Local Elections & The Current UK Political Mess

Local elections will take place here on May 5th, and I’m not sure which way I’ll vote this time.

The town council is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, with Labour the main challenge. The majority of canvassing we’ve received has been from those two parties, mainly taken up with why the other is a terrible choice.

It’s infuriating because the real enemy is the Conservatives, who control the county council and the UK government and effectively dictate a lot of decisions — usually around what services to reduce or cut — through control of the purse strings.

In an ideal world, both Labour and the Lib Dems would find common cause and focus their firepower on the Tories. As it is, though, it’s more a case of who can look like they’re doing a good job while actually doing the Tories’ work for them (and getting the flak from local constituents.)

I will still turn out and vote on Thursday. Apathy is what the Tories rely on most.