[quote=muddyboots post_id=278198 time=1651161070 user_id=33845]Easily!
It’s a local election and the figures speak for themselves.

Tory Wandsworth is extremely well run and I don’t see any reason to change it.

Perhaps you prefer Lambeth’s money wasting tactics, badly run services , 12 million spent yearly on debt repayments!
Things are falling apart along the common, broken benches, missing fences, paint needed everywhere!
Ridiculous bin collections with several bins…
Oh and Lambeth and Merton charge well over ours like £1660 and £1781

Plenty of reasons![/quote]
Oops.

Looks like not enough people believed the "Tories cost less" bullshit.  :D
 

There is no point in dissect the comments above regarding Labour policy individually, but I would encourage those commenting to understand how policy (national and local) is developed and how it functions in a complex ecosystem that involves, but is not limited to, individuals, geography, demographics, power structures, economics, previous policy, national/global issues, resources and incentives.

What is written above is more or less a Daily Mail characterchure of Labour policy and not what it will be which will be influenced by a number of the points above - as Conservative, LD, Green or any other group's policies would be. Some things will certainly be different, but for instance there are laws regarding things like council tax increases that a local authority has little influence over. Other things like efforts to mitigate car usage are part of a global effort to reduce carbon amongst other advantages that may help a lot of people who might not be as active on a forum such as this one. Some of these policy efforts may work better than others, but such is policy - there is a lot of trial and error. Unfortunately electoral realities make it hard for any party to do this in good faith sometimes. 

Hello 
People need to wake up and see all parties work for the same bosses in both national and local. It is all rigged and always has been. Local elections are just Council  'Selectives' and not Electivesto promote and push their agendas and thats why they never pick local people anymore. The last one Martin Linton who was amazing but now they are all City folk looking to get their back pockets filled. The current one is as much use as a choclate fireguard as they have no real power they are just a 'face'I will stand and challenge any candidates face to face and get them to expose who they really work for as we all should. We need a complete restructure. I have lived in Battersea for over 40 years and I am disgusted at how our local living has been destroyed by property developers who pay their Council mates for prime public land especially local parks and greens I stopped paying my council tax 5 years ago as it is only to pay for the fat cats pensions. That's why they hide behind doors now. Open your mind and if you believe in our local STOP voting in a rigged system. I have tried for years to get people to take note but so many have fear of change when its our children that inherit the mess again

Wandsworth will resemble Lambeth in a few years time… higher council taxes, less quality services and spending on (Labour) pet projects… no doubt more loans taken out to fund these projects.

Just a matter of time before Wandsworth household waste is reduced to every two weeks and LTN makes an appearance… no doubt citing environmental concerns…

Voters get the (local) politicians they deserve.

Best wishes for Labour but do hope they listen to legitimate concerns people have.
I can afford to pay more council tax but for so many and the unprecedentedly high living costs it would literally be a disaster.
The active travel policies need to be less shambolic too. Please no more money down the drain and help people who actually need it the most.

Just returning to this, looks as though enough people used the chance to send a message.

Hopefully on threads like these and in conversations with voters the new councillors have heard enough of the fears & hopes people have for labour and can ensure they run the council well, for all the people of the borough.

I’m optimistic that they will feel the pressure of having to do a good job so that it’s not a stick to beat the national Labour Party with at the general election.
But today I hope they just enjoy a well earned rest!

Thank you for this thread OP. I agree with many of the comments on here and just want to say I have come to the conclusion that there are other options - I voted Conservative until now. Not this time. I have spoken to canvassers on my doorstep and I have listened to radio interviews. The best the Conservatives come up with is that under Labour our service will be worse and cost will go up. These fear tactics are shoddy, lazy politics and I find it insulting. 

Both parties have shown they have double-standards in their roles as representatives of the people. Both the Conservative party and the Labour party are treating this electorate with arrogance. Their petty debates are going to continue unless we empower other parties to step up and actually govern the country with honour. 

I sincerely hope there is a good turn out today for the Green Party and the Lib Dems. When I speak to their representatives I have seen integrity and the willingness to listen, not preach fear. 

I believe this is the only way we will see true change. You say Local Government has nothing to do with Central Government. In my view, any candidate standing outside a polling station today wearing either the blue or red rosette today is associating themselves with the parties that conveniently forget about the people they represent when it suits them. This will just continue unless we use our vote. 

[quote=chorister post_id=278371 time=1651653980 user_id=41378]SouthLondonDaddy  - "[i]A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc.[/i][b]"  [/b]Probably all true, though the wheels seem to be coming off the Rwanda policy alredy.  But if it did accelerate a change, then don't you think it would be a relief just to have someone who was not a serial liar as Prime Minister? [/quote]

And who would be this alternative?
IF there were a credible alternative, and IF it were plausible to think that this Tory alternative would be a more decent person and would not support the extremes of Priti Patel etc, then MAYBE your argument might hold some water.
BUT:
1) there is no such alternative in sight; until recently it was Rishi, but his chances are now over
2) Even if there were, I would not be ready to trade the CERTAINTY that the local situation will get worse under Labour (see my points about road closures, LTNs, etc) with A VERY SLIM CHANCE that MAYBE SOME of the extremes of this government might be watered down

Locally Labour are going to lose many of their traditional voters over the LTNs throughout London. It was a shambolic scheme and the electorate, many working class, were treated with contempt.
I won't be voting Labour this time for the local elections. This will be my protest vote and I know I won't be alone.
I agree with all the people who've said cuts to services by the Tories have been appalling. However, this can be addressed by voting Labour in the GE, not locally and I feel we have a lot of idiotic Labour councillors at present throughout London and not just in Wandsworth.

SouthLondonDaddy  - "[i]A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc.[/i][b]"  [/b]Probably all true, though the wheels seem to be coming off the Rwanda policy alredy.  But if it did accelerate a change, then don't you think it would be a relief just to have someone who was not a serial liar as Prime Minister? 

PS Those who think that only angry car-supremacist white men oppose LTNs should have a look at the activity of "Little Ninja", an environmentalist who has been very vocal on the social injustice of LTNs and how they displace traffic from rich to poor roads. Oh, he doesn't drive.
https://twitter.com/littleninjauk
https://t.co/J9VKyYYjFq

 

@MrBalham99, you are right that the low council tax of Wandsworth and Westminster is mostly an anomaly, and that most Tory-run boroughs charge much higher council taxes.

However, what on earth would be the link between local and national elections? A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but [b]it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc.[/b]
If you disagree, please do enlighten me on the constitutional mechanism through which any of this would happen!

[b]Local elections are about local issues. I like our Labour MP (dr Rosina Khan) and I believe I will continue to vote for her at general elections.
I dislike local Labour councillors and will never vote for them. Like I said in my other post, local Labour has been hijacked by a bunch of out of touch eco-extremists.[/b]
Someone else posted the tweet with which Jo Rigby bullied a local shopkeeper, I think a butcher, who had dared oppose low-traffic neighbourhoods (he doesn't give a flying f* about the environment, she tweeted, and soon the eco-extremists jumped on the bandwagon and wanted to boycott his business!!!).
Ever wondered why Rigby, an Earlsfield resident, is now being parachuted into the Balham ward?

Again, local elections are about local issues. I think the Tories have done well locally. [b]Council tax won't double overnight under Labour, but road closures, low-traffic neighbourhoods etc would be added - that is a huge difference between the two parties[/b]. I know I don't want this champagne socialist policy of closing the richer roads to shift traffic onto the poorer ones, and making access more difficult for emergency services.

E.g. see an ambulance which had to park far away because of road closures:[size=100][font=Calibri][url]https://twitter.com/SaveColumbiaRd/status/1415975621411414017[/url][/font][/size]

or the chaos they have created in Lambeth https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K8SwYwEKuiw&fbclid=IwAR1a_JziXW6f8rE3h36c-plbSSGw0VleRdLMNklAo3yGH7vDQPFNXL3rPls

[quote=janee post_id=278351 time=1651608244 user_id=10384]279490496_10223499784537431_1086091245059429648_n-1.jpg[/quote]



An article from 3 and a half years ago https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/17277232.child-homelessness-wandsworth-highest-five-years-shelter-reveal/

mentions [b]Westminster, Newham and Haringey as the worst councils in terms of homelessness.
Westminster has mostly been run by the Tories, while Newham and Haringey by Labour.
See, you cannot generalise and imply that Tory-run councils are always worse when it comes to these things.[/b]

Plus, one should distinguish between the deprivation of a borough, which is not entirely the fault of the councillors running the borough, and what the borough does about it.

[quote=muddyboots post_id=278198 time=1651161070 user_id=33845]Easily!
It’s a local election and the figures speak for themselves.

Tory Wandsworth is extremely well run and I don’t see any reason to change it.

Perhaps you prefer Lambeth’s money wasting tactics, badly run services , 12 million spent yearly on debt repayments!
Things are falling apart along the common, broken benches, missing fences, paint needed everywhere!
Ridiculous bin collections with several bins…
Oh and Lambeth and Merton charge well over ours like £1660 and £1781

Plenty of reasons![/quote]
Let me take your post apart:

1) Funnily, the Tories never mention our neighbours Tory-run RBKC..where council tax is £1364.

2) Council tax is main set by Block Grant from central government, local authorities can only vary it 3% without a referendum.

3) So whether Labour, LDs or Tories run Wandsworth is pretty much irrelevant, regarding CT

4) Every local election has national issues and if you're someone who supports the most wasteful, corrupt and authoritarian government this country has ever had, that's your choice. But we won't get on.


 

@janee, do you know for sure that cul de sacs are cleaned better / more often in Labour-run councils?
I used to live in Labour-run Southwark. Both Southwark and Lambeth have some streets which are cleaner and some which are dirtier. I think it comes down more to the area within the council than to the council itself.
Also, a single road is not necessarily representative, you cannot generalise that to the whole borough.
Oh, and also bear in mind that many of the firms to which councils outsource these services (Veolia etc) work for both Labour and Tory councils!

I agree that the wheelie bins which some councils have, and which can be emptied automatically into the trucks, are better than the Wandsworth bins which have to be emptied manually, but I don't think the bin-emptying mechanism is a sufficient reason to vote Labour - also because it's not like Labour would realistically change the bins overnight, imagine the cost and all the waste that would create!