I voted Labour, but then again my parents were candidates and I know the other people, so I knew I was voting for decent councillours.

I almost voted Labour in the local elections as it goes. But I buckled at the last minute: if my New Lab-loathing could make me deny Red Ken a vote, couldn't really justify giving it to the local council.

This democracy lark is a pain in the arse at times.

Lib Dem hold in Liverpool

It was a postal vote here in Northumberland and basically i forgot... so no one...

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by Keenangel
i forgot... so no one...

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Me too!! This has been the first time ever I have forgotten

Mind you saying that I still have no idea who our local Councillors are or anything - publicity round here was well..... crap!

I voted independent for local (the others were crap) and lib-dem euro

Voted Green - just had European elections here.

I voted Lib-Dem for local and the europe thingy.

I nominated the lib-dem councillor as he's a friend of my dads. My dad used to be a Lib-Dem councillor s we all vote Lib-Dem.

I do think its hard to pick tho, they all talk rubbish and lie but i dont think theres ever enough infomation for you to make an informed choice. As a nearly new voter i thi nk there should be like a welcoming pack or something, because if you dont have family that explains what to do, its pretty confusing. They should teach it at school or something.

The Harlow Lib Dems managed to buck their national trend and lose seats, they also placed fourth behind independents in 3 wards; Labour managed to pick up two seats courtesy of some independents and inspite of recording their lowest ever share of the vote; Tories are unchanged on 13 seats, but it's looks like UKIP may have stopped them from taking one ward; Harlow remains at NOC.

I didn't vote as I appear to have dropped off the electoral roll -- oopsie! However, given that my ward is the most certain result in the constituency (the Tories nearly got twice as many votes as Lib & Lab put together) it probably hasn't had too much effect!

unfortunately, i can't start voting until december, but if i had been able to then i would have voted for the Green Party. Partly, because one module in my economics course we've done has been going through something called externalities. Basically, it's made me realise how much cost there is to pollution and stuff like that. Plus i figured, they're prolly looking out for future gnerations

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by Ferretgirl
... if i had been able to then i would have voted for the Green Party ... it's made me realise how much cost there is to pollution and stuff like that. Plus i figured, they're prolly looking out for future gnerations

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You shouldn't vote for a party for a single issue; examine the Green's manifesto before deciding to back them -- if you agree with most of it then fine, but it's quite possible you'll find that another party's overall policies are in better harmony with your beliefs.

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by Byron
I almost voted Labour in the local elections as it goes. But I buckled at the last minute: if my New Lab-loathing could make me deny Red Ken a vote, couldn't really justify giving it to the local council.

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*scratches head* There were no local council elections in London - did you have a local by-election or something? Or do you mean the GLA?

I held my nose and voted LibDem for the GLA and Mayor. I *really* didn't like our GLA candidate when I was chair of the local party and had to work with her, but the alternative was a Tory (who just won in the end ) Hopefully the thumping Simon Hughes got will stop him trying to undermine Kennedy. He's a man of great talents - and great flaws to match them...

Europe was easier - but if I'd been in the eastern region like Stoo and my parents, I'd have voted for Martin Bell every time.

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by Rand0m
*scratches head* There were no local council elections in London - did you have a local by-election or something? Or do you mean the GLA?

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Bloody hell, you mean I'm to remember the election I voted in!

It's in the Chadwell Heath ward, and was off in a side-room, so I assume it must be seperate to the London-wide elections. But just to confuse everyone a wee bit more, we're also counted as Greater London for the Mayoral elections.

Speaking of which, I note Red "washed-out" Ken is back in the glass googlie ... sorry mayor's office. Even though I couldn't bring myself to vote for No Labour it's probably the best result for London, and Labour seem to have recieved a sound kick up the jacksie nationally. Interesting to hear your views on Simon Hughes; to be honest I knew didly squat about most candidates besides their manifestos, but I doubt it would've made much difference, I take it as given any politican has high tosspot potential (no offence mate).

And three fash councillors in Epping, where I used to go to school. Knew there was summat dodgy about the place (well I went to school there after all).

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by Callum
You shouldn't vote for a party for a single issue; examine the Green's manifesto before deciding to back them -- if you agree with most of it then fine, but it's quite possible you'll find that another party's overall policies are in better harmony with your beliefs.

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If that issue is a party's raison d'etre, as it is with the Greens, I'd say it's perfectly fair to vote for them on that basis.

I think the most infamous, and amusing, example has to be the Referrendum Party. Vote us in, we'll call a referendum, then disband and hold another election: points for clarity I suppose!

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by Byron
(quotes)
If that issue is a party's raison d'etre, as it is with the Greens, I'd say it's perfectly fair to vote for them on that basis.

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No policies exist in isolation, even with a single primary issue party such as the Greens, and especially now that single primary issue parties are winning seats.

For the Green's environmental policies to be worth anything the interaction with other policy areas must be well-conceived, at the very least you need to be convinced by their economic model in order to accept it -- few would contest that many of the Green parties core policies are very expensive, and even if you agree that the total tax burdon should go up to pay for particular policies you need to also be convinced that it remains economically viable. Then the other aspects of their policy with significant economic impact, in particular their social policies (eg the Citizens Wage MFSS-EC730 & Citizens Pension MFSS-EC800), need to be harmonised with the rest.

Futher, many single-issue parties have significant policies not related to their primary issue, for example one common divisor between the Lib Dems and the Greens (who share many common beliefs) is their position on Europe (MFSS-EU), or consider the Green's position on the monarchy (MFSS-PG340) which is by far the most republican of any notable political party.

Particularly as some elections shift towards proportional representation models people need to be aware of the consequences of single issue and tactical voting when supporting single primary issue or extremist parties -- the Greens, UKIP, Respect, Communists, the BNP, etc all have reasonable chances of gaining seats at local, regional and national level under PR-like models, and can, and have, and will. If you're voting for somebody who has a credible chance of winning (not if you're voting BNP in Islington, or Communist in Chelsea) then you even if you're voting because of a single one of their policies, you're voting to promote all of them.