The returning officer has released the full results for Newham from last week’s European election:
|
Party |
Votes |
Percent |
|
Labour |
33,379 |
51% |
|
Liberal Democrats |
9,192 |
14% |
|
The Brexit Party |
7,730 |
12% |
|
Green Party |
5,353 |
8.2% |
|
Conservative |
3,756 |
5.7% |
|
Change UK |
2,234 |
3.4% |
|
UKIP |
1,336 |
2.0% |
|
UK European Union Party |
917 |
1.4% |
|
Animal Welfare Party |
640 |
1.0% |
|
Women’s Equality Party |
572 |
0.9% |
|
Others (independents) |
312 |
0.5% |
|
Total votes |
65,421 |
100% |
Compared to the previous European election in 2014, Labour lost 7 points of vote share and the Conservatives lost 11 points. UKIP also lost share, down over 6%, though their previous vote was bettered by Farage’s new Brexit vehicle.
The big gainers were the Liberal Democrats, up 12% and the Green Party up 3.6%.
Turnout was down 3%, from 39% to 36%.
forestgatedotnet 
Strange analysis. UKIP down but their votes have clearly gone to the Brexit Party which you don’t mention. Apart from all the national factors, the Labour candidates in London did not strike me as the best that could be offered but Newham, as always, delivered a strong Labour vote. I’m not sure how other political parties can challenge Labour in Newham particularly when the public money spent by Labour allows them to promote their party all year round. This is achieved through the Newham Mag and the precept on Councillor allowances that goes into financing a full time Labour Party post in Newham. Similar things happen for other political parties in other parts of the country and it simply means that there is not a level playing field. I’m really not sure what the London vote means for Labour in a GE but in Newham Lynn and Stephen will win comfortably.
Fair point about the Brexit Party, so I’ve added a small mention. Labour’s campaign was hampered by a lack of resources from HQ (not enough leaflets, no mail shot) and a confused message on the key issue. Getting over 50% of the vote was a minor miracle.
Your allegations against the Newham map could be considered libellous.
Council publications are strictly regulated and the content is checked by the Lawyers. In Newham’s case, the same lawyers that also work for Havering.
A bit of a heavy reply Alan. Rather than engage in debate you threaten. And you are not a lawyer so I take your ‘legal’ view with a pinch of salt, or are you speaking for LBN? When the Newham Mag was delivered regularly under the previous Mayor it constantly promoted what he and other Councillors were doing. Whether it was legal to do so is irrelevant as it constantly showed SRW and his cabinet in a good light. To suggest that didn’t add to electoral success is debatable. It is also true that any attempts at scrutiny were not reported, nor were some of the disastrous spending decisions that the residents of Newham will pay for in the years to come. This blog and others regularly joked about the number of SRW photos there were in each issue. I don’t recall experienced councillors commenting on the blog and threatening Martin or anyone else. Are you also writing to Private Eye and threatening them? Happy to have a sensible debate about unfair funding, influence and an electoral system that is clearly not fit for purpose but starting a debate with threats is laughable. I’m pretty sure this blog is the wrong place to have such a debate anyway.
Oh, and by the way, such publications are not strictly regulated. To the best of my knowledge there is no statutory authority that regulates. Indeed, central government attempts to force LAs to cut back on such publications hasn’t been that successful. The only regulations are those at the time of elections but by that time the ‘damage’ is done.
Council publications are allowed to tell the public what that Council is doing. Regular publications cost less than delivering lots and lots of separate bits of paper about matters a Council has a duty to inform the residents about. There’s a clear distinction between that and what political parties publish.
Just for info Newham magazine is now monthly not fortnightly and the Labour Group have not had a paid organiser since May 2018.
So does that mean that Councillors no longer pay over a percentage of their allowance to the Labour Group? If they still do, what happens to the money if there is no longer a paid organiser?
With regards to the Newham Mag, once a month (which I was obviously aware of) is still wrong if the publication is used to promote the profile and ideas of Councillors, which I believe it still does. Nowhere near as biased as it used to be but if you take the latest issue, the cover has a picture of the Mayor on it in classic politicians hard hat, high Vis jacket and a shovel. If it is genuinely being used to give information to residents then there are simply no need for such posed and laughable photos.