Morley Town Council results

The Morley results ARE published, just in a more obscure bit of their website.

Figures are not given for the electorate or the number of ballot papers so I have based the percentage figure on the highest number of votes received plus the number of spoilt papers. As voters could vote for any number of candidates up to the maximum (3, 4 or 5) and quite a few voted for zero without the papers being classed as spoilt, there were a much higher number of voters than the figure may suggest.

(I will request the details from Leeds).


In Central Ward, BNP came second and fourth, with Labour third. In Churwell, BNP came last.


BNP came second and Labour third in Elmfield, I expect that a fourth MBI would have succeeded in this Ward, but they presumably deferred to Stuart Welham who did rather badly as an Independent, coming in second last to Albert Slingsby.
In Scatcherd, BNP came second and there wasn't any candidates to come third!

Note that there is a clear percentage gap between MBI and BNP.

In Teale, BNP beat Labour and the two (BNP) Independents came last. In Topcliffe, BNP came a closer second but beat Labour in their heartlands.

Town Council results

...still not up on the Leeds Website so analysis will have to wait.

The winner results are up on the Town council website though, which looks rather similar to the MBI site list (which doesn't include the BNP Councillor, unsurprisingly).

The site has been updated but doesn't have too much content yet.

It is also broken under firefox...

Results- a closer look.

Here are the official results for Morley North & South, images from a spreadsheet. I've postulated the spoilt papers so that the percentages match and I've ordered them as to vote share. Note that BNP were second both times, the Lib Dems came last and when the share of the electorate (rather than the share of the vote) is looked at it is rather pitiful- less than 20% voted for Bob Gettings and less than 15% voted for Terry grayshon.



The Town Council results are not published yet.

Result!

Result- City Council- Independents in North & South.

Town Council- 23 Morley Borough Independents, one BNP, no labour. (Subject to verification).

My own ward has five MBI independents. Was five laboour. Result!

In a final push...

Labour did a last minute leaflet drop today. A bit late fellas, I went to the polling station at 7:15am.

David Langham is the City Council candidate.- I don't know him, although I did know his Dad Peter who used to be the Town Council Mace Bearer until his unfortunate death in early 2006. That connection is a bit of a "so what?" to me as I didn't think it of any relevance to him standing as a Councillor, let alone feature in his shiny leaflet.

I do know the three stooges listed here. Not exactly a hard sell, what?

It is a sad reflection on local Labour that they can only drag along three candidates for the five seats of their only "safe" ward. (and only muster eleven candidates overall when the BNP managed twelve).

Election day

I nipped into the polling station on the way to work. I was about the fifth to vote, although someone followed me in (who wanted to vote for Leeds, but not Morley).

The City Council ballot paper was white, the Town Council one was green and had two columns whilst the sample ballot fixed to the booth was a single column, a contradiction which I thought was potentially confusing for the more hard of thinking voter. As a passing comment, the shade of green for the Town Council ballot was MBI green!

Something else I noticed was the lack of official mark (the stamp out or emboss used to show it came from the polling officer). On querying that I was told "we don't do that any more".

(It is still in the rules though about not disclosing what it is).

Both votes went in the same box- one more job to do tomorrow, separating them before bundling, counting and sorting.

Politics is getting personal

Today I received a personalised letter from Cllr Terry Grayshon (as did Karen). They both had 2nd class stamps so they were probably posted on Saturday last week.


This might be what the BNP are supposedly getting upset about, although probably not.

The letters included the following leaflet.


Let us have a reality check here. The only place the MBI have real power (but not control as they only have one third of the Councillors) is on the Area Committee South. The Council as a whole is run by a rainbow alliance of Conservative, Lib Dem and Greens who form the executive posts as they have a 52 seat majority (of 99). (The people excluded are Labour (40), MBI (4), BNP (1) and two Independents).

This could well change on Friday, although in what way is anyone's guess.

"BNP leaflet allegation are lies"

The Morley Borough Independents have repudiated the allegations of the BNP. The following appears on their website:

"
At election time we expect a number of allegations and counter allegations to be made. People often claim credit for the work of others and will attach themselves to the success of others.

However the BNP in Morley have produced a new low.

We can assure you that no leaflet issued by the Morley Borough Independents is either illegal or potentially Libellous. It appears to be nothing more than scaremongering tactics by the BNP.

If you have not received one of the leaflets from the BNP making the allegation, below is a copy of the section of the leaflet in question. The leaflet does not substantiate the claims made and offers readers no indication of what the alleged misdemeanours could be.

There has been no complaint made to West Yorkshire Police about any Morley Borough Independent Leaflet and neither has the matter been reported to the Legal Services Department of Leeds City Council.

The BNP in Morley seem hell bent on trying to silence anyone who speaks out against them, by using their bully boy tactics.
"

You can see it online HERE

Morley South Candidates

From last weeks Obtiser, the choices I have on offer within my home Ward for Leeds City Council.

(Click for a more legible version)

Morley Obtiser politics special

This week, candidate testimonials for the three Leeds City Council seats have been published.

Bob Evans, the Editor, was so underwhelmed that he editorialised about it.

One thing does strike me, reading through the statements from the candidates this year.
It appears that politicians from all parties are claiming credit for the same things and are also wanting the same things to make Morley a better place.
If that's the case, why is there any need for political parties?

You can read the whole thing here.

Election news- Morley North

My friends in the north advise me that they have had nothing from any Town Council prospectives yet, although they have had the Labour leaflet, shown below.

Election fever- not yet...

Driving back through Churwell this afternoon, Karen commented that there was a distinct lack of "Vote for me!" type signs. Indeed I haven't noticed any posters in windows yet. (Not that I've been particularly looking). No rosette wearing, vote touting hopefuls near the Town hall this morning either.

Still, there is next weekend.

The Obtiser has promised candidate biographies next week, along with a list of Town Council hopefuls. (You saw it here first, of course.)

No Town Councillor leaflets through the door yet.

Out for the count...

A while back, I did consider asking one of the candidates if I could be a polling agent so that I could be present as an observer, then the City Council offered to pay me to do it! They also asked me if I would consider doing the actual vote at a polling station on the Thursday, but I couldn't justify two days off work.

Today, I received confirmation that I am to be a counting assistant for the Morley North election. (& possibly the Parish/Town Council ones as well, although it isn't actually mentioned).

The count is on Friday 4th May at 10am in Morley town Hall and I will be paid £40 (gross) for doing it. I am also informed that recounts will incur a supplementary fee.

I am obliged to keep some stuff secret, namely names (& register numbers) of electors who have or have not voted, who they have voted for or what the official mark is (that punch/stamp the polling clerk uses just before they hand you the ballot paper.

These are the same undertakings that everyone who participates in the count has to agree to from the clerks to the candidates. Obviously, counting staff must not be employed in any capacity by a candidate or party at the elections. (That probably includes leafleting, but I'm not in the pay of any politicians, paid or unpaid.)

Terry Grayshon's leaflet

Unsolicited, Cllr Terrence Grayshon Esq. has graciously sent me a soft copy of his election flyer. (He always did have high standards when it comes to sartorial eloquence so I imagine he wants his tome to meet the highest presentation standards)




This is better than my leaflet - the colours are more vibrant and it isn't creased. It doesn't show the printer though- PDQ Printing Services Ltd.

Terry- I'll add a ClustrMap to the site so you can see where in the world people are who are admiring your leaflet.

Newspaper day

The letters aren't overly inspiring this week. There are features, however, about Nick Griffin (BNP Chairman) visiting Morley, also a large advertorial about Ed (Blinky) Balls MP who promises to move his office to Morley if elected. (Not a big surprise there, the office rent probably keeps Unity House solvent). The headline is "Minister: I will work hard for independence and a strong economy". The independence he refers to however, isn't from Political Parties, the Union or the European Union, it is just a throwaway remark about us being a proud, independent area, whilst he delivers Searchlight leaflets.

Through the door tonight- Morley Mirror leaflet, from Labour. It has results of recent polling they have conducted: BNP 31% Labour 28%, MBI 22%, Others 17%. (That adds up to 98% so the numeracy of it is rather suspect!) They claim that they have overtaken the independents as the main challenger to the BNP. It is possible that they buck the national trend and bounce back, but I wouldn't bet money on it...