May Elections

Today (May 3^rd) sees council elections in Sheffield and we are told the result is on a knife edge. In the Walkley ward we have a sitting Labour councillor who is up for a re-election and the result here could swing the whole council.

I went off and voted Labour this morning, partly on party lines but also because our councillor has been an excellent hard working representative for our community over the last few years.

The only party material I have seen the year is from the Labour party. I would have liked to read what the Lib Dem candidate has in store for Walkley (after all 2 of our 3 councillors already are from that party) but Ive received nothing from them apart from the newssheet they delivered about 2 months ago telling me how awful everything is. I didn’t even know the Lib Dem candidate name till I saw it on the ballot paper

The Greens have been equally disappointing. Im interested in green politics and I know some of their councillors. Their stand on cycling and transport issues in the city seems sound and their councillors in central ward have always helped us out at the Sheffield Cycle Campaign (although we are independent of any political party). The Greens may never have enough support to take Sheffield council but it’s quite possible they will be the largest party outside Lib and Lab and maybe tomorrow they will have to support one of the other parties in a hung council. Did they deliver anything, maybe printed on recycled paper, or come to they come knocking at my door to seek my vote, sadly no, not a peep from them.

Finally the Conservatives, who lets face it are on hiding to nothing in most, but not all, parts of Sheffield (It seems folk in the former Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire have long memories ), but I would have least liked to have read what plans and ideas they have for Walkley . It not that long ago that the Conservative candidate would at least get out and put the hard work in even though they knew they were always going to lose, and Id respect them for that (remeber that episode of Rab c Nesbit?). I cant ever see me supporting that party but I feel slightly let down by them that they didn’t even put the effort in off delivering some material about their candidate (sorry name slips me now)

So I cycled down to the polling station and cast my vote for Veronica Hardstaff, hoping that she gets back in for the excellent work she has done for us, but with a slight feeling of having being let down by the whole process and having little or no choice in the matter as none of the other parties seem to want my vote.