Day: 2 May 2017

What’s in the nomination papers of the 6 candidates wanting to be a councillor for Claughton? (Wirral Council)

What’s in the nomination papers of the 6 candidates wanting to be a councillor for Claughton? (Wirral Council)

What’s in the nomination papers of the 6 candidates wanting to be a councillor for Claughton? (Wirral Council)

                              

Ballot Box
Ballot Box by NAS of the Noun Project provided under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States (CC BY 3.0 US) licence Original has been resized and converted to a .jpg file

In the interests of openness and transparency in the Claughton byelection, I am publishing the nomination papers of each candidate during the election rather than after.

These are open to public inspection until 3rd May 2017 (the day before the poll).

Each form contains the candidates’ address, date of birth and the names of ten electors in Claughton who support their candidacy (referred to as proposer, seconder and eight assentors).

Each candidate has to sign to state they accept the nomination.

In addition to the nomination paper and candidates’ consent to nomination, candidates standing on behalf of a political party have to submit extra paperwork around the use of descriptions and party logos on ballot papers. This paperwork is not included here.

In order to be fair, the list is alphabetical by candidate surname (which is the order they will be on the ballot paper).

There is no deposit required to stand as a candidate for local councillor.

Please note each file below is a multi-page TIFF bitmap file.

EVANS, David Robert Cynlais (Liberal Democrat)
HEYDON, Liz (Green Party)
JONES, Beryl Rosina (UK Independence Party)
SINCLAIR, Barbara Vera (Conservative Party Candidate)
WHEDDON, Leon Allen (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)
WOOD, Gillian (The Labour Party)

If for whatever reason a candidate’s nomination paper is invalid* a Returning Officer (in this case Eric Robinson) can disqualify that candidate before the result is declared.

*There are 101 reasons it could be, but some have been corrected to correct errors.

I’d like to thank Wirral Council for the time involved in supplying the above information.

Polling day for the Claughton byelection is Thursday 4th May 2017.

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.

Merseyrail strike – What will happen next? (Claughton byelection)

Merseyrail strike – What will happen next? (Claughton byelection)

Merseyrail strike – What will happen next? (Claughton byelection)

                                

Bidston Train Station (Borderlands Line and Wirral Line) 13th August 2016 (John Brace)
Bidston Train Station (Borderlands Line and Wirral Line) 13th August 2016 (John Brace)
“What power have you got?
Where did you get it from?
In whose interests do you exercise it?
To whom are you accountable?
How can we get rid of you?”
 

The Claughton byelection and Metro Mayor election raise wider political issues than just about what happens in Claughton.

Claughton’s only train station is Upton train station (which ironically is unaffected by the strike action and track renewal disruption on the Merseyrail network) as it’s on the Borderlands Line run by Arriva Trains Wales.

One of Claughton’s existing councillors Councillor Steve Foulkes is on the Merseytravel Committee and commented albeit somewhat reluctantly about the issues to do with Merseytravel, Merseyrail and the RMT. Cllr Steve Foulkes is on Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Merseytravel Committee and is the Lead Member for Strategy and Finance.

After a number of strike days (including during the high-profile Aintree Grand National), Merseyrail and the RMT union resumed talks.

Unfortunately you can read the RMT press release here and the Merseyrail press release here.

Talks have unfortunately broken down.

Ultimately this political issue is a matter that disrupts (in conjunction with track renewal work scheduled to finish on the 18th June 2017) travel by train for many people across Merseyside.

The incoming Metro Mayor will ultimately be politically accountable to the people for transport in the Liverpool City Region (Merseyside plus Halton) area. It is Merseytravel that decided on the franchise agreement to Merseyrail.

Personally, I know people on all sides of this dispute but hope whoever is elected as Metro Mayor on Friday will work with others and show the political leadership required to resolve this issue.

The alternative is years of strike action. Under the terms of the franchise agreement between Merseyrail and Merseytravel Merseyrail receive money for any lost revenue as a result of strike days. This money comes out of your taxes.

Polling day for both the Metro Mayor election and Claughton byelection is Thursday 4th May 2017.

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.