Who are the 90 candidates standing in an election to be a councillor at Wirral Council in 2019?

Who are the 90 candidates standing in an election to be a councillor at Wirral Council in 2019?

Who are the 90 candidates standing in an election to be a councillor at Wirral Council in 2019?

                                                       

Holy Cross primary school Bidston polling station Bidston St James 4th May 2017 resized
Holy Cross Primary School (polling station Bidston and St James ward) 4th May 2017

Below is a table of the ninety candidates in the election of a councillor across each of the 22 wards. Those living in each ward and who vote will elect one councillor to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (making twenty-two in total). Those wards electing a councillor in May 2019 are Bebington, Bidston & St James, Birkenhead & Tranmere, Bromborough, Clatterbridge, Claughton, Eastham, Greasby, Frankby & Irby, Heswall, Hoylake & Meols, Leasowe & Moreton East, Liscard, Moreton West & Saughall Massie, New Brighton, Oxton, Pensby & Thingwall, Prenton, Rock Ferry, Seacombe, Upton, Wallasey and West Kirby & Thurstaston.
Continue reading “Who are the 90 candidates standing in an election to be a councillor at Wirral Council in 2019?”

Who are the 103 candidates in the 2016 Wirral Council elections?

Who are the 103 candidates in the 2016 Wirral Council elections?

                                             

Polling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 front
Polling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 front
Polling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 back
Polling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 back

The nomination period for anyone wishing to stand as a candidate in the elections to become a councillor at Wirral Council has been closed for some time. As usual elections in each of the twenty-two wards on Wirral are all being contested (ranging from two candidates in Seacombe ward to seven in Liscard ward).

All wards except Liscard will be electing one councillor, Liscard will elect two councillors.

Continue reading “Who are the 103 candidates in the 2016 Wirral Council elections?”

Did Cllr Phil Davies breach the Code of Conduct by linking to a party political website in a Wirral Council email?

Did Cllr Phil Davies breach the Code of Conduct by linking to a party political website in a Wirral Council email?

Did Cllr Phil Davies breach the Code of Conduct by linking to a party political website in a Wirral Council email?

                                              

Councillor Phil Davies at a recent Cabinet meeting
Councillor Phil Davies at a recent Cabinet meeting

Yesterday I was forwarded an interesting email which is a reply to a resident asking the recently reelected Councillor Phil Davies (although at the time of the reply he hadn’t been reelected in Birkenhead and Tranmere yet) in response to a question about why he doesn’t allow comments on his blog. For those who don’t know Cllr Phil Davies is Leader of Wirral Council and of the ruling Labour group of councillors. I’ve obscured the email address & name of the resident he’s writing to. Below is the email followed by some comments of my own.


From: Davies, Phil L. (Councillor)

Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 10:35 AM

To: **** ********

Subject: RE: leaders blog

Dear Mr ********,

 

Thank you for your email. Comments facilities on blogs are generally not moderated, so people can post basically whatever they like and the comment will be published. Given that my blog is linked to the Council website, and available to view by residents of all ages, the Council has taken the decision to disable the comment facility entirely to remove the risk of inappropriate, libellous or otherwise offensive comments being posted on the blog and, by extension, the Council website. If any resident wishes to contact me directly they can do this easily as all of my contact details – email address, phone numbers, home address etc are published on the Council’s website.

 

Kind regards.

 

Phil Davies

 

 

Councillor Phil Davies

Leader of Wirral Council

Labour Councillor for Birkenhead and Tranmere ward

Tel: 0151 691 8540

Mob: 07720073154

Email: phildavies@wirral.gov.uk <mailto:phildavies@wirral.gov.uk>

<http://birkenheadandtranmerewlp.org.uk>

Most Improved Council logo
Most Improved Council logo

‘Most Improved Council’


If Councillor Phil Davies wishes to moderate comments, he need only log into the WordPress admin panel for his blog, click on Settings, then Discussion, tick the box that I’ve highlighted with a red oval below, then scroll down and click on save changes. If he does that then people will be able to leave comments, but he will get to choose if they are approved (and therefore published) or not.

Since 1st January 2014, the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013 have been in force. If the procedures in the regulations are followed, then the operator of the blog has a defence under s.5 of the Defamation Act 2013 in respect of third party content such as comments posted on the blog in respect of libel court cases. Out of 3,171 comments on this blog only two have been removed (after following the procedure outlined in the regulations) following complaints received.

Wordpress admin panel Discussion Sharing comment moderation
WordPress admin panel Discussion Sharing comment moderation

 


Moving to the sentence where he writes “Given that my blog is linked to the Council website, and available to view by residents of all ages, the Council has taken the decision to disable the comment facility entirely to remove the risk of inappropriate, libellous or otherwise offensive comments being posted on the blog and, by extension, the Council website.”

This is a very curious statement to make. Below is a screenshot of Wirral Council’s homepage which has a picture of Councillor Phil Davies, which also links to the last two posts he’s made to his blog.


Wirral Council homepage
Wirral Council homepage

 


As you can see it just displays the last two headlines from his blog and links to the last two posts made on his blog. Now I have comments enabled on my blog (in fact the latest blog post of an election result has two comments on it). So what happens when I replace the address for my blog with Cllr Phil Davies’ blog on Wirral Council’s homepage?


RSS feed changed on Wirral Council's homepage
RSS feed changed on Wirral Council’s homepage

As you can see, even on a blog with comments on such as mine, the script on Wirral Council’s website just displays (and links to) the last two blog posts by whatever headline was used, not the comments. So comments (if he had any) on Cllr Phil Davies’ blog wouldn’t be cross posted to Wirral Council’s website.


Finally I notice that Cllr Phil Davies links in his email to this website (which if you were in any doubt was a party political website I include two screenshots from it below). The first is the top of the website, the bottom is the imprint:

banner for Labour website
banner for Labour website
Labour website imprint
Labour website imprint

Bear in mind that when Cllr Phil Davies wrote that reply, he was a candidate in the election of a councillor in Birkenhead & Tranmere (and a councillor).

Here is what Wirral Council’s Councillor’s Code of Conduct states on the matter:


2. When using or authorising the use by others of the resources of the authority-

….

2.2. DO make sure that such resources are not used improperly for political purposes (including party political purposes); and

2.3. DO have regard to any applicable Local Authority Code of Publicity made under the Local Government Act 1986 (as amended).


So was writing to a resident using Wirral Council’s email system including a link to a party political website improper use of Wirral Council’s resources by Councillor Phil Davies? If you think so, you can make a complaint using the online form linked to from this page.

Not so long ago over in Liverpool (back in November 2013), a committee found that Cllr Richard Kemp had improperly used Liverpool City Council letterheads and the Liverpool City Council mail system for party political purposes. The result was a formal motion of censure.

So what are your views on this? Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

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Election result (Wirral Council, 2015): Birkenhead and Tranmere: Labour hold (Phil Davies)

Election result (Wirral Council, 2015): Birkenhead and Tranmere: Labour hold (Phil Davies)

Election result (Wirral Council, 2015): Birkenhead and Tranmere: Labour hold (Phil Davies)

                                                   

Candidate Party Votes
Phillip Leslie Davies Labour 3,130
Jayne Louise Stephanie Clough Green Party 1,763
Laurence John Sharpe-Stevens UK Independence Party (UKIP) 447
June Irene Cowin Conservative 185
Monica Price Liberal Democrat 61
     

The turnout was 56.9% and the electorate was 9,854. This result was declared at 12:15.

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Who are the 112 candidates in the 2015 Wirral Council elections?

Who are the 112 candidates in the 2015 Wirral Council elections?

Who are the 112 candidates in the 2015 Wirral Council elections?

                          

The nomination period for anyone wishing to stand as a candidate in the elections to become a councillor at Wirral Council has closed. As usual elections in each of the twenty-two wards on Wirral are all being contested. Wards are listed alphabetically, then the candidates alphabetically by surname. One candidate (the Conservative candidate in Liscard) called Ann Ondra Lavin has withdrawn their nomination, therefore is not included in the list of candidates. Polling day is on the 7th May, with results expected on the 8th May.

Name of ward Name of candidate Description
Bebington Jim Bradshaw UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Bebington Des Drury The Conservative Party Candidate
Bebington Brian Downing Gill Liberal Democrats
Bebington Anthony James Smith Green Party
Bebington Jerry Williams Labour Party
Bidston & St. James Karl Richard Cumings Green Party
Bidston & St. James Geoffrey Peter Dormand The Conservative Party Candidate
Bidston & St. James Ben Halligan Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Bidston & St. James Brian Martin Kenny Labour Party
Bidston & St. James Roy John Wood Liberal Democrat
Birkenhead & Tranmere Jayne Louise Stephanie Clough Green Party
Birkenhead & Tranmere June Irene Cowin The Conservative Party
Birkenhead & Tranmere Philip Leslie Davies Labour Party
Birkenhead & Tranmere Monica Price Liberal Democrat
Birkenhead & Tranmere Laurence John Sharpe-Stevens UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Bromborough Mike Collins The Conservative Party Candidate
Bromborough Sue Colquhoun UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Bromborough Penelope Ruth Golby Liberal Democrats
Bromborough Mark Halligan Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Bromborough Percy Hogg Green Party
Bromborough Joe Walsh Labour Party
Clatterbridge Jan Cambridge Liberal Democrats
Clatterbridge Jenny Holliday Labour Party
Clatterbridge Roger Laurence Jones UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Clatterbridge Vinny Spencer Green Party
Clatterbridge Adam Christopher Sykes The Conservative Party Candidate
Claughton Tom Cubbin Green Party
Claughton Stephen Foulkes The Labour Party Candidate
Claughton Philip William Barrington Griffiths UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Claughton Barbara Vera Sinclair The Conservative Party Candidate
Claughton Christopher Teggin Liberal Democrat
Eastham Paul Thomas Cartlidge Green Party
Eastham Keith Ross Jack The Conservative Party Candidate
Eastham Dave Mitchell Liberal Democrats
Eastham Helen Louise Robinson Labour Party
Greasby, Frankby & Irby David Robert Burgess-Joyce The Conservative Party Candidate
Greasby, Frankby & Irby Laurence Cresswell Jones UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Greasby, Frankby & Irby Julie McManus Labour Party
Greasby, Frankby & Irby Catherine Anne Page Green Party
Greasby, Frankby & Irby Peter Timothy Clifford Reisdorf Liberal Democrats
Heswall Barbara Florence Burton Green Party
Heswall Andrew Chapman Hodson The Conservative Party Candidate
Heswall Mike Holliday Labour Party
Heswall David Anthony Scott UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Heswall David Robert Tyrrell Liberal Democrats
Hoylake & Meols Gerry Ellis The Conservative Party Candidate
Hoylake & Meols Bill McGenity Labour Party
Hoylake & Meols Yvonne McGinley Green Party
Hoylake & Meols Michael Graham Redfern Liberal Democrats
Hoylake & Meols George David Robinson UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Leasowe & Moreton East Ron Abbey Labour Party
Leasowe & Moreton East Jan Davison UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Leasowe & Moreton East Denis Thomas Knowles Local Conservatives
Leasowe & Moreton East Craig John Reynolds Green Party
Liscard Daniel Clein Liberal Democrats – Stronger Economy Fairer Society
Liscard Adam Said Khan Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Liscard Bernie Mooney Labour Party
Liscard Lindsay Claire Stowell-Smith Green Party
Liscard Lynda Ellen Williams UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Moreton West & Saughall Massie Karl Gerard Greaney Labour Party
Moreton West & Saughall Massie Perle Winifred Sheldricks Green Party
Moreton West & Saughall Massie Susan Jane Whitham UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Moreton West & Saughall Massie Steve Williams Local Conservatives
New Brighton Patrick Joseph Hackett Labour Party
New Brighton Gillian Homeri Green Party
New Brighton Tim Power UK Independence Party (UKIP)
New Brighton Tony Pritchard Local Conservatives
Oxton Paul Andrew Doughty Labour Party
Oxton Liz Heydon Green Party
Oxton Hilary Margaret Jones The Conservative Party Candidate
Oxton Stuart Kelly Liberal Democrat
Oxton David Charles Martin UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Pensby & Thingwall Philip Alexander Brightmore Labour Party Candidate
Pensby & Thingwall Allen John Burton Green Party
Pensby & Thingwall Damien William Cummins Liberal Democrat Focus Team
Pensby & Thingwall Hilary Jane Jones UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Pensby & Thingwall Ian James Mackenzie The Conservative Party Candidate
Pensby & Thingwall Phil Simpson Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Pensby & Thingwall Maureen Collette Wilkinson Independent
Prenton Allan John Brame Liberal Democrat
Prenton Angela Joy Davies Labour Party
Prenton Moira Joan Gommon Green Party
Prenton Robert Glyn Mon Hughes The Conservative Party Candidate
Prenton James Barry Shortall UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Rock Ferry Cy Fergyson The Conservative Party Candidate
Rock Ferry Brian Joseph Hall Liberal Democrat
Rock Ferry Terry Hansen UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Rock Ferry Paul George Harris Green Party
Rock Ferry Chris Meaden Labour Party
Rock Ferry Jim Pritchard Independent
Rock Ferry Morag Reid Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Seacombe Lily Clough Green Party
Seacombe Chris Jones Labour Party
Seacombe Christine Sarah Jones Local Conservatives
Seacombe Karl Raymond Mercer Independent
Seacombe Gregory William North Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Seacombe Christopher John Wellstead UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Upton Geoffrey Robert Caton UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Upton Alan Davies Liberal Democrats
Upton Geoffrey Ian Gubb The Conservative Party Candidate
Upton Marian Hussenbux Green Party
Upton Tony Smith Labour Party
Wallasey John Richard Codling Liberal Democrats
Wallasey Brian Farrell UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Wallasey Paul Alan Hayes Local Conservatives
Wallasey Giuseppe Mark Roberto Labour Party
Wallasey Cynthia Stonall Green Party
West Kirby & Thurstaston John Peter Cresswell Liberal Democrats
West Kirby & Thurstaston Trevor Adam Desrosiers Green Party
West Kirby & Thurstaston David Michael Elderton The Conservative Party Candidate
West Kirby & Thurstaston Dave Evennett UK Independence Party (UKIP)
West Kirby & Thurstaston Thomas Usher Labour Party

You can find out the candidates’ home addresses and who proposed each candidate in the Statement of Persons Nominated.

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