Local election results

[Carl Rydings]

Hi Everyone,

I would first like to thank everyone who voted for me and those who worked on the election campaign,
the Lib Dems put up the biggest fight I have ever seen in Marple, I believe I was a threat to them and
that's why they did so. The Lib Dems had unmatchable resources in Marple, which is something we need
to work on for the next election (in 2014).

I would like to echo the comments made by the Conservative Group leader Syd Lloyd who said a 34pc
turnout played its part as voters mirrored the national mood. He said: “It’s been a disappointing night
for the Conservatives on Stockport council. We have lost an exceptionally good councillor in Mick Jones
and clearly we are disappointed not to have defended Heaton North. National issues clearly impacted on
the vote. There has been an extremely low turnout across the borough and this has hit the Conservative
vote. I’m deeply disappointed and we will be regrouping in the coming days.”

I would also like to offer (and did at the count) my sincerest congratulations to Councillor Alexander.

As Syd Lloyd said we will regroup and live to fight another day.

Regards,
Carl Rydings

[Duke Fame]

Of course, "the British Labour government isnt taking hold across Europe."  What I mean is that austerity is being rejected by the people of Europe when they get the chance to speak. Its called democracy I'm afraid. The emphasis is now turning towards growth which is the only way back from the brink. This Coalition has stopped the economy in its tracks. (When Labour was ousted we actually had growth back in the economy). Why you hate Balls so much Duke I dont know. At least he understands economics unlike Osborne  and his mates.

It is a good post Tony. Austerity is the method of the unimaginative, it breeds unemployment which has a cost plus a loss to the exchequer plus a very significant anti-social implication for the whole nation the cost of which cannot be caculated in terms of money. The type of cost that slices through generation after generation and punishes society with a vengeance. We've all had enough now of the two posh boys telling us that we are in for "tough times" and offering nothing else but more tough times. If you offered that future to your wife, she'd leave you. We get poorer whilst CEO's pick up massive bonuses for failure, the banks refuse to invest in business and Posh2 just stand by and dish out the platitudes.

I heard today that Posh2 say no u turn on "austerity" well I say we will survive your austerity but no u turn on voting the Tories out of office and no u turn on wiping the LibDems off the political map at the next election. 

In 'we' I think you mean 'you', Si. Cutting the spending on unnecessary public services means that we can borrow money at a reasonable rate to spend funds in areas that produces growth and income. That means spending on the A1(m), airports, HS2, light rail, access for disabled persons at local airports but not on nuclear free secretariats.   

[Duke Fame]

Of course, "the British Labour government isnt taking hold across Europe."  What I mean is that austerity is being rejected by the people of Europe when they get the chance to speak. Its called democracy I'm afraid. The emphasis is now turning towards growth which is the only way back from the brink. This Coalition has stopped the economy in its tracks. (When Labour was ousted we actually had growth back in the economy). Why you hate Balls so much Duke I dont know. At least he understands economics unlike Osborne  and his mates.

The reason why I distrust Ed Balls is simple, he was up to his ears in the blame for the mess we’re in, he & Milliband were Brown’s boys from way before 1997 and they both have their the dirtiest of hands when it comes to taking the blame for the economic disaster.  Furthermore, I think he either simply does not understand economics or he’s a liar. Take his response to the increase of VAT from 17.5% to 20% - he said it would cost the average man in the street £500 per year! Any O’level maths student can work out that that seems very wrong. He backtracked a little but that’s not a chap who understands simple sums nevermind high level economics.

The democracy you talk of across Europe is in reality a backlash in Greece which is hamstrung by the Euro and France who in Sarkozy had a rather unpleasant human being who was disliked on a personal level over that of politics (nevertheless, the French have never needed much of an excuse to vote in a socialist). There isn’t the same appetite for socialism in the UK be that the BNP, Greens, Respect or Labour.
It’s not as easy as “growth not austerity” , even Hollande is agreeing with cutting spending, he just talks of spending for growth as if it’s a magic wand. The sort of public spending that is good and effective is infrastructure, not making up public services to spend money on. Government doesn’t create real jobs, it creates the economy for business to expand and create jobs. It can try but to do so, it has to take money out of the private sector and it’s not very efficient at doing that and tends not to create a positive outcome. You can’t put off a hangover by simply remaining drunk.

 

[simonesaffron]

Of course, "the British Labour government isnt taking hold across Europe."  What I mean is that austerity is being rejected by the people of Europe when they get the chance to speak. Its called democracy I'm afraid. The emphasis is now turning towards growth which is the only way back from the brink. This Coalition has stopped the economy in its tracks. (When Labour was ousted we actually had growth back in the economy). Why you hate Balls so much Duke I dont know. At least he understands economics unlike Osborne  and his mates.

It is a good post Tony. Austerity is the method of the unimaginative, it breeds unemployment which has a cost plus a loss to the exchequer plus a very significant anti-social implication for the whole nation the cost of which cannot be caculated in terms of money. The type of cost that slices through generation after generation and punishes society with a vengeance. We've all had enough now of the two posh boys telling us that we are in for "tough times" and offering nothing else but more tough times. If you offered that future to your wife, she'd leave you. We get poorer whilst CEO's pick up massive bonuses for failure, the banks refuse to invest in business and Posh2 just stand by and dish out the platitudes.

I heard today that Posh2 say no u turn on "austerity" well I say we will survive your austerity but no u turn on voting the Tories out of office and no u turn on wiping the LibDems off the political map at the next election. 

[amazon]

Of course, "the British Labour government isnt taking hold across Europe."  What I mean is that austerity is being rejected by the people of Europe when they get the chance to speak. Its called democracy I'm afraid. The emphasis is now turning towards growth which is the only way back from the brink. This Coalition has stopped the economy in its tracks. (When Labour was ousted we actually had growth back in the economy). Why you hate Balls so much Duke I dont know. At least he understands economics unlike Osborne  and his mates.

.


Good posting tony .

[tonysheldon]

Of course, "the British Labour government isnt taking hold across Europe."  What I mean is that austerity is being rejected by the people of Europe when they get the chance to speak. Its called democracy I'm afraid. The emphasis is now turning towards growth which is the only way back from the brink. This Coalition has stopped the economy in its tracks. (When Labour was ousted we actually had growth back in the economy). Why you hate Balls so much Duke I dont know. At least he understands economics unlike Osborne  and his mates.

[Duke Fame]

More schoolboy stuff. It sounds counter-intuitive, but as Keynes showed in the 1930s, austerity doesn't pull countries out of debt it just makes things worse. ie increasing borrowing through the cost of unemployment and loss of tax revenue. The US has achieved growth recently by not following Europe's austerity drive. Yes, debt will have to be reduced over the long term. Hollande in France is proposing debt reduction over a slightly (ie one year) longer period. Call it austerity-lite if you wish but the British Labour party's view is taking hold in Europe.Interesting times.

Interesting times indeed but as I've mentioned on here before Keynes was only joking about employing people to hide £ notes down the mines. What his real point is that spending on infrastructure etc will provide employment and growth now whilst providing a comparative advantage for our economy in the future. That's what the governemtn is doing right now and it's what the US is doing, the reduction on spending on public services is just reducing our spending to be closer to US (disregaring health) levels.


The British Labour government is not taking hold accross Europe, the British Labour government's 5 point plan is unique to the UK and IMHO a waste of effort.

[tonysheldon]

More schoolboy stuff. It sounds counter-intuitive, but as Keynes showed in the 1930s, austerity doesn't pull countries out of debt it just makes things worse. ie increasing borrowing through the cost of unemployment and loss of tax revenue. The US has achieved growth recently by not following Europe's austerity drive. Yes, debt will have to be reduced over the long term. Hollande in France is proposing debt reduction over a slightly (ie one year) longer period. Call it austerity-lite if you wish but the British Labour party's view is taking hold in Europe.Interesting times.

[simonesaffron]

Well we have all now seen the election statements so let's see if our re elected members are as good at  'walking the walk as they are at talking the talk.   MIA decided not to stand a candidate this time ( against my better judgement ) but here's hoping they will stand by their election statements and work more closely with the community on issues that concern each and everyone of us 

I think that MIA would have struggled to find a credible candidate who would have gained votes in any significant number. In addition to this they would have been unable to launch any kind of campaign that would have challenged the LibDems. We only have to look at the paucity of their poster campaign to see this. Nevertheless, it is to MIA's credit that they know what they can do and what they can't do.

The startling realisation for me in this election was how poor a show the Conservatives put up. I really thought that they were going to have a real fight this time with young Rydings (where is he by the way- what has he got to say for himself )  but they just laid down and died. They also lost Gatley to the LibDems, had a massive majority overturned in Romiley by the LibDems, lost Heaton Moor to Labour and all in all had a bad night. I think that there are some leadership issues with the Conservatives in Stockport.

I think that our Councillors have done o.k. on the supermarket issue, although I would in the first instance, liked to have seen them working with the College to try and find a way out of CAMSFC's financial woes before they started building/fighting supermarkets though it is probably too late for that now.       

[Duke Fame]

I think mrs M that you have to be realistic with your expectations, the councillors must react to a broad view and can't simply jump when MIA say jump, MIA doesn't get a vote & the electorate are more important.

It may be just a false impression but I get the impression MIA or it's spokepeople want to keep the issue in the conciousness when really there isn't much to protest against.

[Bowden Guy]

So, what you're saying is that you personally believed that MIA should have put forward a candidate but you were outvoted or there was no support for your position?

[Miss Marple]

Well we have all now seen the election statements so let's see if our re elected members are as good at  'walking the walk as they are at talking the talk.   MIA decided not to stand a candidate this time ( against my better judgement ) but here's hoping they will stand by their election statements and work more closely with the community on issues that concern each and everyone of us 

[Duke Fame]

"Knuckle down" ..."Work hard",  save your money,  spend it wisely.

Balls is this and Osborne is that and you're a dirty rascal!

All sounds like the Junior 3 economics class to me.

What was that parable about water being short? 

When you have scarce resources, it must be used in the most effective way. You went to a posh school, Economics at 8 years old!

[simonesaffron]

"Knuckle down" ..."Work hard",  save your money,  spend it wisely.

Balls is this and Osborne is that and you're a dirty rascal!

All sounds like the Junior 3 economics class to me.

What was that parable about water being short? 

[Duke Fame]

We can and will get through this, we just need to knuckle down and make it happen. Hard work and enterprise is only place where 'growth' will come from, not from yet more government spending.

Almost spot on, some government spending can stimulate the economy but it has to be good public spending. Money is very scarce so it needs to be used wisely. In a water shortage, water is scarce so rather than allow it to be wasted, it's restricted to providing life by drinking and future food in crops. The same applies to public spending, money is scarce, it needs to provide life and future prosperity - not wasted on something with will be fun for a year but ultimately of no use whatsoever. So, it's good that we're spending on infrastructure, roads, rail etc and diverting money from 'nice to have' public services.