NOTE:  Extended piece on the local elections 2022 can be found HERE

Only some of the election results from the 2022 local elections are in so I will not waste my time or yours by going into too much detail about them until all the results are in which means that I will hopefully, as I try not to write on Saturdays, be doing the post mortem on the elections some time on Sunday.

So far however with the incomplete results that are in it looks as if the Tories have not done as bad as many of us including myself predicted. But neither have Labour had, so far, the massive shift towards them that they need to be a credible alternative come the next General Election. The Lib Dems did OK in the South and became what they always have been in this geographical area a way of registering a protest vote.

In London, which politically is a different country when compared to the rest of the nation, Labour took Westminster and Wandsworth, however I’m not sure whether this is because disgusted Tories stayed at home or if changing demographics in these areas have changed the politics of them. I suspect that if the Wandsworth result is caused by stay at home Tories then it’s likely they could be grumbling by this time next year as council tax goes up there and the Labour Party embarks on a campaign to turn Wandsworth into a shithole like Croydon.

Reform allegedly picked up their first two seats which is something that takes some doing for a new party and with the first past the post electoral system. I’m pleased to see this result for Reform as even though I vehemently disagree with some of Reform’s policies, they represent voices that are too often unheard and unrepresented in elected bodies. So let’s close this piece temporarily by telling the annual electoral Tower Hamlets turn out joke and ask ‘Will the turnout in Tower Hamlets be 150% or 200%?’

More on this hopefully on Sunday.