The state and local government



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The Greens, as Table 11.6 shows, had candidates in all 14 constituencies in both 2004 and 2008. Their total constituency vote in 2008 increased by 56,288 compared to 2004; and their share of the vote by 0.38 per cent. The Greens total list vote, although their share fell by 0.17 per cent, increased by 43,020. Moreover, due to the tactical agreement with Ken Livingstone – under which the Greens called on their supporters to cast their second choice mayoral votes for him and he called on his supporters to vote Green for their second choice – the first choice votes in 2008 for the Green mayoral candidate Siân Berry increased by 20,043 (up 0.3 per cent) and her second choice votes increased by 123,041 (up 5.7 per cent) compared to Darren Johnson in 2004. All the London Left – including George Galloway’s Respect Renewal which supported Ken Livingstone following Respect’s split into two separate organisations (Respect Renewal and the Respect/Left List) in late 2007 – supported the latter tactic except the Respect/Left List.

Lindsey German’s first choice mayoral vote in 2008 when she was the Respect/Left List candidate fell by 44,935 (down by 5.5 per cent of the votes cast) and her second choice vote fell by 28,237 (down by 1.6 per cent of the votes cast) compared to 2004 when she was the Respect candidate. The Respect constituency vote in 2004 was 87,533 compared to the 60,198 combined vote for the Respect/Left List and Respect Renewal in 2008 when they stood separately following the split. Moreover, Respect Renewal in 2008 only stood in one constituency – City and East – where their candidate got 26,760 (14.6 per cent of the votes cast and third place) votes compared to 19,675 (15.3 per cent of the votes cast and third place) for the Respect candidate in 2004. Hence Respect Renewal in 2008, despite standing in only one constituency whereas the Left List stood in all constituencies except Lambeth and Southwark where the Socialist Party stood, got 44.5 per cent of the combined Respect/Left List/Respect Renewal vote. Respect Renewal – which did not stand in the mayoral elections in 2008 and called on its supporters to vote for Ken Livingstone – also got 37,138 more list votes than the Respect/Left List in 2008.
Table 11.3: London mayoral election 1st choice results 2008

Candidate

Party

1st choice votes

1st choice

per cent


Boris Johnson

Conservative Party

1,043,761

42.48

Ken Livingstone

The Labour Party

893,877

36.38

Brian Paddick

Liberal Democrats

236,685

9.63

Siân Berry

Green Party

77,374

3.15

Richard Barnbrook

British National Party

69,710

2.84

Alan Craig

Christian Peoples Alliance and Christian Party

39,249

1.60

Gerard Batten

UK Independence Party

22,422

0.91

Lindsey German

Left List

16,796

0.68

Matt O'Connor

English Democrats

10,695

0.44

Winston McKenzie

Independent

5,389

0.22

Source: GLA, 2008, p. 6.
Table 11.4: London mayoral election results 2004 and 2008862

Candidate

Party

1st choice votes

2nd choice votes

Total Votes

Total


per cent

Boris Johnson 2008

Conservative

1,043,761

124,977

1,168,738

53.2

Ken Livingstone 2008

Labour

893,877

135,089

1,028,966

46.8

Ken Livingstone 2004

Labour

685,548

81,600

767,148

41.1

Steve Norris 2004

Conservative

464,434

99,703

564,434

32.9

Source: GLA, 2008, p. 6.
Table 11.5: London Assembly result 1 May 2008863


Party

Seats

Gain/Loss

Conservative Party

11 (8 constituency, 3 list)

2

The Labour Party

8 (6 constituency, 2 list)

1

Liberal Democrats

3 ( list)

-2

Green Party

2 ( list)

0

British National Party

1 ( list)

1
Source: GLA, 2008, p. 17

Table 11.6: Green and Left of Labour results in the GLA and mayoral elections in May 2004 and 2008



Party

Mayor1st choice

Mayor2nd choice


Party List

Constituency

Green (Siân Berry)

2008


77,374

3.15%


331,727

16.55%


203,465

8.43%


2 seats

194,530[a]

8.08%


Green (Darren Johnson)

2004


57,331

2.90%


208,686

10.90%


160,445

8.60%


2 seats

138,242[a] 7.70%

Respect/Left List (Lindsey German)

2008


16,796

0.68%


35,057

1.75%


22,583

0.94%


33,438[b] 1.39%

Respect Renewal (George Galloway)

2008


-

-

59,721

2.48%


26,760[c]

1.11%


Respect (Lindsey German)

2004


61,731

6.20%


63,294

3.30%


82,301

4.60%


87,533[b] 4.57%

Unity for Peace and Socialism

2008


-

-

6,394

0.27%


-

Socialist Alternative

2008


-

-

-

1,587[c] 0.07%

Socialist Party

2008


-

-

-

1,588[c] 0.07%

Total 2008

94,170

3.83%


366,784

18.30%


292,163

12.12%


2 seats

257,903

10.72%


Total 2004

119,062

9.10%


271,980

14.20%


242,746

13.20%


2 seats

225,775

12.27%


[a]All constituencies [b]13 constituencies [c]1 constituency.

Source: GLA, 2008, p. 74, p. 90, p. 106 and Table 8.2



The Communist Party of Britain (CPB), whose nine list candidates got 7,489 and 0.5 per cent of the votes cast in the 2000 GLA elections, did not stand in 2004.864 In May 2008 London communists contested the GLA elections as part of the Unity for Peace and Socialism (UfPS) coalition: which is a Communist-led alliance between the CPB and overseas Communist and workers parties domiciled in Britain, projecting the key policies of the Left-Wing Programme (see Chapter 14). The 13 London UfPS candidates – which included veteran British communists and working class leaders, members of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Greek Communist Party (KKE) based in London plus student activists – received 6,394 list votes, which was only 0.3 per cent of the votes cast. Socialist Alternative in 2008 only stood in the Greenwich and Lewisham constituency where it got 1.08 per cent of the total votes cast; and the Socialist Party only stood in the Lambeth and Southwark constituency where it got 0.97 per cent of the total votes cast. Their share of the total valid votes cast in all 14 constituencies – 0.07 per cent – was similar.
Table 11.7: Left of Labour results in the May 2004 and 2008

GLA and mayoral elections






Respect

2004


Respect/Left list,

Respect Renewal,

UfPS,

Socialist Alternative

and

Socialist Party 2008



Fall in

Left of Labour

vote

% fall


Mayor 1st choice

61,731

16,796

- 44,935

- 72.79

Mayor 2nd choice

63,294

35,057

- 28,237

- 44.61

List

82,301

59,721

- 22,580

- 22.44

Constituency

87,533

33,438

- 54,095

- 62.80

Total

294,859

145,012

-149,847

- 49.18

Source: Table 10.5
Table 11.7 shows the Left of Labour vote for 2004 and 2008: and indicates that – whereas the Greens improved their overall position (see Table 11.5) – there was a dramatic decline in support for the Left of Labour parties in London. The Left of Labour vote in 2008 of 145,012 was 149,847 less than the overall vote of 294,859 in 2004 and 49.2 per cent less than in 2004. Respect’s split in 2007 was the main reason for the dramatic decline in the Left of Labour vote, which was compounded by the Socialist Workers Party’s Respect/Left List contesting in the mayoral elections against Ken Livingstone. Conversely, as seen above, Respect Renewal did not contest the mayoral elections and supported Ken Livingstone. Lindsey German’s mayoral first choice votes fell by 44,935 (72.8 per cent) and her second choice votes fell by 28,237 (44.6 per cent). The Left of Labour total constituency vote fell by 54,095 (62.8 per cent): and, as also shown above, Respect Renewal – standing in only one constituency got 44.5 per cent of the combined Respect/Left List/Respect Renewal vote – despite Respect/Left/List candidates contesting in 13 of the 14 constituencies. This may explain why the fall in the Left of Labour total list vote of 22,580 (22.4 per cent) was lower than the fall in the mayoral first choice and second choice votes and the constituency votes.

George Galloway – following the Channel 4 TV Dispatches programme’s political assassination of Ken Livingstone on 21 January 2008 – stated that:
In these new and developing circumstances, it would be self-indulgence, a luxury the left can no longer afford, to stand a candidate of the left against Livingstone for mayor. The danger of his defeat by the right is too great. With opinion polls varying between neck-and-neck and a substantial Tory lead, a left candidate opposing Livingstone really could aid the Tories and risk handing the keys to City Hall to the rancid reactionaries around Johnson.865
Subsequently, moreover – after the damage was done – Livingstone’s administration was cleared over grant corruption allegations: following an 18-month independent inquiry for the London Development Agency by the legal firm DLA Piper, which reported in July 2009.866 Lee Japer, Livingstone’s former Policy Director, was also cleared by the District Auditor of all allegations of corruption, fraud and cronyism. The allegations were made by the London Evening Standard in 355 separate articles written about this issue over a 6-month period.867

The London Left, except for the Socialist Workers Party, supported Ken Livingstone: because of his anti-war policies, internationalism, anti-racism and the broad political alliance he developed on transport, the environment, housing and redistribution – despite, for example, opposing his decision to privatise the East London line and support for Sir Ian Blair, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Moreover, Ken Livingstone’s support extends far beyond the traditional Left, as shown by the 1,028,966 first and second choice votes he received even with the massive Conservative turnout in the suburbs. The London results on 1 May 2008, therefore, were significant in the following two key respects:




  • Labour did much better in the London GLA and mayoral elections than in the local government elections in the rest of England and Wales. Labour, although all their GLA members are still New Labour, also gained an additional Assembly seat (see Table 11.5) and got 27.5 per cent of the constituency vote, which was up from 24.7 per cent in 2004 and 3.5 per cent higher than Labour’s 24 per cent share of the local elections vote in England and Wales. In the Assembly London-wide election New Labour came second with 28 per cent, up from 25 per cent in 2004 – which was 4 per cent higher than Labour’s 24 per cent share of the local elections vote in England and Wales. Ken Livingstone obtained 36.4 per cent of the first choice votes in the mayoral election, which was 12.4 per cent more than Labour’s 24 per cent of the local government vote in England and Wales (see Table 11.1) with policies to the left of the New Labour government. Boris Johnson’s first choice votes were 6 per cent ahead of Ken Livingstone’s, on a night when Labour was 19 per cent behind the Tories in the rest of the country (see Table 11.1). Ken Livingstone’s vote was also higher than that of the Labour Party in all 640 London wards, irrespective of whether they were middle or working class. Furthermore, since his defeat, Ken Livingstone has also warned Gordon Brown that he must shift to the left and tax the rich more to have any hope of winning the next general election.868

  • The Greens maintained their position: but the London Left of Labour vote in 2008 – despite the turnout being 8 per cent higher than in 2004 – fell by 49.2 per cent compared to 2004 (see Table 11.7). Thus the Left at every level – national, regional, borough, constituency and ward – needs to identify and support candidates who best express opposition to war and privatisation, support for the NHS and welfare state, who are ‘opposed to racism and challenge the many inequalities that mark 21st century imperial Britain. In some places they will be principled Labour candidates (such as Ken Livingstone), in other places Greens, Respect, Plaid, socialists or communists.869

Scotland



Ever since the new local government structure was imposed in 1995, the major trend in Scottish local government has been for Labour to fall back from the high point reached in the 1995 elections, and for the number of councils under no overall control (NOC) to increase. The aim of the reorganisation, as the outgoing Labour leader of Strathclyde Regional Council Robert Gould at the time stated, was ‘to carve up Scotland in the best interests of the Tories’.870 Appendix 10 shows that in 1995 Labour had 613 seats (53 per cent of the total); and they controlled 20 (63 per cent of the total) out of 32 councils, which had fallen to 13 (41 per cent of the total) by the time of the last First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections in 2003. No other party had managed to replicate Labour’s dominance, and the number of ‘hung’ councils under no overall control (NOC) rose from only three (9 per cent of the total) in 1995 to 11 (34 per cent of the total) in 2003. Five mainly rural councils remained with Independent majorities all the way through from 1995 (or 1994 in the case of the Island councils) to 2003.871

Local elections were last held in Scotland on 3 May 2007 when the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system was used for the first time to elect all councillors.872 Prior to 2007, under the FPTP system, Labour was still the strongest party in Scottish local government with 509 councillors (42 per cent of the total) elected in May 2003; and they controlled 13 (41 per cent) of the 32 councils Though there were almost as many councils with NOC. Now, however, with STV, Labour only has 349 councillors (28 per cent of the total and 14 per cent less than under FPTP) and only has outright control of two (6 per cent of the total) councils – Glasgow and North Lanarkshire. Independents control three further councils – Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. In May 2007, as in Wales where 82 per cent of councils have NOC, the norm in Scotland was also NOC with 84 per cent of councils (27 out of 32) under NOC. However, by June 2009, as Appendix 10 shows, the proportion of Scottish councils with NOC had fallen to 63 per cent (20 out of 32) – due to the varied pattern of coalitions that have emerged under STV.

The number of Scottish Labour councillors has fallen by 57 per cent since 1995 – from 613 to 349 – and the number of Conservative councillors has increased by 57 per cent from 82 to 141. The Scottish National Party (SNP) now have 365 councillors, 30 per cent of the total and the largest number of councillors in Scotland: but they do not control any council. The number of SNP councillors has therefore increased by 50 per cent since 1995 when they only had 181. The Liberal Democrats now have 169 councillors – six less than in 2003 – when they had 175. There are no fascist BNP councillors in Scotland. The Greens now have eight councillors and there is one Scottish Socialist Party councillor. The 190 councillors now classified as ‘Others’ – the majority of which are Independents – has fallen by 44 since 2003: when there were 234 (see Appendix 10).



The 2007 local government elections were held at the same time as the Scottish Parliament elections, following which the main media story – other than the success of the SNP – was the unacceptably high number of rejected ballot papers. However, across Scotland the rate of spoilt papers in the local elections was very much lower than for the parliamentary election. While 1.83 per cent of local government ballots were spoilt, 4.075 per cent of the ballots for constituency candidates and 2.88 per cent for regional lists were spoilt in the parliamentary election. For the local elections the proportion of spoilt ballot papers in 2003 was only 0.64 per cent.
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