If you’re voting on Thursday…

[sortyourdietout]

… in the local elections, are you looking at local councillors and deciding which one would be best fit for your area, or are you looking at MPs and central govt to decide who gets your vote?

IABU - using central govt and MPs to decide who to vote for (effectively a protest vote)

YANBU - using local councillors and local issues to decide who to vote for

[No local elections in my area but if there were I would look at local councillors and issues to decide)

I will be voting to keep the Reform charlatan out of my local area. That is the priority for me (and many of the other local people I know).

Mix of both. I’m absolutely not voting reform but I am also looking to vote for those who are in my area.

I dislike all the main parties to be honesty but only the labour councillor is local to my actual area, where I live. He has lived in my town his whole life and engages with lots of positive local initiatives so I’ll vote for him, despite not being thrilled with the Labour Party.

All of this rarefied debate needs to be considered alongside the fact that it will be a miracle if most wards have more than 1 in 4 voters bother to turn up. With all the correct ID and stuff.

I've voted already, and have looked at each candidate properly to see who I think will be most effective for our ward. I'm not especially aligned or loyal with any particular party.

Because it’s possible people can’t stand Starmer and want him out so will vote anyone but Labour but their local council may be run by Labour and doing a good job.

Or that they want the Govt to stop the boats so are voting Reform but obviously that’s not their local council’s remit.

I’ve seen both suggested in other discussions on MN and elsewhere. Hope that clarifies?

Ours are only County Council elections and we know nothing about the candidates so have to choose based on the party they belong to.

There aren’t elections everywhere

Yes, @luckylavender - if you've read the thread you'll see I've already apologised for that

I am looking to vote tactically to keep the Reform Councillors out. I don't think it will work.

@sortyourdietout thank you

I feel like you needed four options 😂

The council here is good, I think, so I'm happy to vote for the status quo but I think that's how I would vote in a national election.

Voting for who is best here. Which means I need to pick cons or reform.

The only two parties who have actually been doing things locally.

Labour only show up for a photo op. Look at us we put poppies on lamp posts 😇
Lib Dem’s, they exist but I’ve never seen them.
Green, hello?? Are you alive?
Independent apparently exists as I got a leaflet. Who knew.

Same. It came in the post actually addressed to me personally. I've not had anything from anyone else and no knocks on the door either. Although given where my house is located that isn't particularly surprising.

I sent off my postal vote yesterday. I voted purely on local issues, which are being handled appallingly by our labour ward councillors. The predictions show that at least one of them is likely to lose their seat to a Green Party candidate, and my understanding from talking to the canvassers is that the Green Party will be much more willing to address our local issues, so I used both of my votes for them.

I voted a while ago via the post. I used both options when considering my vote. I voted Labour.

I sent off my postal vote yesterday

We have postal votes, but with the state of the postal service over the last few years, I have taken to delivering our postal votes to the polling station on the day, to ensure they get there, rather than putting them in an actual post box, as I have no confidence they will.

Both

How the poll stands at the moment.
For those on the 25% side, would you mind elaborating as to whether it’s a protest vote to give Starmer/Labour govt a ‘bloody nose’? Or something else?

I'm voting lib dem to keep reform out

I know that frustration as felt that myself last year when our local elections were held.

I do wonder if this is why local elections have a lower turnout out too, because trying to find out what those up for election want to do when in office can be bloody hard work!

We have an outstanding councillor who is brilliant at getting local problems sorted out, so I'm voting for her. She happens to be a Green party councillor, but I'd vote for her if she represented any other party, bar Reform.

I think it's bloody ridiculous having the election here though. The council will be abolished and replaced with a unitary authority in a year's time, so it's just a huge waste of money.

I’ll be voting based on local counsellors. Some of mine are very good, and last time I made a mad dash to get there in time to vote after travelling with work. He really has made a big difference for local issues, including getting more trains and other issues which matter to us in our suburb.

I'm voting independent - she's the best candidate for dealing with local issues

I've had a few leaflets from the Greens and one from Reform. The Reform one was a generic one, the only local thing in it was the name of their candidate.

I sent the Reform leaflet back to Reform HQ, using their Freepost address.

What they want to do and what they can do are often very different!

I worked in democratic services for 3 councils over 2 decades. Every election, we ran induction programmes for new councillors, and every time, they would be very disappointed to find out that they couldn't just build a new school/housing estate/library/whatever. They were even more disappointed when they learned that almost all the money would have to go on providing the services that the law says they have to provide.

So annoying.
Clive Myree just started the evening news by saying
"4 days until millions go to the polls in the biggest test of public opinion since the General election."

Surely, as a public broadcaster they have some sort of obligation to remind voters they are voting for Local Councils / Local Mayors / different arrangements in Scotland and Wales, not reiterating the idea that it is a poll on the popularity of the current National Government ? No wonder so many members of the public are confused.