Local elections 07

This year's been a much better year for the Lib Dems in Manchester than 2006, with us holding all the seats where our councillors were up for re-election, and gaining one seat in Chorlton - congratulations Paul Ankers! Lev unfortunately did not get elected in Northenden despite being a wonderful person (with the best campaign slogan). Over in Stockport, where I work, we gained one seat, consolidating our majority there. Chris Walker, another great guy, also narrowly failed to take Brinnington off Labour.

Things did not go well for the Tories as usual in Manchester with them failing to win any council seats, and ended up in third place in the City Centre behind the Lib Dems and Labour. The so-called Tory resurgence is clearly not occurring in Manchester. The Greens also failed to improve their number of councillors in Manchester, remaining to be seen as a protest vote by much of the electorate. The BNP did well in Higher Blackley coming a clear second (but still no where near winning). Respect also remained a protest vote for residents of Rusholme. I'm slightly concerned about the low turnout - down to 16% in places like the city centre. Why aren't people voting?

Back home in Bristol things weren't so happy with the Lib Dems losing two councillors to Labour, including one executive member's ward, leaving the Lib Dems as the largest party but with even less of a lead. The Tories failed to make any gains in Bristol.

Apart from hearing the results from Scotland and Wales, I'm looking forward to seeing how Kate Little and Owen Griffiths do in Fylde and Bradford respectively. They're both paper candidates, but you never know....

Congratulations to all Lib Dems elected and commiserations for those who lost their seats and who narrowly lost out on winning.