Lib Dems hammered as Manchester rejects mayor
Article published: Friday, May 4th 2012
Manchester narrowly voted against having a directly elected mayor last night as the Liberal Democrats were reduced to a rump of just nine out of the city’s 96 councillors.
In a repeat of last year’s dramatic local election results Labour won each contested seat, leaving the party in all but total control of Manchester’s town hall. Coalition politicians suffered dreadful defeats across the whole of Greater Manchester, with Lib Dems and Tories gaining one seat each out of over 200 which were contested.
Voters also rejected the idea of a mayor for Manchester by 47 per cent in favour to 53 per cent against, in a low-key election marked by a pitiful turnout of just 25 per cent. Similar scenes were repeated across the country as several other cities rejected the David Cameron-backed reform.
As Labour counted their gains opponents warned of the dangers of a “one party state” in a city left with little elected opposition. Manchester Lib Dem leader Marc Ramsbottom, who lost his city centre seat, claimed Labour would now have “no accountability, no opposition, no scrutiny of what they’re doing”, labelling the situation “bad for the city, bad for democracy, and everyone should be very worried about that.”
While Ramsbottom acknowledged the result was “disappointing” he said the local party could not have “done anything different locally in terms of the campaign we ran”, and denied local Lib Dems were “embarrassed or ashamed about anything we were putting forward in government”.
Lib Dem Damien O’Connor, who failed to keep hold of his Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward, said there was still a “need to get down the deficit”, but admitted that “with every cut there’s a human being at the end of it.”
Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the strong Labour showing demonstrated the party had “listened” to voters in taking the city “through the recessionary period”, claiming as evidence policies such as the council’s creation of 200 apprenticeships.
Other parties of the right and left made little headway, although independent candidate Bob Hill came second in Moston with over one third of the vote on the back of an often fierce controversy over FC United’s plans to build a new stadium. In the traditional Labour stronghold of Cheetham Hill another independent, Shazia Butt, also came in a surprisingly strong second, winning over one quarter of voters.
Green Party activist Steve Durrant echoed Ramsbottom in his concerns about the sheer extent of Labour’s victory, saying “wherever it comes from we need some opposition and scrutiny”. Arguing that “we cannot wait with fingers crossed” while “the attack on ordinary people is as vicious as this”, he claimed the need for more anti-austerity activism and said “it is down to us all to understand that politics is about much more than just the ballot box.”
Richard Goulding
More: Council, Manchester, News
Comments
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“no accountability, no opposition, no scrutiny of what they’re doing”,
Clearly he’s not been reading MULE
Comment by Tim on May 4, 2012 at 2:39 pm -
‘Green Party activist Steve Durrant echoed Ramsbottom in his concerns about the sheer extent of Labour’s victory, saying “wherever it comes from we need some opposition and scrutiny”’
Mr Durrant needn’t worry. The council is virtually powerless when we have a Conservative government.
Comment by pete on May 4, 2012 at 8:50 pm -
When will the Sheeple ever wake up and realise that ALL politicians are corrupt , venal , self-serving fraudsters ? The only good politician is a dead politician . Democracy is an illusion . The entire system is corrupt and exploitive . It’s all just laughably pathetic . Beam me up , Scotty ….
Comment by Maggie Drooling Cabbage on May 5, 2012 at 1:03 pm -
Have a look on my website at what the vile LibDems get up to where they hold power. They have done in Stockport for a decade. Whether it is repeatedly imprisoning an innocent man (Town Hall Protester page), putting primary school children and babies on unremediated toxic waste (Toxic Waste Dump School page) or voting down a high class development for people (Offerton Precinct Page) leaving a dangerous and derelict shopping centre -have a look at the photos.
They will cease to exist soon. It can’t come soon enough for me.
Comment by Sheila Oliver on June 6, 2012 at 5:27 pm -
Have a look at Stunell and Hunter’s iffy parliamentary office expenses – tens of thousands of pounds paid into LibDem party coffers (Stunell and Hunter page)
Have a look at the luxury hotels they stay in at my expense – Waste of money page. Have a look at what they paid out on top of the range BMWs, Mini Cooper Cabriolets and Audi TTs for themselves (Council Lease Car page)
Comment by Sheila Oliver on June 6, 2012 at 5:30 pm -
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
Comment by seo tips on June 27, 2012 at 3:27 pm
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks
The comments are closed.
