How can the local election results be interpreted as support for Brexit?

[eightoclock]

Given the tories have lost 1200 seats, labour lost 60 ish and ukip lost 30 ish (all pro brexit parties) and the lib dems have gained 600 and greens 250 (both remain parties), why on earth are both TM and JC interpreting this as the public wanting brexit 'delivered?'.
Surely if there was a strong pro brexit vote ukip would gain and the remain supporting parties would lose?
I would take this result as support for a second referendum at the very least.
Am I missing something or is this just another example of the pair of them refusing to accept the obvious?

I voted for Local Candidates on Local issues - just as I always do and absolutely nothing to do with Brexit at all.

We voted to leave, and we should have left already

If it turns out a plan is bad, sticking to it out of principle is simply silly. Leaders -in business, politics, or in the armed forces- are there to adjust course when needed. I blame May and Corbyn precisely because they are unwilling to adapt to circumstances and put a revised plan to the public. Cowardice and leadership are mutually exclusive.

We only had labour and Tory to vote for. I chose conservative because I know the coucillors and they are active and helpful in local matters (and I will never vote labour for anything while Corbyn is in charge).

I will make my anti-Brexit stance known in the EU elections. Even the bloody BBC will struggle to wilfully misinterpret those I hope.

Make sure you look into independent candidate for EU elections, a lot of those are very Pro Brexit.

LizzieSidall - that is exactly it. I was thinking that yesterday.

I am finding it infuriating listening to both May and Corbyn saying this was a result of people wanting them to get on with Brexit. I would say a large proportion were the opposite. I certainly was. I voted LibDem as I did in the last GE.

I’m beginning to wonder if both May and Corbyn are kept locked up somewhere and not let out to make ridiculous claims. Maybe they are being gaslighted too?

I actually emailed TM yesterday saying please please please do not not these results as support for Brexit. I know it won’t do any good but it made me feel better!

I completely get that Leave voters feel betrayed and angry. I would too.

I however feel betrayed and angry at the fact that the illegalities and fraud surrounding the referendum are being completely ignored. That cannot be right.

I’m also angry that May never ever mentions the 48% who voted remain. I think that if she was seen to try to actually understand the feelings of so many in the country then there would not be quite as much anger and division. It’s all just so so horrible.

We locally voted in a green but that’s because she actually does things compared To the rest. I don’t for a second think in a GE we would vote them in. It’s purely a local thing.

I voted independent because I'm cross with Tories for how theyve dealt with (well haven't) Brexit.

Seriously? You voted against local councillors because of something which they have no say and no control over? Why would anyone vote about the Brexit issue in a local election - it makes zero sense.

In fact, party politics at local level is a scourge that encourages petty bickering and point scoring. Locally, on local issues we have a situation where Labour and Tories tend to agree on most things - like being against the crazy size and scale of new housing estates on farmland with no infrastructure improvements - but then they are all passed anyway. At election time each party blames "the other lot" which is just pathetic.

The results cannot be interpreted in any way other than a swing towards remain parties but the two main parties are so committed to Brexit come what may they will only see what they want to see.
It was an disastrous night for Tories and for Labour, any leader with half a brain would see they need to change course. We unfortunately do not have leaders with half a brain.

Ps I personally think local politics shouldn’t be about national issues but I don’t think that’s how people have voted this time round....

The fact that they are interpreting losses eg to the Lib Dems as a sign that they need to crack on faster with brexit is just further evidence that they are all more interested in the dogma inside their own heads.

I however feel betrayed and angry at the fact that the illegalities and fraud surrounding the referendum are being completely ignored. That cannot be right.
What do you mean by ignored? They are mentioned every 10 seconds on here.
By the way, total spending by Leave was £13.3M, whereas Remain spent £19.3M (excluding all government spending on Remain propaganda, which was classified as "informational") so it was hardly all one way.

Our area had no vote but family who always vote and had postal votes sorted - didn't vote for exact same reasons as Honeyroar.

Nothing to do with Brexit - just very poor choice.

I did think turn out must be lower but DH says news he's seen saw while it was low it was no lower than normal.

Will be interesting to see what happens in EU elections.

But YANBU - I think they are only hearing what they want to hear.

What do you mean by ignored? They are mentioned every 10 seconds on here.

Yes because being mentioned on MN is exactly the same as a criminal investigation happening and charges being brought which is what should be happening.
I hope a MN post isn’t your preferred method for all crimes to be investigated.

I can't see why someone would be letting brexit influence their views on who to vote for in the local elections.

badlydrawnperson - it wasn’t only the spending. Have you seen the Carole Cadwalladr Ted talk? That’s worth a look.

Why wouldn’t people take political parties into account when voting in local elections? Obviously I get that some local councillors are better than others and you might vote for one who you know works hard for the local area and gets things done. But they if they are aligned to a political party that must influence them in some way? And they must take the flack if that political party are unpopular for whatever reason. Otherwise they should stand as independents surely?

How are they funded? From the party? Asking as I really don’t know?

I don't think local council elections are a real reflection of national politics. I voted green because the candidate had the best proposals for our local area, he was also the only one consistently out doorstopping rather than assuming he'd get votes (local Tories). I'm highly unlikely to vote green in a national election however.

I see it as a protest against the UK not having left the EU yet and with no sign of an outcome. A plague on the houses of both the larger parties.

EU elections will give a clearer opinion.

I wonder what people will say if anti Brexit parties get much more votes in the EU elections than pro Brexit parties? I don't think this will be the case BTW. Would politicians/voters/press also see this as evidence that the public are fully behind Brexit and just want to 'get on with it'?

Personally I think the EU elections won't product a clearer pictureof what the public now want because of the ambiguous Labour position.

Local elections have always been a protest vote for many. The 48% of us who voted to remain had our opportunity on Thursday.

Just gutted for some good hard working councillors who have lost seats due to the national picture.

There is another side to this, two councils in the East Mids (and I'm sure elsewhere) went almost entirely to independent groups, that aren't really independent because they're organised groups, and are very pro Brexit. These were very much protest votes, as several of the candidates have extremely dubious pasts (one was subject to investigation for sexual offences against children), and did next to no campaigning.

In both cases the councils are now almost all male, although plenty of strong female candidates stood. It's this that scares me most.

There's such strength of opinion on both sides, and we can't ignore either.

Interesting range of opinions. Hopefully the EU elections coming up will give a clearer indication of the current 'will of the people '!

I voted in the local elections for the party I think would be best at emptying the bins, maintaining the roads, looking after the parks, running the schools, sports centres and social housing while providing social services as good as the funding will allow, without wasting money on irrelevant political gestures. The council has no influence on Brexit, Scottish independence, sharia law in Brunei or North Korean missile tests so these were not factored into my decision and I truly don't understand why political commentators and national party leaders think these issues influenced the way I voted.

PS. I opted for roast pork at the carvery today. Does this mean I am in favour of a second referendum or just want Brexit delivered?

I live in the west country and my rural District Council has been conservative led since 2003. We are now NOC (no overall control), with the lib dems having increased their seat numbers by a lot, and being two seats off a majority, and the number of green seats also increased substantially (they and the conservatives are now in equal second place). I've just checked back to the Referendum, and the result was only marginally in favour of Remain (51 to 49) at that point. So, my take for here is that a policy of Leave is not going down well with voters.

It depends on the change in vote in the ward, and what the vote normally is like.

If you've got formerly safe Tory and Labour wards losing huge amounts of votes and losing seats, while other parties don't pick those votes up, then that's a major signal, particularly if the vote has tanked in a certain polling zone that you know delivers a core vote.

It was clear in ours that the Tory councillor lost his seat because of the national mishandling of Brexit. His vote share collapsed by over 50 percent (which is extraordinary), as did the Labour vote. Lib Dems didn't pick those lost votes up and neither did the Greens. In other wards, lost Tory votes resulted in Labour winning a seat from the Tories despite a tank in the Labour vote as well.

It's not just as simple as overall numbers of seats lost nationally. Plus you've feedback from local associations who will tell you why your candidate lost, and they know from canvassing.

Besides, Ukip doesn't field candidates everywhere and the Libdems are seen as a safe place to park a local vote because they won't win a general. As an example, there is a hardcore brexit zone in the ward next to mine. Last election, the majority of votes were for Ukip. This time, no ukip candidate stood, so they all voted Libdem because they won't vote Tory or Labour due to their stance on brexit. This might not make sense at first glance, but voting is often about refusing support for a certain party as much as giving it.

PS. I opted for roast pork at the carvery today. Does this mean I am in favour of a second referendum or just want Brexit delivered?

Pork you say?

Brexit then..if you had Yorkshire puddings its a no deal brexit

People didn't vote for Lib Dems/ Green/ Independent, they were voting against labour and Tory.
Voters are furious and disgusted at the behaviour of MPs over Brexit and that goes for remain as well as leave voters.
We only had Labour and Tory candidates so I didn't vote at all.