please empty your brain below
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Point of order. The Hillingdon leaflet says it is the CEO, not the (elected) leader, who is paid more than the Prime Minister.
It is of course a meaningless comparison - they are comparing apples with oranges. The CEOs analogue is the head of the civil service, not the PM (Sir Humphrey, rather than Jim Hacker)
Timbo | 06.05.26 - 7:45 a.m. | #
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A long-held wish of mine is that local elections should be party-free - all candidates should be independents. That might focus people's minds on local rather than national issues. I suspect the idea is impractical, and it will forever remain a pipe dream.
Alan S | 06.05.26 - 8:08 a.m. | #
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Can someone commission the Havering people to educate the country on this point.
toby | 06.05.26 - 8:29 a.m. | #
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I had an almost identical leaflet from the Greens poked through my letterbox here in Rotherhithe that featured a similar bar graph, albeit showing Labour in the lead but with the Greens in a close second place, with the same "can't win" arrows pointing at the Tories, Reform and Lib Dems. Having read your post, I now wish I hadn't chucked it in the bin because it would have been interesting to see how their figures stacked up against the real ones on britain.votes.now.
Richard | 06.05.26 - 8:30 a.m. | #
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The well respected IFS says council tax in my borough Wandsworth will have to go up 75% in the next three years thanks to the government's funding changes affecting London boroughs.
Of course the controlling Labour Party leaflets don't mention that. Instead they bang on about having frozen council tax even though they haven't as the social care precept went up.
It's tragic that in my ward all the parties have managed to send us leaflets with false claims. Not suprising then that people don't vote. "They're all as bad as each other" comes to mind.
ap | 06.05.26 - 9:01 a.m. | #
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In Hoe Street ward Walthamstow, I've only had Labour and Green leaflets, and been canvassed by one of the Labour candidates.
The local battle seems mainly to be fought on the Walthamstow Life facebook page where accuracy and commitment to fair play remain highly lacking!
TomH | 06.05.26 - 9:04 a.m. | #
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The Residents Association have for many years been a major force in Havering.They actually usually carry out the tasks they are responsible for
Whoever I vote for in the Watford area tells me only they can fix it
Dave B | 06.05.26 - 9:18 a.m. | #
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Had a look at the Britain Votes Now projections from us and they seem quite out of step with other polling from More in Common for example. It will be interesting to see who is right - I certainly hope More in Common are More Accurate
town mouse | Homepage | 06.05.26 - 9:56 a.m. | #
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I feel that there should be a compulsory "Citizenship" class throughout secondary school on government (national & local), elections, voting and its importance so kids grow up with knowledge and perhaps even a desire to vote.
Depressingly, this time some of mine expressed disinterest in the local election as being 'not as important' as national elections!
They soon wished they hadn't!
The Britain Votes Now predicts a depressing swing to the turquoise!
All I can say is that you get what you (don't bother to) vote for. Caveat emptor!
Cornish Cockney | 06.05.26 - 10:23 a.m. | #
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In Lambeth I have only had Labour and Green, as Reform UK/Conservative/Liberal Democrat/anyone else have no chance (the ward has only ever elected Labour councillors since 1965!) and have not even tried.
The interesting feature of the (25+, as they have everything to lose) Labour leaflets is that the local ones (in the name of the three candidates) are two-colour, sober and accurate, as far as I can determine, whereas the generic ones (in the name of the Labour Party) are multi-colour and have so many inaccuracies and even falsehoods they have been called "lying leaflets".
The 3 Green leaflets are all local, the same and reasonably OK although there are a few inaccuracies.
Alastair Scott | 06.05.26 - 10:23 a.m. | #
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In my borough (Barnet) the Tories won in 2018 due to the Corbyn factor, despite making a complete mess with the "EasyCouncil" policy.
Having reversed this and been running things much better, they then lost in 2022 to Labour.
I suspect Labour will lose tomorrow due to the national unpopularity (and the antisemitism factor), despite being perfectly ok at council level.
As you say, council elections tend to be won or lost of national popularity, rather than how they actually run local services...
Mikey C | 06.05.26 - 11:05 a.m. | #
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Schools do have citizenship classes at secondary level, but the content is minimal and neither the schools nor the pupils take them seriously. The time is often used as a "miscellaneous, doesn't fit into other subjects" lesson slot.
Such is the wider societal dearth of knowledge that even most of the teachers won't know the difference between the various layers of government.
Suffolker | Homepage | 06.05.26 - 11:51 a.m. | #
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None of this 'everyone has a smartphone' guff from Lutfur Rahman - he gives everyone a paper map and directions, admire the organisation.
Still Anon | 06.05.26 - 1:28 p.m. | #
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I wonder if local government would work better if the democracy was set up along the lines of the original Athenian model.
Oversimplification: councilors empanlled similarly to an Athenian "Boule": annual selection of citizen assembly selected randomly from eligible electorate with opt out, similar size to current council; every boule member has a part time council officer to help with practical execution of "pastoral" tasks and general process. Appropriate pay and expenses based on attendance and effort, managed by their assigned council officer.
MilesT | 06.05.26 - 3:31 p.m. | #
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It seems highly probable that across the country there will be a significant swing to turquoise, mainly due to national issues and certainly nothing to do with any perception of competence to run services on a local level - see Kent or Nottinghamshire.
It's come to quite something when left-leaning voters in my area are looking to the Greens to minimise the impact of Deform, because Labour has become a toxic brand.
Frank F | 06.05.26 - 3:51 p.m. | #
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There were four Aspire canvassers outside my polling station this morning clutching the 'How to vote for Lutfur' leaflet. "Can I give you a leaflet," asked one.
Only one canvasser for the Tower Hamlets Independents but he was in a suit and tie.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 07.05.26 - 9:23 a.m. | #
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Here in Redbridge (Fullwell Ward) I received 4 leaflets from Labour, 2 from Reform, 1 from the Greens, and 1 from Redbridge Independents. I also had two doorstep chats with a friendly Labour canvasser who asked if I'd like a phone call from Wes Streeting (which I declined).
Alan S | 07.05.26 - 9:33 a.m. | #
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The part with the RA in Havering is very interesting because there has elsewhere been a lot of overlap in the vote for RAs and Reform (which makes sense when voters want the least 'establishment' option).
matthieu1221 | 07.05.26 - 4:35 p.m. | #
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The Bow East graph must have worked its magic because the ward has returned a full set of Green councillors.
Actual percentage vote share
Green 41%
Labour 26%
Aspire 17%
Reform 8%
diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.05.26 - 7:07 p.m. | #
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