09 May 2003
Though voter apathy remains an unsolved conundrum, every party was able to claim a small victory
Audible sighs of relief could be heard around the Westminster village in the aftermath of the May 1 elections for English councils, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.
In the run-up, Labour and the Conservatives seemingly vied to be as downbeat as possible in their assessments of how they would do.
In the event, this 'mid-term report' produced a mixed bag of results that allowed all three main parties to claim a victory of sorts.
The Conservatives were able to point to their gain of several hundred seats as evidence of an incipient revival; the Liberal Democrats scored their largest share of the vote in years; while for Labour the predicted 'Baghdad backlash' proved to be geographically restricted and manageable in size.
Against this background of limited change, little in the way of discernible national voting trends emerged.
The Tories were the biggest winners on the night: they made net gains of 566 seats and 31 councils, and secured 35% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats won an overall increase of 193 seats and five councils on 30% of the vote, their highest ever.
Labour also scored 30% of the votes cast but lost 833 seats and 29 councils, including high-profile cities such as Birmingham, Coventry, Derby and Durham. This is hardly a set of results to crow about, but, nevertheless, it would seem that many resisted the temptation to use their votes to demonstrate opposition to the war against Iraq.
At the same time, the smaller parties and independents of all hues made advances. It suggests that the voters' taste for non-traditional politics, which manifested itself in last year's local elections with the election of, among others, H'Angus the monkey as mayor in Hartlepool, may be growing.
The Greens picked up nine extra seats, including their first in Manchester and York, to take their total to 34. The British National Party gained 11 seats to finish with 13, including seven on Burnley council, where its eight councillors now form the official opposition to Labour.
Meanwhile, independents took control of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, which is headed by an independent elected mayor, and Torridge council in Devon.
One national trend that does stand out, however, is the continued refusal of the majority of the public to exercise their right to vote. The turnout for these elections was a paltry 33%, a 0.2 percentage point increase on the 2002 local elections.
Efforts to persuade the electorate that these polls matter met with limited success. The 33 all-postal ballot pilot schemes held during these elections produced a response rate of 49%: an improvement, certainly, but still representing less than half of those eligible to vote.
The impact of the 17 e-voting pilots run this year can only be described as negligible, nudging voter participation up by a mere four percentage points to 37%.
Justin Cooke, the Liberal Democrats' adviser on local government, told Public Finance that the problem was fundamentally one of disillusionment with the political system rather than ease of access to polling stations.
'If the electorate see that authorities have the power to change things, they will vote,' he said. 'Finance is really at the core of this. You have to give authorities adequate resources or the means to raise them.' He also echoed concerns about the freedoms and responsibilities promised to high-performing councils.
'This is something we are deeply unhappy about. If these powers are good enough for some councils, all councils should have them. All councils should be equal.'
Interestingly, the Tories believe it was their focus on local issues that bagged them a larger haul of seats than most were expecting.
A party spokesman told PF: 'The emphasis of the party was on community government and devolving power downwards. It was a very good performance.'
Nevertheless, whether the canvassers on the doorstep preach local autonomy or direction from the centre, it remains clear that the majority of the British electorate do not believe it is worthwhile casting their votes. It is one battle where none of the main parties can claim that victory is within reach.
PFmay2003
