2012 Local Election Results

My local council is yet to declare its results so I cannot vent yet.

Although not complete, there has yet to be a seismic conclusion to be drawn from the declared results.

The results seem to be following the predicted pattern.

And the predicted party lines and reasoning have started to be trotted out.

Some interesting questions appear to be surfacing ?

The turnout is low, ( far too low ! ) and none of the usual figures seems to give a toss ! Tradition dictates that when the electorate is angry a higher turnout follows. So we are not angry ? Not a conclusion I would rush towards. A failure of politicians to convince the us that their worth our vote ?

The mayoral project seems to be a dead duck for large parts of the country. To be honest this subject has passed me by. With no possibility of being subjected to the possible tyranny of a city champion I an not affected either way. My instinct is that mayors are bad, too much power in the hands of one person. And if majors were widely operated across the country surely what will really happen is a adversarial competition or behind closed doors stitch up ?

The number of councils under no overall control ( NOC ) appears to have reduced. An association with the loss of more Lib Dem councilors possibility but a shame. NOC's should be the most productive model for local politics.

Generally, the labour gains will be good. I believe in checks and balances and the idea that slavish implementation of central government policies at a local level is a very bad thing.

Is it sad that I keep checking my local authority website for results ?