Do you think some people didn't know what level of government they were voting for?

voting is a responsibility as well as a right, and it’s alarming that some people seem to be ignorant to this extent

Let's not pretend that this is a new phenomenon. In times of hardship people turn to more political extremes. Centrist parties are generally elected during times of peace and prosperity. Look at how communism and facism were flourishing across Europe a hundred years ago. Yes there are links to educational attainment and how people vote. Yes areas of deprivation with less academic attainment tend to move to political extremes first but people generally aren't stupid. They are desperate for change, to find a way out the situation they find or perceive themselves to be in. It's not just the British electorate either. More and more people in other European countries are voting towards political extremes as well.

And anyway surely it's better that Staffordshire county council is Reform and it gives labour a bit of a wake up call, rather than a landslide for Reform at a general election.

Andrea Jenkyns was saying yesterday something about stopping illegal migration. I think they have six councillors in the bit she’s responsible for. Her actual remit will be pot holes, bin collections, bus services and dog shit.

This ⬆️.
Education isn't about giving you all the knowledge you need for life, it's about setting you up so that you can work it out for yourself in adult life.
The gov.uk website is excellent and explains all the workings of Parliament and the role of government. I wish people would take some responsibility,instead of the knee jerk "we didn't learn it in school".

The problem them is the stupid, complicated level of government. It’s not even remotely shocking that people don’t know which tier of LG does what. Why would people remember which tier has which responsibility? Why have tiered government at all? It’s wasteful and confusing.
I worked in local government in Scotland and we didn’t have that tiered local government.

Again, we do. Do you remember every single lesson you had at school? Pull out it of your head years later and say "oh yep, brilliant, I remember that lesson on a wet Friday and know exactly what I need to know?" This is not about education it's about adults taking responsibility to learn for themselves about the power they wield when they vote.

Well said. Nice to see a measured, intelligent post. They're like hen's teeth on here this morning

Also, people seem very ignorant about the Constitutional Monarchy. Even on here, people think KC has far more power and can somehow control Home Office decisions, which isn't the case.

I think also, the problem with a referendum is that it's just binary. In/out just polarised everyone, and nuances were abandoned.

I think local election votes have more recently been used to send a message of future general election voting intention.

It's pretty certain that whoever holds power at local level are going to turn the street lights on and empty your bins every week etc.

I started a thread a while back about if there should be some way of testing people's understanding of the process before getting a voting license. I was mostly shouted down by those who rather proved my point who couldn't seem to grasp that I wasn't asking for a test to prove people understand X party are right / racist/ bastards / toffs whatever but simply that they understand the system.

They actively campaigned against the EEC/EU. It's a capitalist endeavour. Thatcher loved it, it was the Maastricht terms she didn't like.
Freedom of movement and cheap workers to keep wages low and weaken the unions?
That's what the Conservatives wanted.

Exactly this. Teach this stuff, albeit on a basic level, at school!

Very few people will need to know about simultaneous equations and everyone will need to know about politics and interest rates etc.

We have three levels of council (parish, district and county) plus a mayor. There are frequent Facebook posts whinging about things but blaming them on the wrong council. Things like why doesn't the district council sort out the potholes or why had the county council decided we should have so many bins.

I think democracy would be improved with fewer levels of council.

How about information pages on the websites? I strongly believe these structures and areas of responsibility are kept as deliberately opaque and mysterious as possible to discourage participation. So you can't then get upset at outcomes as a result of people having no idea what they're doing

Just stop with the "Boomers" stereotype.
You do know that not everyone in that demographic voted for Brexit? Or maybe you don't.

Was Tony Benn and Corbyn not left wing then? They were euro skeptics

The level of ignorance around local government is shocking.

I work for a local authority - a County Council so we are a tiered authority. I'm also a parish councillor for the village where I live. People think that the parish council have a say in planning decisions. They think that the District Council should "do something about the roads", the only thing that people seem sure about is that the District Council is responsible for bin collections, and that's only because the name of the District Council is printed all over the bins.

I'm looking forward to the Local Government Reform when we'll get rid of tiered LAs.

I do think the basics of local government should be taught in schools. I also think that voting should be mandatory but I know that's an unpopular opinion!

I think part of the problem with Reform votes - and this applies to Brexit too - was that a lot of people who wouldn't normally vote and have no interest in politics were whipped up into voting by social media propaganda.

If you have very little understanding of how politics works, you can be manipulated into thinking you're voting for something you're not.

Well this.

Council elections have very low turnout because most people are not that excited about what local government does. It’s either stuff that directly affects them daily but they just aren’t that interested in, like bins, or stuff that doesn’t affect them, maybe social care. Or they aren’t terribly sure what local government does. The decline of local newspapers will mean many people are less informed about their council than they used to be.

People are more aware of, as it’s regularly on the national news, the national government. Lots of people are very unhappy with how things are in the country. It’s a long time till the next general election, but local elections are a good way of expressing dissatisfaction with the government and even main opposition parties. It’s pretty clear from KS comments after the results came in, and KB’s, that they have got this message loud and clear. So people who voted to express dissatisfaction with the government have been very effective.

All I get from your post OP, and others like yours. is that you have a complete lack of intellectual curiosity about people who behave or think differently from you. For your own emotional or psychological reasons you prefer to look down on them as ‘thick’.

I can’t respect that.

Well apparently reform have promised to

lower council tax
fix pot holes
a review if council money and to be done within 6 month

looking forward to see all this actually happen…

I really hope this will be the kick up the arse the government needs to take action before it's too late. Maybe the locals are dose of "oh fuck" required. There's time to do it, not much money but there is time.

Of course not. Daft colleagues.

All the older (70+) people I know are left wing and voted against Brexit.

I suspect the vote for reform is more to do with high levels of migration and less PIP, as Reform aren't going to be looking to increase welfare spending are they? The vox pops aren't always honest - these people know they're held in high contempt by the BBC etc and so are not going to reveal thier true motives.

Many people are ignorant, obviously.

But winning local elections to shift national policy is normal minority-party politics.

I’m reminded of that bell curve meme. The idiot and the genius both saying: “I want Reform policies so I voted Reform”, and the midwit in the middle quibbling about the electoral system.