How did Wirral Council councillors vote at a public meeting about the Hoylake Golf Resort/Celtic Manor Resort?
How did Wirral Council councillors vote at a public meeting about the Hoylake Golf Resort/Celtic Manor Resort?
Mayor Cllr Geoffrey Watt announcing the result of the vote Hoylake Golf Resort/Celtic Manor Resort (Wirral Council) 25th February 2019
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Who are the 4 candidates in the Upton byelection of a councillor to Wirral Council?
Who are the 4 candidates in the Upton byelection of a councillor to Wirral Council?
I’ll declare an interest in relation to this piece. My father who lives in Upton nominated one of the four candidates. I am also an election observer.
Wirral Council has published the list of candidates for the Upton byelection. The election is a byelection due to the resignation of Matthew Patrick. Whoever is elected will therefore only serve the rest of his term of office (to May 2020).
There are four candidates who are listed below alphabetically by surname. I have included their address too (this should also end up being on the ballot paper).
Voting begins in LCRCA Mayoral election and Claughton byelection (polls close at 10 pm)
Voting begins in LCRCA Mayoral election and Claughton byelection (polls close at 10 pm)
Holy Cross primary school Bidston polling station Bidston St James 4th May 2017 resized
Today is polling day (polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm) in Bidston, Birkenhead.
Here in Bidston people receive two votes in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election.
Above is a photo of my local polling station. When I took it I was filming into the sunshine (which is not considered good practice), but it wasn’t until I viewed it I realised what the photo meant. The thumbnail is above or you can click on it for a better resolution photo.
The no stopping sign outside is an excellent summary of Wirral Council’s bossy attitude. The spikes on the gates represent Wirral Council’s bunker mentality.
The sign (up for one day only) represents a small nod towards democracy and the public having a say. Yes the public that Wirral Council are there to serve.
Secrecy is of course something Wirral Council enjoys as that way nobody can dare criticise how they decided something!
Perhaps I am reading too much into one photo I took.
Inside the polling station was a queue of people waiting to vote. However it wasn’t very busy and the Presiding Officer seemed keen to see us leave.
So polling day, the beginning, a new dawn, a new day. The end of something and the start of a new beginning.
Results of both elections are expected tomorrow.
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EU Referendum: A look back to 1975, the AV Referendum and what will happen next?
The big political story that seems to completely dominate the news cycle now is the EU Referendum (in which Wirral Council are running the election here on the Wirral).
I was present six years ago at the count in Wallasey Town Hall for the AV Referendum (you can see below the photos I took) and it was obvious before the result was declared which way people felt on that issue.
AV Referendum count Civic Hall Wallasey May 2011 photo 2 resizedAV Referendum count Civic Hall Wallasey May 2011 resized
However in around a fortnight we’ll know the outcome of the EU Referendum and I’ve seriously (although I’ve made my mind up which way I’m voting) no idea which way it’ll go.
The opinion polls are so close that the difference between remain and leave is within the margin of error of the poll. Essentially what this means is that the EU Referendum will be decided by people who haven’t made their mind up yet.
I am also sensing a generational divide in how people talk about the EU Referendum. My generation was born in a UK that was part of the EU. We have no personal experience of what it was like before the UK joined. We’ve never been asked to vote on it. We also never lived through a European war (apart from the Yugoslav wars).
The older generation (who are more likely to vote and pensioners also have the time to be politically active) still remember the horrors of World War II. Some of them lived through it. It was something that deeply affected them and their families.
Yet it was out of people who had known the horrors of war that the European dream was created. So what did the dreamers of the European dream want?
They wanted countries to work together for the common good, to respect human rights so the horrors that happened during two world wars wouldn’t happen again (or at least if any tried something similar they’d be punished), for European people to respect the rule of law, for there to be democracy, justice, free trade, to eradicate poverty* and to promote peace.
*No James, they didn’t want Wirral Council to bungle the handling of European money for economic regeneration.
Fine ideals in principle that not many would argue are a “bad idea”.
However either it hasn’t worked out quite how the idealists planned it to and/or Europe just gets a bad press in this country?
People in this country (including myself) campaigned against going into Iraq again in 2003 (yes I had a political past as an activist). I’m still not holding my breath over the publication of the Chilcot report, however I did at the time when I read the "dodgy dossier" describe it as propaganda, but as the cliché goes lessons need to be learnt (albeit 13 years after it happened). However that is besides the point.
The outcome of the AV Referendum on Wirral five years ago was very clear-cut.
Yes – 28,627 (28.1%)
No – 73,120 (71.9%)
It was a vote for keeping things the same, for the status quo. Lots of people had voted using first past the post for generations and even those pressing for voting reform really wanted STV (Single Transferable Vote) not AV (which was seen as a compromise).
However, back to the EU Referendum. Personally I don’t know what will happen next if a majority vote to leave. If truth be told, nobody really does. Predictions seem to be the verbal equivalent of crystal ball gazing dressed up in soundbites designed to arouse an emotional response from voters and attract press coverage.
For my generation a vote for the status quo, therefore the situation they’ve known all their lives is a vote to remain. For others who have known more of their life in the UK outside the EU the status quo is different.
So what was the result in 1975?
This was what was asked then (seems very similar to what’s been asked now really).
The Government has announced the results of the renegotiation of the United Kingdom’s terms of membership of the European Community.
Do you think the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?
Yes 17,378,581
No 8,470,073
The Tory infighting over this issue has however damaged them as a political party. To be fair though, they’re not the only political party that has been split on the European issue.
On the 23rd of this month when people will be voting in the polling stations I hope they will think through their decision.
Although I have made up which way I am voting, the choice is down to you (or at least the readers of this who have a vote or some influence in it). Think through what will happen next after the votes are counted.
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