as a lawmaker, and two other conservative lawmakers have already taken place.
In those July votes, Sunaks Conservatives lost two strategically important parliamentary seats, but unexpectedly retained Johnsons old constituency in a setback for Labour.

The second by-election to be held in October will be to replace a Scottish National Party (SNP) lawmaker who was kicked out of the party and removed by voters for breaking COVID lockdown rules.

Margaret Ferrier had represented Rutherglen and Hamilton West on the outskirts of Glasgow and the contest to replace her is likely to be held on October 5. The final decision on the date awaits approval from the local council. - Posted on : 09-September-2023

It must be made clear when UK ministers are just English ones

I HAVE been reading about this brainwashing exercise called One Britain One Nation Day since it first came to the public attention on Wednesday morning and have made comments online in a news forum.

Some little Englanders don’t seem to be very pleased that education is a devolved matter to Scotland and Wales. I have even come in for criticism because I stated that the United Kingdom isn’t one country but three separate countries and a province. They of course have the temerity to say that Scottish education is lagging behind that of England! - Posted on : 26-June-2021

Parties in final day of campaign

Wales political parties made their final pitches to voters on Wednesday as the Senedd election campaign came to a close.

Party leaders campaigned in key seats in north, south and mid Wales.

UK Conservative Chancellor Rishi Sunak visited Rhyl in north Wales while Labour leader Mark Drakeford headed to Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price focused on Llanelli while the Welsh Lib Dems Jane Dodds visited Ystradgynlais.

Voting will begin at 07:00 BST on Thursday, with counting not taking place until Friday because of the pandemic. - Posted on : 06-May-2021

What is the Welsh government?

The Welsh government was set up in 1999, following a referendum.

It was created to give more power over key issues to the Welsh people.

It runs health, education, local government, transport, housing, economic development, social services, culture, Welsh language policy, agriculture and other public services.

It is in charge of much of the Covid-19 response in Wales, and also controls some taxes.

Members of the Senedd vote on laws, pass the Welsh governments plans to spend money on public services and keep an eye on what ministers are doing.

The Senedd is based in Cardiff and is separate from the House of Commons in London, which makes laws covering the whole of the UK.

It was known as the National Assembly for Wales until last May. - Posted on : 31-March-2021

Single member constituency voting systems

These systems all elect a single representative from a constituency. Under First Past the Post (FPTP) voters cast a single vote for their chosen candidate; the candidate with most votes wins. Under Alternative Vote (AV), voters rank candidates in order of preference. Candidates are elected outright if they gain more than half the votes as first preferences. If not, the bottom candidate is eliminated and their votes re-allocated to the second preference marked on the ballot papers. This process continues until one candidate has more half of the votes and is elected. Supplementary Vote (SV) is an abbreviated variant of AV. Under SV, there are two columns on the ballot paper – one for voters’ first choice and another for their second choice. The count follows a similar procedure to AV. For our purposes here SV and AV can be treated as similar. - Posted on : 01-December-2020

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party

Mr Bevan said: "I founded the party in 2015 to Abolish the Welsh Assembly with the intention of standing candidates from a cross-section of society who do not have their own political ambitions.

"The movement to Abolish the Welsh Assembly is a principled aim for those who believe the Assembly has not been good for the Welsh people."

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has never won a seat in a Welsh election but has two members of the Senedd (MSs) - former UKIP representatives Mark Reckless and Gareth Bennett.

It won 4.4% of the regional list vote at the 2016 Senedd election. - Posted on : 23-November-2020

Covid vaccine would boost Central London recovery

A major new report published today lays bare the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Central London – and the prospects of significant recovery saving thousands of jobs as a vaccine is successfully rolled out.

The report, carried out by consultancy Arup for firms in the central area, models the effect of the virus particularly on businesses reliant on “white collar” footfall, including retail, food and drink outlets, hotels and entertainment venues.

Its “worst-case” scenario, with lockdowns continuing through next year, forecasts an £84 billion hit to the central economy and 117,000 jobs put at risk, while an effective vaccine introduced in 2021 would see more office workers at their desks, the economy boosted by between £22 million and £41 billion, and between 31,000 and 57,000 more jobs safeguarded. - Posted on : 20-November-2020

Sadiq Khan has 22-point lead in new London Mayor opinion poll

Sadiq Khan has extended his lead in the London Mayor election campaign to 22 points, an increase of two compared with last month, according to a new opinion poll.

The incumbent Mayor was found to be the first preference choice of 50% of the 2,000 Londoners polled by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, with his closest rival, Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey, static on 28%.

Luisa Porritt, the recently-announced Liberal Democrat candidate, and the Green Party’s Sian Berry are in joint third place with 10% each. Exactly half of the poll’s respondents said they are “certain” to vote in the postponed election on 6 May 2021.

The poll shows that Khan’s support has remained solid for the past three months in polls conducted by the same company, standing at 49% in early August and 48% in early September. Support for Bailey has also remained almost entirely unchanged, standing at 26% in the August poll and 28% last month.

Khan’s high level of support creates the possibility that he could win next May’s postponed mayoral election on first preference votes alone by receiving more than 50% of them, which would be the first time such an outcome had occurred since the creation of the mayoralty 20 years ago. - Posted on : 22-October-2020