This week Y12 Government and Politics students have been discussing the results and assessing the wider impact of the elections held across the UK on 6th May.

Overview

Labour supporters watched in horror on Friday and Saturday as the party haemorrhaged seats everywhere in the union besides Wales. The most brutal of which was the English Local Councils, in which Labour lost over 200 seats – mostly to the Conservatives, but also with gains from a rapidly emerging Green party as well as a strong showing from the recovering Lib Dems.

Much of Labour’s shortcomings have been attributed to their failure to give clear policies and exploit the narrative of Conservative sleaze in recent weeks. Support for the Conservative party has proved strong despite Brexit, a pandemic and 2 years in government. This support is reminiscent of the sheer dominance of Thatcher’s Conservative party during their tenure and contrasts May’s minority and Cameron’s coalition and small majority. Keir Starmer faces difficult questions about the continued Labour defeats, his failure to overcome the Conservatives in Hartlepool and a messy reshuffle of his top team.

Adam Fishman 12A

First Conservative MP for Hartlepool

The by-election in Hartlepool was eagerly watched as an indication of the level of support for the Conservative and Labour parties. Traditionally parties in power often lose by-elections as it is an opportunity for the electorate to give a judgment to the government. Prior to this, Labour held the seat since it’s creation in 1974. Labour lost the seat despite previously having a 4000 vote majority. This was one of the many losses which Keir Starmer’s Labour faced during the recent elections. This has led to further questions about Keir Starmer and his Labour party. Since the results he has had a reshuffle in his cabinet sacking the Deputy Leader of the party. The by-election was called as former Labour MP Mike Hill faced a sexual misconduct allegation which forced him to step down.

A new by-election will now also be held in Batley and Spen following the Labour MP and ex Coronation Street actor Tracey Brabin being elected as the first Mayor of West Yorkshire.

Louisa Wright 12E and Jesse Harry-Brown 12A

Scottish Parliament elections

In the Scottish Parliamentary elections the SNP won a 4th consecutive victory overall, yet only earned one additional seat in Parliament. This means they are one seat short of an overall majority and will need additional support from the Greens. Nicola Sturgeon, the re-elected First Minister of Scotland promises to hold another independence referendum which would be unconstitutional as the devolved Scottish assembly doesn’t have the devolved power to do this. The election had a turnout of 63.4%  which may appear low, but was actually the highest turnout since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.

Charlie Mainwaring 12E

Wales: The Senedd or Welsh Parliament elections

Whilst UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is facing all sorts of questions following English defeats the Welsh Labour leader and First Minister Mark Drakeford is riding the crest of a wave as has kept power for a sixth term of Labour led government in Wales.

Labour has held onto power with a solid victory after matching the party’s best ever Senedd election result, winning half of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament. The party held its ground against challenges from the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru to win 30 seats, just one short of the first-ever majority in Wales.

Izzy Carpenter 12B

London Mayor election 2021

Labour had more success in the election for English Mayors winning 11 out of 13 contests.

Sadiq Khan won 55% of the popular vote in London for Labour, after a run-off with Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey, where neither had secured a majority in the 1st round of voting. He won after being the overall favorite throughout the whole campaign, with some pollsters predicting he would win more than half of the first-round votes. He failed to reach his record-setting vote total of 2016, but won with a 228,000-vote majority, having 69% of second preference votes. Whilst his closest rival Bailey who received 44.8% of the first and second-round votes, and increased the Conservative vote share by 1.6%. He said that he had been “written off” by pollsters, journalists and other politicians.

This means that Labour remains dominant in the capital also remaining the largest party in the London Assembly. Labour took nine constituency seats, with the Conservatives winning the remaining five. Mr Khan said that “the results of the elections around the UK shows our country, and even our city, remains deeply divided”.

‘Confusing ballot’

Officials say the current supplementary vote system used for this election is confusing for voters resulting in ‘spoilt ballot papers’. This has led calls for the government to consider changing the London Mayor elections to the First Past The Post system, as roughly 5% of first choice preference votes were rejected.

Sam Williams 12O

Police and crime commissioners

Also on Thursday 6th May, there were elections for 39 Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales. A Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) oversees the local Police Service and ensures they are prioritising what matters locally. In this election, they use a supplementary vote system to collect the votes. The Conservatives won 30 PCCs, while Labour lost 6 and Plaid-Cymru 1 PCC. The new PCCs will take up their posts for three years.

However, the first PCC for Wiltshire is yet to be decided, as Conservative Jonathon Seed won the election, but because of a drink driving offence in 1993 he has been barred from becoming the next PCC. Legal advice is now being sought and a new election might cost over £1 million.

Leah Cook 12E