Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

Reasons to vote Liberal Democrat in Bidston & St. James on May 5th – Day Two

There are four choices you face in Bidston & St. James on May 5th. Your choices are Lib Dem, Labour, Conservative or UKIP. I will be voting for the Liberal Democrats. UKIP came 5th last year with just over 3% of the vote. They are on course for coming last this time. The Tories didn’t … Continue reading “Reasons to vote Liberal Democrat in Bidston & St. James on May 5th – Day Two”

There are four choices you face in Bidston & St. James on May 5th. Your choices are Lib Dem, Labour, Conservative or UKIP. I will be voting for the Liberal Democrats.

UKIP came 5th last year with just over 3% of the vote. They are on course for coming last this time. The Tories didn’t even manage 11%.

Last year 78% of people either voted Lib Dem or Labour. Under our first past the post system if you vote Conservative or UKIP your vote won’t count but just help Labour to get elected.

In 2007 Labour’s candidate Harry Smith got elected with 1,384 votes. Last year the Lib Dems got 699. Only ~7% of voters will decide the result.

If you vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th:-

a) if you voted Green or BNP last time, voting Lib Dem will force Labour to work harder.
b) if you voted Labour last time but Lib Dem this time it will reduce Labour’s majority by 2.
c) if you voted Lib Dem last time, thank you but we need you to vote Lib Dem again.
d) if you voted Conservative last time, Lib Dems work with the Conservative Party and a vote for the Conservative candidate will just result in Labour being elected.
e) if you voted UKIP last time, a vote for the UKIP candidate will just help Labour. Please consider voting Lib Dem.

Under our first past the post system, the winning candidate only needs about 39% to win.

Postal voters should be getting their vote in the next fortnight, please let me know if you don’t receive yours and I will do my best to help. Last year, like many residents I didn’t receive my postal vote and had to be given two postal votes (local and General) on polling day. I hope this year things will run smoother.

HMRC – Self Assessment back up

Following yesterday’s story about HMRC’s website for completing your tax return not working I emailed a government minister and my MP.

This morning it is working and I got to complete the sections on my self-employment income. However government owned banks want a week before they can tell me how much interest I’ve earned (and any tax paid). When will banks start providing a speedier service? I suppose when you’re in a business that can’t fail and the banks are so big people don’t have real choice there’s not much of an incentive to improve things is there?

I had a positive chat with someone working at the local nursing home, Birkenhead Court & Grange. I’d last been there playing in a carol concert organised by St. James church. It provides 30 places for elderly people with dementia and 30 places for 24hr residential care. I remember the place being built as the local residents complained about all the large lorries going down the quiet residential roads!

As the population gets older sadly more dementia beds are required. I am glad that the Lib Dem/Tory administration at Wirral Council care enough about the elderly to fund their care in such places.

HMRC – Self Assessment down

Being self-employed each year I have to file a tax return. However, in something they have in common with the local Labour Party, the HMRC website is not working.

As someone who works in IT I can understand why it has been unavailable the past few days while the enterprise release is installed. However it was supposed to be up and running by 6am this morning.

Obviously preventing people from filling out tax returns online is going to mean the government gets income tax and NI from self-employed people later. In previous years I have not noticed any glitches in the system. One would hope the Coalition government sees the sense in getting this fixed sooner rather than later.

I will certainly be sending an email suggesting it does. It almost makes me nostalgic for the days of paper, pen and adding things up with calculators.

Reason to vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th – Day One

The local Labour Party website has often provided me with amusement in the way things are put. However today was even more interesting.

All of its pages now look like this (the login page for WordPress).

So reason #1 to vote Lib Dem is that we can manage to run a website.

Unlike Labour, local Lib Dems work hard all year round on communicating with the public through many means to suit them whether email, website, leaflets, phone or personal visits. Why don’t you vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th?

Surprise in Candidates for Bidston & St. James – no Green or BNP candidate

I was surprised to read the the list of candidates for Bidston & St. James ward (Wirral Council).

I’ve stood as the Bidston & St. James Liberal Democrat candidate in 2007, 2008, 2010 and this year. Each year a Green candidate called Bowler has stood, as the ballot paper is listed alphabetically by surname I have always been number 2! Has the Green party given up here?

In addition to there being no Green candidate there is no BNP candidate either (which I am pleased about)! I was half expecting an independent George Thomas to stand against Harry Smith again as he did in 2007.

So you will have a choice of only four candidates on May 5th.

Those are:-






Name Party Home Address
John Michael BraceLiberal DemocratsJenmaleo, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, Wirral, CH43 7PH (in Bidston & St. James ward)
Helen Frances RomnesUKIP6 Pleasant Street, Wallasey, CH45 5EU (in New Brighton ward)
Harry SmithLabour25 Holmlands Drive, Oxton, Birkenhead, CH43 0QY (in Oxton ward)
Jerrold Samuel VickersConservative13 Bramwell Avenue, Prenton, CH43 0RG (in Prenton)

However, if you wish to vote for a local candidate, the Liberal Democrats are your only choice. As the Liberal Democrats came 2nd last year, voting Conservative or UKIP will result in Labour being elected.

I do wish all candidates the best of luck with their election campaigns and look forward to hearing from them. However I have already made my mind up to vote Liberal Democrat, so you may have to try persuading someone else to vote for you. 😉

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