Local Election Maps

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Winning party by ward for all the old West Midlands Met County boroughs:



Massive Labour landslides in Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley. Brum provided a classic of its type in that Labour missed out on a couple of wards it really ought to have won, but won a couple of others that no one had thought likely. Also, Sutton Vesey. A very strange result in Walsall with Labour making impressive progress against the Tories in places, but also losing a couple of seats to assorted hard left weirdos (including one from Citizen Dave's bizarre outfit). The Greens did very, very well in Solihull again, and a Residents Association appears to have won a seat (oh dear). In Coventry, Dave Nellist was defeated by a taxi driver running for Labour. Many of the Labour percentages in Sandwell are hard to believe; the government is as unpopular there as in Liverpool, Glasgow or Ebbw Vale. Also, Sutton Vesey. In Wolverhampton the Tories failed to win a single ward inside the boundaries Enoch Powell's old constituency (which did not include Tettenhall). And then there's Dudley, where Labour won a logic-defying landslide (including seats in Kingswinford, Halesowen and Stourbridge proper!) and the Greens won a seat with UKIP losing theirs. Also, Sutton Vesey.

[joevsimp]

Despite our successes in and around Castle Bromwich, Dudley is one of the last places I'd ever expect the greens to win a seat, what's the story there?

especially not in a ward that borders right onto Sndwell

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not entirely sure, but then Doooodloiiiiiiiiiyyyyy is a very strange place. I'm guessing probably nothing to do with environmentalism, though.

[freefair]

Labour gaining Sutton Vesey, Rushall Sheffield, Penn and Merry Hill is utterly astonishing.

[freefair]

Also, as an aside, I am also shocked by the newly learned fact that Wolvo SW did not contain Tettenhall until 74. For such a Safe seat (66% for Powell at one point) not to include one of the Conubations wealthiest areas is weird.

[minionofmidas]

Question regarding Coldfield - if you'd have been told before the election that Labour would win a seat in Sutton, would you have guessed Vesey as the least unlikely of the four? Or not even that?

[freefair]

I certainly would have said Vesey- Labour got 40% there in 2011, to 50% Tory. Even in 2008 Labour got 24% in Vesey, In a good year they've not beaten that % in other wards.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Question regarding Coldfield - if you'd have been told before the election that Labour would win a seat in Sutton, would you have guessed Vesey as the least unlikely of the four? Or not even that?

Vesey would always have been the most likely Labour win; it's basically humdrum suburbia these days rather than bourgeois clichéland, there's an increasingly public sector feel to the especially affluent bits (which obviously matters a great deal right now; see also the semi-hilarious emergence of Red Harborne), and Labour have run the same candidate (Rob Pocock, who's well known and well liked) for ages. This is like 70% a personal triumph for him or something.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Also, as an aside, I am also shocked by the newly learned fact that Wolvo SW did not contain Tettenhall until 74. For such a Safe seat (66% for Powell at one point) not to include one of the Conubations wealthiest areas is weird.

A lot of Powell's constituents moved to Tettenhall during his tenure, of course...

[freefair]

Judging by the Election Maps in the gallery, Most of them moved to what is now South Staffordshire. Safe Labour till 1970, then safe Tory ever after.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Judging by the Election Maps in the gallery, Most of them moved to what is now South Staffordshire. Safe Labour till 1970, then safe Tory ever after.

What's now South Staffs was only created for 1974: before then the area covered by it was split between Brierley Hill (Labour until 1959, Tory afterwards even in 1966) and Cannock (Labour - with Jennie Lee - until 1970).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

West Yorkshire. Too tired to point much out, but, Christ, when did Labour last win Luddenfoot?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So, anyway, Labour landslides in Leeds and Wakefield, impressive Labour showings in Calderdale and Kirklees, and an even weirder set of results in Bradford than seemed likely (which is saying something). Perhaps not quite so utterly catastrophic for the LibDems as last year, but still catastrophic. Really quite consistently awful results for the Tories, reduced for the most part to absolutely base wards. Continued slow (but seemingly secure) progress for the Greenies. Pattern of Respect success is a mixture of effort and ethnic composition (but like 80% the latter or something). No BNP or other openly far-right councillors elected this year.

[YL]

Question regarding Coldfield - if you'd have been told before the election that Labour would win a seat in Sutton, would you have guessed Vesey as the least unlikely of the four? Or not even that?

Vesey would always have been the most likely Labour win; it's basically humdrum suburbia these days rather than bourgeois clichéland, there's an increasingly public sector feel to the especially affluent bits (which obviously matters a great deal right now; see also the semi-hilarious emergence of Red Harborne), and Labour have run the same candidate (Rob Pocock, who's well known and well liked) for ages. This is like 70% a personal triumph for him or something.

IIRC all the Sutton Coldfield wards stayed Tory throughout the 1994-96 nadir for them, but weren't there boundary changes in that area in 2004?  Did Vesey exist in anything like its current form?

In Sheffield, I believe this year was the first time Labour had ever won a seat with "Beauchief" in its name, and that many areas in Beauchief & Greenhill have a Labour councillor for the first time ever.  But that isn't quite as impressive as it sounds (though winning it was still impressive) as the ward has only existed in anything like its current form since 2004; the old Beauchief ward was quite different.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There used to be three wards in Sutton Coldfield, now there are four. The old Vesey was fairly similar to the current incarnation, though it was a bit larger. The areas lost in the rewarding are more middle class than the rest of the current ward, unless my memory is faulty (which is possible; don't know Sutton as well as the rest of Brum). But, yeah, they never lost any of them.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

South Yorkshire SSR. Not entirely sure if there's much need to say much more, though, yeah, Labour won Penistone.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Glasgow, obviously. Will update for the recount in the one ward if that changes a seat, obviously. Wards have been coloured in based on the party that won the most seats in them first, and the most first preferences if there's a tie in the number of seats. Might be a few errors, but hope not.

[afleitch]

Scotland coloured by party with the largest total number of first preference votes. Note, independents standing are not grouped together

[minionofmidas]

Why are the Western Isles White?

[afleitch]

Why are the Western Isles White?

Only on the basis that I tend not to colour them (or Orkney/Shetland) in due to the saturation of independents. Often the only challenger is the SNP. No harm in adding that I suppose.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Map of greatness is great. Will fix the error in the Glasgow thing whenever I get time tomorrow or something.

[afleitch]

Old school map of Edinburgh.

[Serenity Now]

The above maps are great

[bore]

I'd just like to say that all of the maps in this thread are great

Also that Edinburgh map, which I presume is margin of victory is really interesting. It seems that the where the Tories won, they won big (unless that's just the shade of blue) which can't really be said for the other parties, apart from a few strongholds for Labour like Burdiehouse or Drylaw. Is this because the Conservatives are getting all the right of centre votes, so in some areas will get 50-60%, while there is a split in the left of centre ones, so the SNP, Labour and the Greens can't get large wins?

[afleitch]

I'd just like to say that all of the maps in this thread are great

Also that Edinburgh map, which I presume is margin of victory is really interesting. It seems that the where the Tories won, they won big (unless that's just the shade of blue) which can't really be said for the other parties, apart from a few strongholds for Labour like Burdiehouse or Drylaw. Is this because the Conservatives are getting all the right of centre votes, so in some areas will get 50-60%, while there is a split in the left of centre ones, so the SNP, Labour and the Greens can't get large wins?

Yes. The Tories won lopsided victories in much of their older hinterland due to the Lib Dems falling back spectacularly so much so that they would have topped the poll in the Edinburgh Southern Holyrood vote. Of course it' worth remembering that the pattern of first preferences is not too different in many regards to voting patterns in previous local elections.

See the comparison with 2003; i've used the 2012 results and overlaid them over the old wards



So 2012 under the old system would have given us Labour 24, Conservative 16, SNP 11, Green 6, Lib Dem 1. You can see that the Tory vote is where it always was, but it has in many ways eaten into the Lib Dems where it was a two way battle. The thing is, every party has eaten away at the Lib Dems too.