By Curtice John
HOWEVER many times Labour shoots itself in the foot in Government; the battered Tories in Cumbria continue to limp along in second place.
On Wastefulness and Farcical Council (where Lib Dem candidates have Tim Farron’s election-winning machine at their disposal); the party’s candidate easily held the wealthy Grange and Cartmel ward.
The new Lib Dem man there, a local brewer, won with an 84% share of the turnout – (real ales all round!)
He was up against a sole Conservative candidate while Labour did not field an opponent. The Lib Dem vote rose +7.6% on last time, and the Tories’ vote fell -3.5%
But neither W&F council in its press release about the result; nor local Lib Dem figures self-congratulating themselves for the eye-catching 84% vote share; provided much context to it.
A figure that was conveniently omitted was the number of people eligible to vote in Grange and Cartmel. 2,589 voters turned out but there are 8,744 people who could have voted.
Or to put it another way, more than 6,100 of electors in Grange and Cartmel chose not to vote at all.
So the much-trumpeted 84% vote share is 84% of the 29% of residents who bothered to get their arses into a polling station.
Could the reason for this be that the wider local population doesn’t like local councils being bogged down by national party politics?
The result also demonstrates that a local candidate can win a seat on W&F council and start calling the shots (£13,500 a year better off for it) with less than 30% of the local population having voted for them.
How wonderfully democratic!
KESWICK & WETHERAL
But let’s not piss too much on the parade. The 29% turnout rate in the ward of Strange and Cowsmell is positively buoyant compared to others.
In Keswick, more than 4,100 people could have voted on Thursday but just over 1,000 bothered to do so. (Turn out was 24%).
A mere 513 votes were enough to put another Labour backside on the red benches of Crumbeland Council.
The winner in Keswick was the occasionally spiky Sally Lansbury, who will now fill the seat left by the lesser-spotted Markus Campbell-Savours MP, who has disappeared in London.
The Tories’ vote share in Keswick soared 22% compared to last time (not that it matters when you’re second.)
The Conservatives did, however, retain Wetheral on Crumbleland Council; although just 22% of the community bothered to vote.
That means 5,800 or so people stayed at home and just 1,288 got out to exercise their democratic right.
The victory in Wetheral catapults Tory councillor and political troublemaker, Gareth Ellis, back into the bear pit of the Civic Centre.
Expect fireworks.
thecumbriachronic.co.uk 