What’s happening next in the 2018 elections of councillors on the Wirral?

What’s happening next in the 2018 elections of councillors on the Wirral?

What’s happening next in the 2018 elections of councillors on the Wirral?

Electoral Commission individual election observer ID John Brace 2018
Electoral Commission individual election observer ID John Brace 2018

The author would like to thank The Bureau of Investigative Journalism for its help with this story.

At these elections and indeed for the rest of 2018 I’m an accredited election observer (my photo ID for this was recently issued by the Electoral Commission as you can see above).
Continue reading “What’s happening next in the 2018 elections of councillors on the Wirral?”

Who are the 96 candidates in the 2018 Wirral Council elections?

Who are the 96 candidates in the 2018 Wirral Council elections?

Who are the 96 candidates in the 2018 Wirral Council elections?

                                    

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

I’ll declare at the start that myself as author, along with my wife live in Bidston & St James ward and will both receive a vote in this election.

People living and registered to vote for local council elections in all areas of the Wirral will have a chance to vote for who their local councillor is this year. All wards will be electing one councillor, except for Hoylake and Meols where voters will be electing two councillors due to the recent resignation of John Hale.
Continue reading “Who are the 96 candidates in the 2018 Wirral Council elections?”

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

                                            

Accredited Observer John Brace Electoral Commission 2017 7857
Accredited Observer John Brace Electoral Commission 2017 7857

I was always planning on publishing a report on the first general election I have been an election observer for and this is it.

Polling station – Holy Cross Catholic Primary School (AC – Birkenhead Constituency (Bidston and St James ward))

When I visited this polling station along with my wife (who was also an election observer), we were both there to vote.

So I told the Poll Clerks who we were and our addresses. Unfortunately they initially didn’t give us ballot papers as one of them was too tired to look up our address properly. We live in Boundary Road and the poll clerk instead of looking at the page for 134 Boundary Road to mark the register, was instead looking at a different page for a different part of Boundary Road where there is an elector with the number AC 134 instead. This caused a delay in receiving our ballot papers.

They were apologetic about it.

The Count (Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre)

We then walked the short distance to the count centre which was to be held inside the Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre.

Unlike in May, for the Mayoral and Claughton byelection, the gate to the footpath was padlocked, so we went round to the entrance to the car park.

We were immediately stopped by Wirral Council’s Community Patrol who insisted we wait by the entrance to the car park (this was while Wirral Council staff, councillors and others arrived unchallenged).

I explained we were both election observers accredited on an individual basis by the Electoral Commission and therefore entitled to attend the count. I showed them our photographic ID.

Obviously this was a part of elections Wirral Council hadn’t planned for or expected as Community Patrol insisted we wait while they find someone.

We waited for about 15-20 minutes (which is fine for myself but Leonora after the walk from the polling station was suffering a little from the standing as there was no chair to sit on). Even the police officer was feeling sorry for her!

Eventually Kate Robinson started walking in our direction with two men either side from Community Patrol.

We walked towards them.

We then had to explain again that we were election observers accredited by the Electoral Commission, here was our ID etc.

She wanted to look at our ID and didn’t seem happy with our presence.

She insisted we wouldn’t be allowed to use recording equipment in the count. I pointed out that in my opinion wasn’t a lawful instruction and that we only had to follow lawful instructions from the election authorities. I pointed out that in my view it breached the Human Rights Act 1998 and asked for the name of her manager to appeal the decision to. She said that was Eric Robinson (Acting Returning Officer) who she said wasn’t there.

I pointed out that I didn’t have recording equipment on my person anyway. I had an iPad to use but that was for making notes as I have a writing disability (that makes it painful to write).

She then gave us both a short lecture about not telling anyone anything at all about what happened during the count for “secrecy” reasons.

Anyway, she went with us to where people were checking in by the turnstile and it was insisted (despite me pointing out earlier about the writing disability making it painful to write) that I write our names and individual observer numbers on the attendance list.

We were then instructed to go through the turnstile, which Leonora pointed out she couldn’t do as it’s impossible for someone with a walking stick to go through that design of turnstile. So she went round through another side door instead.

We then walked down a corridor past the refreshments area. Unlike election counts in previous years where the tea and coffee had been free (but a voluntary donation suggested) Wirral Council was charging for drinks and food this year. From memory hot drinks were a £1.

It is also to be noted (unlike the Mayoral count and Claughton byelection in May) that this time the whole Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre was closed to the general public from 6 pm on the Thursday to 6.30 am on Friday morning (the tennis hall where the count was held was closed to the public from Monday to Saturday).

The count itself was being held in a large room in the leisure centre called the tennis hall which is usually tennis courts. The netting to catch balls around the sides was still in place, but the floor covering had been covered with a white floor covering kept together with tape.

One half of the hall was for the count for Birkenhead and Wallasey constituency and was also where ballot boxes arrived.

The other half of the hall was used for the Wirral West and Wirral South constituency counts and a raised stage for the platform for announcing the result.

Both halves of the hall had a projector and a screen showing the BBC election coverage.

In the middle in the raised area up steps was an area for the media where they had their video cameras set up and other equipment. From memory the Wirral Globe, Liverpool Echo, BBC, Radio City and others from the media were all there.

At 10.00 pm Eric Robinson (Acting Returning Officer) announced over the PA system that the count of the postal ballots would start. Around this time the BBC announced the result of the exit polls.

A short time later, the ballot boxes started arriving from the polling stations. Counters sat at flip down tables, with baskets on the table and paper clips.

Just before 11.00 pm I went for a walk past the Wallasey constituency tables and somebody dropped a large number of ballot papers on the floor. Thankfully they were bundled in bundles of 25.

The Birkenhead and Wallasey counts went quicker, therefore a result was expected earlier.

By twenty past twelve, Kevin McCallum (Head of Communications) (I had asked him earlier for turnout figures) told me that the turnout for Birkenhead was 67.9%.

A result in Birkenhead was announced at around 1:10 am, Wallasey at 1:45 am, Wirral West at 2:03 am and Wirral South at 2:12 am.

We had made earlier requests to film the speeches of the candidates after the result was declared but this was denied.

The candidates returned were Frank Field (Birkenhead), Angela Eagle (Wallasey), Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) and Alison McGovern (Wirral South).

Mayor of Wirral Ann McLachlan announced the results for the Birkenhead and Wallasey constituencies. Stephen Burrows (High Sheriff of Merseyside) announced the results for Wirral West and Wirral South constituencies.

Here are some quotes from the speeches we would have liked to have shown you. Frank Field referred to it as a “disaster for the Prime Minister”, Angela Eagle said that the “country rejected Theresa May” and referred to her [Theresa May] as a “vampire avoiding the sunlight”, Margaret Greenwood referred to a “stunning victory” and Alison McGovern thanked many groups of people including the people reporting on the count.

There were also some speeches from the second placed candidates who in summary congratulated the winning candidate and then went on to make various political points.

Once all four results were declared, people started to go home.

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Why has Liverpool City Council blocked my request to view the nomination papers of the 8 candidates wanting to be Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayor?

Why has Liverpool City Council blocked my request to view the nomination papers of the 8 candidates wanting to be Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayor?

Why has Liverpool City Council blocked my request to view the nomination papers of the 8 candidates wanting to be Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayor?

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

This is a story about secrecy, however it also shows what I have to deal with every day of my working life.

There is not supposed to be secrecy surrounding elections. Why? It’s supposed to be open and transparent so that if anyone tries to game the system it can be spotted.

Elections attract not just domestic interest but international interest.

Part of my role is to monitor what goes on and write about it.

This places me at odds with Liverpool City Council and the Electoral Commission (who have yet to respond at the time of writing this), but that’s why there is independence of the press.

My own view is either a drafting error was made by a civil servant in the legislation for Metro Mayors or the Electoral Commission overlooked something when writing their guidance.

The way the legislation went through parliament as regulations, it couldn’t be amended.

However even Wirral Council is trying to somewhat gag me with a “the dignity of Election proceedings must not be compromised” clause if I want to attend the count on Friday.

Just to be crystal clear, Wirral Council was far as I can tell is running elections as efficiently as they can following the embarrassing revelations surrounding the Employment Tribunal earlier this year, the “technical” offences that the CPS agree happened in the past (but decline to prosecute), well all these factors have meant Wirral Council have learnt from past mistakes and are doing their best.

My criticism is not of the way the elections are being run. This isn’t about the dignity of elections. It’s a more fundamental point about legislation being written in such a way that you don’t end up in this situation.

It’s led to two somewhat contradictory pieces of legislation about inspection and copies of nomination papers.

The two pieces of legislation according to at least the Electoral Commission interpretation contradict each other.

So it wasn’t drafted properly (probably due to the pressures Brexit has put the civil service under).

I am going to explain the two pieces of legislation that apply to Mayoral elections such as the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority election.

Firstly, this is the piece of legislation that provides a right of access to nomination papers, it applies to the Metro Mayoral election. Just for information, rule 2(1) means that Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday, a bank holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning are disregarded as days.



The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (England and Wales) Rules 2006 Schedule 3, Part 2, paragraph 1 states:

Inspection of nomination papers and consents to nomination

11. During ordinary office hours on any day, other than a day specified in rule 2(1), after the latest time for delivery of nomination papers and before the date of the poll, any person may inspect and take copies of, or extracts from, nomination papers and consents to nomination.


Clear enough? What happens if someone tries to block this? The Electoral Administration Act 2006, Pt 6, s.42 and s.43 make blocking access to inspection of election documents a crime. But the person’s supervisor who failed to take appropriate steps can get into trouble too.



“ (1) The relevant officer must—

(a) make relevant election documents available for inspection by members of the public;

(b) supply, on request, copies of or extracts from such description of relevant election documents as is prescribed by regulations.”


So, having made a request to Liverpool City Council’s Returning Officer Ged Fitzgerald, which was then forwarded to Stephen Barker, why is this request being blocked???

Well Liverpool City Council’s answer, relying on Electoral Commission guidance (which is only one interpretation of the law) is that the The Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) Order 2017 applies. That guidance is based on SI 2017/66, Schedule 1, Part 3, paragraph 11 which is below.



Place for delivery of nomination papers and right to attend nomination

11.—(1) The combined area returning officer must fix the place in the area of the combined authority at which nomination papers are to be delivered to that officer, and must attend there during the time for their delivery and for the making of objections to them.

(2) Except for the purpose of delivering a nomination paper or of assisting the combined authority returning officer, no other person is entitled to attend the proceedings during the time for delivery of nomination papers or for making objections to them unless that person is—

(a) a person standing nominated as a candidate, or

(b) the election agent, proposer or seconder of such a person, or

(c) a person who is entitled to attend by virtue of section 6A or 6B of the Political Parties and Referendums Act 2000 Act(1).

(3) Where a candidate is the candidate’s own election agent, the candidate may name one other person and that person is entitled to attend in place of the election agent.

(4) Where a person stands nominated by more than one nomination paper, only the persons subscribing as proposer and seconder—

(a) to such one of those papers as the candidate may select, or

(b) in default of such a selection, to that one of those papers which is first delivered,
are entitled to attend as the person’s proposer and seconder.

(5) The right to attend conferred by this rule includes the right—
(a) to inspect, and
(b) to object to the validity of,
any nomination paper.

(6) Paragraph (5) does not apply to a person mentioned in paragraph (2)(c).

(7) One other person chosen by each candidate is entitled to be present at the delivery of the candidate’s nomination, and may afterwards (so long as the candidate stands nominated) attend the proceedings referred to in paragraph (2) but without the right referred to in paragraph (5).


As you can see, it’s legislation about who can object to a nomination, who can be there when the nomination papers are submitted and so on.

In theory the two pieces of legislation are compatible, that is one right for the candidates to inspect and object, another for any person to inspect and receive copies of the nomination papers.

However Liverpool City Council states that because the Electoral Commission guidance (which I quote from below) which seems to have conveniently forgotten a right to inspect for any person states this, that therefore their view is that I don’t have any right to inspect or receive copies of the nomination papers.

Which of course is similar to the attitude expressed by Liverpool City Council when I tried to film a public meeting. Their view was that it doesn’t matter what the law is, Liverpool City Council can do what it likes! Last year I was the complainant in ICO decision notice FS50591795. Liverpool City Council had thirty-five days to comply with it, or 28 days to appeal it. Liverpool City Council did neither! Not complying is deemed contempt of court. So yes, I’ve experienced problems with Liverpool City Council.

However there are mayoral elections elsewhere in the country too.

So below is a quote from the Electoral Commission guidance (which I disagree with and it wouldn’t be the first time that the Electoral Commission have had to admit that their guidance was incorrect).

Somewhat ironically the guidance is titled Access to documentation after a local government election in England and Wales when the election result won’t be declared till Friday!

Just to be abundantly clear, the junior official Stephen Barker at Liverpool City Council is probably only doing what he thinks is right. It’s Ged Fitzgerald (the Returning Officer) that is ultimately personally responsible for how the Mayoral election is run.


Combined authority mayoral election

Nomination papers at a combined authority mayoral election can only be inspected by certain people and only until the deadline for making objections to the nomination papers as set out in Chapter 3 of our guidance for Combined Authority Returning Officers: Delivery of key processes.

Nomination papers cannot be inspected by anybody else at any time. Nomination papers may only be viewed and supplied to those who have a legal power to obtain documents. This may be a police officer using any powers they may have to take documents into their custody, or a court order.”


So what do people reading think? Please leave a comment. If I’ve made an error or have it wrong, I’d be happy to apologise!

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