Local Election Maps

[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.

[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.

[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.

[freefair]

Sort've OT, but while we're on county councils, what're people's thoughts about this May and the county elections? How are things gonna go?

Labour will make significant gains basically everywhere and will take control of most of the remaining county councils where such a thing is plausible under non-extraordinary circumstances. I suspect that matters between the National Government parties may be surprisingly fluid. UKIP will probably lose most of their current unty councillors, though (who knows) might pick up elsewhere.

I don't quite know about that...  Taking the recent Police commissioner elections as current (if rather turnout and LibDem poor) examples, the Tories could end up holding non-safe counties like Staffordshire , Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire East Riding.