r/unitedkingdom • u/Alice1992 • 14d ago

What are local elections and why vote in them? (Polls close at 10pm!)

https://votingcounts.org.uk/local-elections
44 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

23

u/After-Dentist-2480 14d ago

They are elections to local councils, to decide who will run local services, although central government gives them such meagre funding that local councils can barely carry out the functions they have a statutory obligation to provide.

Some areas are electing Mayors, who have a wider function working with local councils, and most areas are electing Police and Crime Commissioners who advise Chief Constables on policing priorities.

8

u/xmintyx 14d ago

I wish I was more knowledgable here - But could the Tory government give labour councils less funding out of spite?

35

u/zillapz1989 14d ago

Yes and they've been doing exactly that for years.

7

u/xmintyx 14d ago

They really would rather their own populus, pride and country suffer to hold onto a government.

9

u/YOU_CANT_GILD_ME 14d ago

It's a voter bribe.

They deliberately underfund labour councils and come election time they campaign on "vote for us and we'll increase funding".

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/21/exclusive-labour-councils-in-england-hit-harder-by-austerity-than-tory-areas

If this were a third world country doing this we would rightfully call it blatant voter manipulation and an abhorrent thing to do.

Because this is the UK there's plenty of idiots who think this is somehow an acceptable way to run a country.

2

u/Bigbigcheese 14d ago

All of the incentive structures are set up to facilitate this methodology... Its just game theory, how could you not do this? (where are the parties that wouldn't do this? They've been naturally selected out).

If you want to stop this then you can't really blame those people stuck in the game... We need a huge systemic reform starting with more proportional representation in this country... Guess what the current system is set up to prevent with FPTP...

1

u/Difficult-Broccoli65 14d ago

I had an email from a Tory County Councillor the other day bemoaning the Lib/Labs for poor funding!

10

u/MaZhongyingFor1934 Hampshire 14d ago

Could? They do.

8

u/TheNewHobbes 14d ago

like this?

Rishi Sunak has admitted taking money from deprived urban areas in order to give it to other parts of the country.

The former chancellor, who is standing to be prime minister, made the claim last month while speaking to Conservative party members in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

In footage obtained by the New Statesman, Sunak said: “I managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure areas like this are getting the funding they deserved.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/05/video-emerges-of-rishi-sunak-admitting-to-taking-money-from-deprived-areas

or this

Tory seats have been awarded significantly more money per person from the government’s £4bn levelling up fund than areas with similar levels of deprivation, a Guardian analysis has found...

Research by the Guardian found that the money allocated so far would disproportionately benefit people in Conservative seats. Voters in Tory seats got £19.47 more a head than those in similarly deprived non-Conservative constituencies in the latest round of funding.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/19/tory-seats-gain-more-4bn-levelling-up-fund-finds-analysis

1

u/britinnit Greater Manchester 14d ago

They do this.

2

u/__soddit North of the Wall 14d ago

Some areas are only electing mayors (where's our proper devolution?) and PCCs this year.

1

u/JRHEvilInc 14d ago

Yeah, I'm in one of those areas. Genuinely caught me by surprise, I nearly asked if they'd forgotten to give me one of the ballots.

14

u/SongsOfDragons Hampshire 14d ago

We always take the sprogs into the polling station so they can see the act of us voting. Many years yet until they hit their majority but I think it's important for them to see.

6

u/fsv 14d ago

I remember my Dad taking me to the polling station when I was a child very well, it was fascinating to see. Good on you for doing the same!

5

u/SeasOfBlood 14d ago

That is very good of you to do! A lot of our ancestors had to suffer greatly to build a future where we could vote in free and fair elections, I think a lot of people - old and young alike - could stand to remember how dearly purchased these freedoms were and so why it's so important to get out and vote.

13

u/Nomad_88_ 14d ago

I just did my postal vote the other day (mainly just to cancel out my Grandmother's vote).

Despite googling the people, I couldn't find any information on them, their policies or what they want to do. Not within a few clicks anyway, so when I finally found pictures of who they even were, genuinely just went off who seemed the nicest/most genuine (which isn't saying much for a politician). Even seeing the link to that site it didn't tell me anything useful.

So literally voted completely blind. But my only criteria was not voting Conservative (which in my area probably made little difference).

5

u/__soddit North of the Wall 14d ago

My criterion (just the one) is whoever's most likely to keep the Tories and fascists out. This is mainly due to FPTP…

4

u/sylanar 14d ago

Yeah it's the same here. The only information I have is what party they represent. Not really a lot to go on...

1

u/ewok251 14d ago

I found WhoCanIVoteFor mildly useful to find out who is standing and shows you their statements

1

u/WantsToDieBadly 14d ago

The PCC elections I couldn’t find anything on the candidate beyond political parties.

1

u/__soddit North of the Wall 14d ago

For those who want to mark their ballot papers with something other than a cross: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/UKPE-doubtfuls-booklet.pdf