Tory Fear, Labour Cheer
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
It may have escaped the attention of some folk in Hastings, but last week voters across England went to the polls in the largest round of local elections since 2019, with more than 8,000 council seats up for grabs in 230 local authorities.
Despite not having any direct involvement in the election, the results will inevitably impact on the politics of Hastings and shape the political discourse over the coming year. They will also set the narrative ahead of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) elections next May and the General Election in the parliamentary constituency of Hastings and Rye, which must be called before January 2025.
Rother District Council was one of the authorities to hold an election. Its results will give Labour and the Greens a big boost. They will also be a major worry for the Conservatives.
The Tories lost five seats on the night and, although it is still the largest party on the council with 10 seats, Sally Ann Hart, the MP for Hastings and Rye, will be concerned at her party losing votes in what were traditional heartlands.
Serious campaigning
Labour gained an extra five seats, and now has seven councillors. Helena Dollimore, the prospective parliamentary candidate, will have been delighted at the election of Simon McGurk and Cheryl Creaser in Rye and Winchelsea. It was apparent that Labour took the campaign very seriously – with the number of red garden stakes being evidence of an effective and visible ground campaign which the party will hope to repeat next year. Labour supporters in Hastings will also believe that if the party can pick up votes in such true-blue areas, then Ms Dollimore can overturn the current 4,043 Tory majority to win the seat at the General Election.
The Labour Party may themselves be concerned, however, at the surge in support for the Greens, who now have three seats on Rother Council. Julia Hilton’s party did well in the HBC elections last year taking seats off Labour to deny them control of that council, and they will be hopeful of taking even more next year after their performance in Rother last week.
With the count completed, Rother Council now has ten Conservatives, seven Labour, seven Liberal Democrats, seven Rother Association of Independents (RAI), three Greens and three Independents. It is anticipated that an Alliance coalition of Labour, Lib Dem, Green and RAI councillors will again team up to run it under the continued leadership of Doug Oliver (RAI). The Conservatives will not, and will again form an opposition.
One of the biggest issues from last week’s elections was the process of voting itself, being the first at which voter ID was required. All voters had to bring with them photographic ID before they could put their cross on the ballot paper.
It is too early to know the full extent of the impact of these new rules. Turnout in Rother averaged 36%, three percentage points below the equivalent elections in 2019. There may be many factors determining this local fall in voter participation, but there were national reports of some voters being turned away from polling stations because they lacked the proper kind of photographic ID.
The government’s own research suggests that around 2 million potential voters in the UK may not have the appropriate ID, with many of these already among society’s most marginalised.
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