2026 Local Elections Thread

[Yew]

So the educational attainment of the residents of Mansfield is way below what would be expected nationwide. That's not to say everyone in Mansfield has low educational attainment. But what I have said is, regrettably, true in aggregate.

I think it's better to use the word "retention", there are plenty of collages and sixth forms in the Mansfield area, but a lot of their alumni move away.


The nearby Shirebrook Colliery is a good example of why, there used to be a mine, providing well paid (and admittedly difficult, and dangerous) jobs, with both options for managerial and technical progression for the locals. Now there is a big set of warehouses, providing minimum wage jobs with bad conditions, to a mostly immigrant workforce.

 

[nw1]

I think it is a little more nuanced than this - 'any non-white people' is hyperbole - concentrated quantities of white Eastern Europeans are quite some issue too.

This is not a problem unique to the UK, or unique to any particular colour/culture either.

I don't think either are a problem to be quite frank, and I live in a multicultural area with many immigrants from all parts of the world.

Perhaps the real causes are insufficient investment in public services and/or insufficient affordable housing and/or insufficient controls on rents (though I do note some movement has been made on tenant rights, which is welcome).

 

[Yew]

I see what you mean but it's hard to believe that people think that Farage, whose friends appear to be bitcoin billionaires and other members of the big business elite, will actually do something. I think it's clear he won't, and he won't help the lot of people in any way whatsoever.

His "solution" appears to be that immigration, trans people, and doubtless bus lanes, cyclists and 20mph speed limits are the source of all our woes. Obviously as both you and I have said, they are not - so quite why people believe Farage will fix things is anyone's guess.

He's just dog-whistling to get people to vote for him, and thus benefit his business-elite friends who will screw us all if they ever get in.

Whatever the case, I am hopeful he won't get in - I can see them being the largest party but not enough seats for a majority even with a Tory coalition, and the remaining One Nation Tories will, I'm sure, refuse to have anything to do with them which makes it still less likely. What they perhaps underestimate is the sheer feeling of fear and anger towards Reform from much of the population.

I completely agree, but I can see that when he's the only person suggesting that there is a problem, and suggesting some form of change of action how that is appealing. Immigration isn't the main driver of our issues with deindustrialisation, or house prices, or not being able to get a seat on the train, but "why are we letting all these people in when it's so hard to buy a house due to prices, poor wages, and an extortionate season ticket where I can't get a seat" is one of those straightforward arguments that takes a lot of time to actively rebut.

A genuine left-wing and socialist party (one which doesn't exist right now but you never know in 3 years' time) would provide better answers IMO. While many people don't like the left and such a party would be unlikely to win, I can see a coalition involving a significant left-wing voice could be very beneficial.

I'd agree there, an economically left wing (that can be predictable and avoid doing a Liz Truss), that's relatively centrist on other issues could work well.

 

[AlterEgo]

Which legal routes are available for those fleeing (say) Gaza and they don't already have family in the UK?

If Gaza isn't a bad enough situation for someone to fear for their life, then I think that the UK might need to learn a bit more compassion.

When Gazans' own ethnic brethren refuse to take them I don't really see how appealing to the conscience of Mick the cabbie from Kettering is going to be a vote winner.

 

[Class 317]

One thing I think is interesting is that so many seats seem to have been won by a small number of votes. It will be interesting when more detailed analysis of the results are available. The overall picture might be different to what it seems at first.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 May 2026 ==

Wonder why a few London boroughs have still not managed to declare results yet. Maybe very close and recounts.

Do they not continue counting until a result, or is it more a case of stop for the day and continue tomorrow

Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets

Bradford hasn't finished counting either

Some councils don't count on Thursday night or Friday but instead on Saturday.

 

[Ant1966]

"One thing I think is interesting is that so many seats seem to have been won by a small number of votes..."
Indeed. For only the 2nd time in my life I voted Tory (as did my wife and our neighbours) specifically to keep out Reform. I said as much to the Tory candidate when I met her outside the Polling station; "I am lending you my vote"
The final results are as shown below. If ever there was an example of why YOUR vote can matter, and why tactical voting to keep out Reform needs to be better organised at the 2029 GE; this is it!

ENSON-WILSON Andrew John	Liberal Democrats	245
ELLIOT Valerie	Conservative Party	1,016	Elected
HOPKINS Catherine Elizabeth	Labour Party	422
KNIGHT Mark	Reform UK	1,011
KOTECHA Samir	Basingstoke & Deane Independents	290
MANNERS Harrison	Green Party	503

 

[PGAT]

Wonder why a few London boroughs have still not managed to declare results yet. Maybe very close and recounts.

Do they not continue counting until a result, or is it more a case of stop for the day and continue tomorrow

Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets

Bradford hasn't finished counting either

Croydon, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets only start counting today as the mayoralties are done first

 

[Ediswan]

Another wrinkle. Stevenage had a large Labour majority. 14/39 seats were up for grabs. Reform won 9 and iost 1 (from a previous defector). Even winning all 14 would not have dislodged Labour, so voting for Reform as a protest this time would not have any major consequenes. Also, local government reorganisation is looming, so those seats are not for the usual 4 yrars.

 

[Tester]

"One thing I think is interesting is that so many seats seem to have been won by a small number of votes..."
Indeed. For only the 2nd time in my life I voted Tory (as did my wife and our neighbours) specifically to keep out Reform. I said as much to the Tory candidate when I met her outside the Polling station; "I am lending you my vote"
The final results are as shown below. If ever there was an example of why YOUR vote can matter, and why tactical voting to keep out Reform needs to be better organised at the 2029 GE; this is it!

ENSON-WILSON Andrew John	Liberal Democrats	245
ELLIOT Valerie	Conservative Party	1,016	Elected
HOPKINS Catherine Elizabeth	Labour Party	422
KNIGHT Mark	Reform UK	1,011
KOTECHA Samir	Basingstoke & Deane Independents	290
MANNERS Harrison	Green Party	503

Congratulations!

I hope you have a richly deserved warm and fuzzy feeling

 

[nw1]

"One thing I think is interesting is that so many seats seem to have been won by a small number of votes..."
Indeed. For only the 2nd time in my life I voted Tory (as did my wife and our neighbours) specifically to keep out Reform. I said as much to the Tory candidate when I met her outside the Polling station; "I am lending you my vote"
The final results are as shown below. If ever there was an example of why YOUR vote can matter, and why tactical voting to keep out Reform needs to be better organised at the 2029 GE; this is it!

ENSON-WILSON Andrew John	Liberal Democrats	245
ELLIOT Valerie	Conservative Party	1,016	Elected
HOPKINS Catherine Elizabeth	Labour Party	422
KNIGHT Mark	Reform UK	1,011
KOTECHA Samir	Basingstoke & Deane Independents	290
MANNERS Harrison	Green Party	503

Indeed, I've never voted Tory in my life but the one time I would do is if it was a straight choice between them and Reform.
It seems your neighbourhood alone managed to keep them out!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 May 2026 ==

Another wrinkle. Stevenage had a large Labour majority. 14/39 seats were up for grabs. Reform won 9 and iost 1 (from a previous defector). Even winning all 14 would not have dislodged Labour, so voting for Reform as a protest this time would not have any major consequenes. Also, local government reorganisation is looming, so those seats are not for the usual 4 yrars.

It does seem to be the case that the kind of places that go for Reform are those which, in Parliament, were Tory pre-1997, then Labour 1997-2010, then Tory 2010-2024, then Labour again since 2024 - irrespective of the part of the country or demographic make-up.

In other words, what have typically been Tory/Labour swing seats.

 

[The Ham]

When Gazans' own ethnic brethren refuse to take them I don't really see how appealing to the conscience of Mick the cabbie from Kettering is going to be a vote winner.

That may well be true, however, my question was directed at the point being made that there's lot of legal routes.

There are, but few are open to those who are at real risk from places like Gaza.

Gaza is the current obvious one, but it could be any new conflict area which could be anywhere and may be an area where they are closer to our brethren.

 

[cactustwirly]

I think it's better to use the word "retention", there are plenty of collages and sixth forms in the Mansfield area, but a lot of their alumni move away.


The nearby Shirebrook Colliery is a good example of why, there used to be a mine, providing well paid (and admittedly difficult, and dangerous) jobs, with both options for managerial and technical progression for the locals. Now there is a big set of warehouses, providing minimum wage jobs with bad conditions, to a mostly immigrant workforce.

This is the problem 100%, it's hard because it's obvious we can't go back to mining coal it's a dead industry.

The reason why we have a housing crisis is because the majority of well paid, skilled jobs are in a small geographic area, in the South East.

There has been a failure to protect other high skilled manufacturing and Chemical plant jobs by successive governments.
Especially the big sites in Cheshire and Teesside are at risk

 

[Tetchytyke]

Agree. For many people the issue is about the number coming here, and (for some towns) the speed of increased numbers arriving - too many, too fast.

The people who are voting Reform are not the people who live in areas with increasing numbers of people from non-white or non-UK backgrounds, though. So whatever they’re bothered about, it isn’t something which is affecting them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 May 2026 ==

When Gazans' own ethnic brethren refuse to take them

They do, though. There are over three million refugees in Turkey.

Rather puts the 40,000 boat people into perspective…

On a more practical level, the countries surrounding Israel don’t want to accept the Palestinians because they know that Israel will never allow them to return home afterwards. That’s why Egypt are quite firm about it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 May 2026 ==

I think it's better to use the word "retention", there are plenty of collages and sixth forms in the Mansfield area, but a lot of their alumni move away.

That is what I mean. The people with higher educational attainment leave and don’t come back. The ones who remain are the ones who don’t have that educational attainment.

Sadly we no longer have industries such as mining, which both paid a decent wage and relied more on brawn than brain. So the people who remain either aren’t in work or are in low-skill and low-pay work such as in Amazon warehouses. I get why they are angry about this, but it isn’t the fault of the boat people that they’re largely unemployable in a modern service-based economy.

 

[AlterEgo]

That may well be true, however, my question was directed at the point being made that there's lot of legal routes.

There are, but few are open to those who are at real risk from places like Gaza.

Gaza is the current obvious one, but it could be any new conflict area which could be anywhere and may be an area where they are closer to our brethren.

Ukraine was a good example. I think most people didn't have a problem with Ukrainians coming here, and they would have a problem with Gazans arriving. We all know why that is and it's not entirely unreasonable.

It's a total election loser.

 

[Tetchytyke]

There has been a failure to protect other high skilled manufacturing and Chemical plant jobs by successive governments.

Agreed. That’s the consequence of privatisation, though. If you sell your heavy industry to foreigners, don’t be surprised when those foreigners prioritise factories in their home jurisdictions.

Of course TATA are going to close a site in Redcar before a site in India.

And the likes of Radcliffe or Dyson, who were so desperate for Brexit to “protect British business”, couldn’t wait to move their factories to South-East Asia or France.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 May 2026 ==

We all know why that is and it's not entirely unreasonable.

It's a total election loser.

We do know why it is. There’s one very obvious difference between Ukrainians and people from the Levant.

Same reason why they object to Syrians coming here. Same reason why we get lots of sarcastic comments about they’re all doctors and engineers.

 

[The Ham]

Ukraine was a good example. I think most people didn't have a problem with Ukrainians coming here, and they would have a problem with Gazans arriving. We all know why that is and it's not entirely unreasonable.

It's a total election loser.

The point I'm making is that there's a big difference between 210,000 from Ukraine with a legal route and nearly zero from Gaza with a legal route.

Even if that were (say) 5,000 that's hardly going to change the impact on individuals in the UK, but could have meant quite a few less trying an illegal route.

 

[AndrewE]

When Gazans' own ethnic brethren refuse to take them I don't really see how appealing to the conscience of Mick the cabbie from Kettering is going to be a vote winner.

That may well be true, however, my question was directed at the point being made that there's lot of legal routes.
There are, but few are open to those who are at real risk from places like Gaza.
Gaza is the current obvious one, but it could be any new conflict area which could be anywhere and may be an area where they are closer to our brethren.

for me Gaza (and the West Bank) is the elephant in the room. Until Starmer and his inner circle stop slavishly and blindly following the Israeli government's agenda (and doing all thet they can to suppress any dissent) they will continue to forfeit the votes of all the people in the UK who are appalled by what we see and hear.
The extent of the omerta is astonishing.

 

[RT4038]

for me Gaza (and the West Bank) is the elephant in the room. Until Starmer and his inner circle stop slavishly and blindly following the Israeli government's agenda (and doing all thet they can to suppress any dissent) they will continue to forfeit the votes of all the people in the UK who are appalled by what we see and hear.
The extent of the omerta is astonishing.

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

 

[nw1]

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

Yes.

I take it on Planet Zog there were no Gaza protests?

The war in the Middle East is the number one concern of the world at the moment, and part of the problem is the current Israeli government's extreme hawkish response. And that's before we get into the genocide in Gaza, of course.

 

[RT4038]

Yes.

I take it on Planet Zog there were no Gaza protests?

The war in the Middle East is the number one concern of the world at the moment, and part of the problem is the current Israeli government's extreme hawkish response. And that's before we get into the genocide in Gaza, of course.

I'm not referring to the world in general, just UK people - the war in the Middle East maybe, but only in as much as it affects them (blockade of Straits of Hormuz and consequent higher prices / spoilt their holiday destination...). Plight of Gazan people - not so much, with a view, rightly or wrongly, that they have brought some of this on themselves.

 

[AndrewE]

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

I imagine every Muslim in the UK (round the world?) and lots of Christians too are absolutely appalled by Israel's actions and the support they get from other countries' governments including ours.

The current US-Iran war is not Labour's fault and they can't do anything at all about the knock-on effects - so they shouldn't be blamed.

 

[JonathanH]

The reason why we have a housing crisis is because the majority of well paid, skilled jobs are in a small geographic area, in the South East.

There has been a failure to protect other high skilled manufacturing and Chemical plant jobs by successive governments.
Especially the big sites in Cheshire and Teesside are at risk

There is about to be a failure to protect high skilled professional financial sector jobs as well, given the progress with foreign ownership of these companies, AI and offshoring. It is technological change.

It has been natural to move manufacturing to places with a lower cost base, for consumers to favour cheaper imported goods, and nothing can really be done about it. How does the government protect the chemical plant jobs without expensive intervention? How do we pay for imported goods without selling our means of production and putting businesses in foreign hands? Reform have absolutely no answer to that?

At the point we lose the professional and financial sector jobs the tax base will start to collapse, which will cause even more challenges.

The challenge local government clearly has is managing the local demands within the available funding.

 

[cactustwirly]

There is about to be a failure to protect high skilled professional financial sector jobs as well, given the progress with foreign ownership of these companies, AI and offshoring. It is technological change.

It has been natural to move manufacturing to places with a lower cost base, for consumers to favour cheaper imported goods, and nothing can really be done about it. How does the government protect the chemical plant jobs without expensive intervention? How do we pay for imported goods without selling our means of production and putting businesses in foreign hands? Reform have absolutely no answer to that?

At the point we lose the professional and financial sector jobs the tax base will start to collapse, which will cause even more challenges.

The challenge local government clearly has is managing the local demands within the available funding.

But when you are dependent on places like China for critical chemical used in manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals, Weapons and military hardware it's not a good position to be in.
That's where we will be if the decline continues, pharma is a big employer in the UK too

 

[jfollows]

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

There are many people in the UK who care about what is hapening in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Does this affect the way they vote? It does for me.

 

[thenorthern]

Reform UK were the biggest winners of the election by far. Immigration and voter's feelings towards the effects of immigration I would say was the biggest reasons for this by far.

The Greens did well in areas where they are strong. The Liberal Democrats did ok, they made some gains but I think we have now reached peak Ed Davey and 5th place for them on the projected national share wasn't very good.

for me Gaza (and the West Bank) is the elephant in the room. Until Starmer and his inner circle stop slavishly and blindly following the Israeli government's agenda (and doing all thet they can to suppress any dissent) they will continue to forfeit the votes of all the people in the UK who are appalled by what we see and hear.
The extent of the omerta is astonishing.

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

To most voters I would say Palestine is not really an issue. Even in general elections, issues that are seen as international issues such as Gaza are rarely a major factor in how people vote. Especially given the United Kingdom plays very little role in the war. The Free Palestine protests are a minor issue given a lot of voters are getting fed up with them but as I say it's a minor issue. One of the biggest issues at every elections is the NHS.

Also it's important to remember as well that Starmer has little control over the situation in Gaza. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump with their pro-Israel stance, would easily drown out the British Government saying anything. I am not saying Biden and Trump are right or wrong but they are the world leaders with influence in the situation.

Mansfield has its problems, as do many of our towns and cities, but I find that over generalisation about the people of Mansfield untrue and offensive.

Mansfield was a solid Labour area until 2017 but now it's obviously a marginal area so things might improve.

 

[Trackman]

Lewisham results have started to come in:
New Cross Gate Ward: Greens take both seats from Labour

 

[JonathanH]

But when you are dependent on places like China for critical chemical used in manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals, Weapons and military hardware it's not a good position to be in.
That's where we will be if the decline continues, pharma is a big employer in the UK too

Absolutely not. I totally agree, but we seem to have decided that we want cheaper goods, and to haemorrhage money to China, rather than act in the national interest.

See also people buying imported flags from China to hang from lampposts to demonstrate their patriotism.

 

[Purple Train]

I imagine every Muslim in the UK (round the world?) and lots of Christians too are absolutely appalled by Israel's actions and the support they get from other countries' governments including ours.

It's certainly true in my case.

However, this is the crux of how Labour have performed so catastrophically, and why the other leftist parties haven't a hope of challenging Reform on policy. Progressives, and the very politically-interested, tend to elect councillors to reflect their wider views on any and all matters, hence the election of pro-Gaza candidates in many areas, and the disdain for Labour. There is, of course, the old joke that two leftists walk into a bar and three split factions walk out.

Reform voters are not, by and large, very politically-interested. They want to elect someone who represents them and whose policies are focused on them and their community. It doesn't even have to work, it just has to be something, even an empty promise. Bins, potholes, GP appointments, housing, and so on. Foreign policy simply doesn't matter.

To be fair to them, it is a local election and it's not as if Little Dithering-on-the-Wold town council will have any bearing on the state of the Middle East.

 

[Horizon22]

Are there that many people in the UK who really care much about it ?

Yes. More than a handful of people have voted and elected councillors who are Independent (in places like Birmingham, Manchester) or Green specifically because of their stance on Gaza, with a (mistaken) view that a vote like this can do anything about it for a local council.

It's the other side of the coin to the people who vote Reform because they want "Starmer Out" or to "stop the boats".

 

[Trackman]

Another Lewisham result:
Lewisham Central: Greens take the seats from Labour.

I think we know where this is heading.

I'm not giving a running commentary on all results, I'll see what happens this afternoon before posting.