Who should I vote for in local elections?

[PrincessOfPreschool]

Always been a heavily Conservative area - both council and MP. It does have a history of BNP presence a long time ago, and is the area of the immigrant hotel protests. My vote (Labour, lib dem or independent) is essentially wasted each time both locally and nationally.

But this time I'm in a predicament... Reform are hammering the area. We've had the bus, posters, a letter sent to the voters in our household (nothing from anyone else), Reform 'supporters' spamming the local Facebook groups. It will definitely be a Conservative/ Reform race. I'm struggling to vote Conservative but I would do anything to keep Reform out. So do I just chuck my vote out on something 'reasonable' (prob lib dem as they used to be second by a long margin)? Or do I block Reform with a conservative vote? WWYD if you have politics sympathetic to mine?

Have you not seen the Pride flags that Labour, SNP, Lib Dem, PC and Green Party councils have flown over the last decade?

I doubt very much that those cost £75,000

Money well spent for Nothingham CC?

Have you seen how much your average rainbow crossing costs?

My politics are similar to yours OP.

I think anyone who votes for Reform is a naive fool. It’s identity politics - none of their policies stack up fiscally and the small victories they have had have turned into a shambles. It’s not as if they’re a well-organised party with clearly thought-out policies that are just different to my values - they haven’t got a clue and are relying on the usual crowd voting for them “because immigrants”.

For that reason I would vote in any which way I had to in order to keep Reform out.

And just for balance I’d say the Greens are just as bad with their abhorrent leader Zack Hypnotits Polanski.

The Greens and Reform are both just different cheeks of the same arse. Both are inept and potentially could do real harm if given any real power.

Although local elections are not the same as nationals, I’d still be extremely keen to keep Reform out at all costs, and to a lesser degree the Greens too. That means unless the voting system changes, it’s a tactical vote.

I’m voting for the guy who works his arse off to make our little town a better place. I’ve seen him litter picking, scrubbing graffiti, repainting road name signs, filling grit bins in winter and chopping loose branches off trees in the park. He has a big social media presence and a good relationship with the council (despite them being opposing sides) so stuff gets done.

On a personal level he’s not my cup of tea and neither is his party, but I will vote for him anyway because this is not really about politics.

Do tell

This was just one of them - £50k

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/17/hounslow-council-london-rainbow-junction/

Then that was a waste of money as well.

Doesn't excuse Notingham County Council Reform's spent.

I am in Wales and voting Labour as we now have proportional representation...

Not the greens and not reform. They are two cheeks of the same unpleasant populist arse.

You dont think British Jewish people live in local areas? Anyone voting Green is voting for an antisemitic party that has whipped up hatred for Jews in Britain.

And what does this have to do with a religious cult being raided ?

As a matter of interest, who do you think OP should vote for ?

@PrincessOfPreschool you just have to choose whether your personal priority is to vote to defeat your least-preferred party or to signal support for your most-preferred party.

Personally I consider voting tactically to be a principled choice because it's about prevention of harm and protecting what matters most (whatever 'harm' means to you politically, obviously across the political spectrum everyone views harm differently).

I live in Tory central for general elections, there’s never been anything except a Tory MP. Our three ward councillors are LibDem and they do a decent job so I’ll vote for them again. I’ve never voted Tory in my life but would definitely hold my nose if it was the only way to keep Reform out.

Someone asked on a local group how to find out who the candidates are. Link to a council website which lists them and you can click through to get a bio. They're was only one bio for local council (independent) and one for county council (also independent). None of the others bothered.

Interestingly, no lib dem for local only county council, and same Reform candidate for local and County Council. If you win both, can you get both jobs?

Yes. It's quite common.

It's called being a "dual-hatted" or "double-hatted" councillor.

. If you win both, can you get both
Yes it costs you twice as much in expenses that you never quite get back. Also you are left with no freetime.