So apparently Labour in Sheffield is now the party of Technocrats. 'Technocrat' is one of those words that gets bandied about a lot, particularly by the media. But exactly what is a technocrat? I asked Google to tell me. The answer amazed me. It said a technocrat is "One who downloads a vast array of music and movies from the internet by less than legal ways, but will not get rid of either after watching it or losing interest in it." But then I saw I had misspelled 'technocrat' as 'techno rat'. I tried again. "A technocrat is a member of a skilled elite" said Google. Still not sure what a technocrat does I found a definition which defined technocrat in the context of technocracy. It said "A technocracy is a form of governance whereby government officials or policymakers, known as technocrats, are chosen by some higher authority due to their technical skills or expertise in a specific domain." So there you have it. A technocrat (in this case the current Council Leader) is someone 'chosen by a higher authority' (in this case unknown party big wigs in London) to govern Sheffield. I'm old enough to remember a time when the higher authority chosen to govern Sheffield was called 'the electorate'. I quite liked that system. So presumably that makes me a Dinosaur. To be honest if I have a choice between a 'technocrat' and a 'techno rat' I think the 'techno rat' sounds more appealing and definitely more interesting.
Thanks again to the lovely Daniel Timms, this time for his diagram of the Sheffield wards. For a Sheffield newby (and fellow data boff), a clear, straightforward presentation is a great first step for me in grasping the local political scene.
I'm not a Conservative but I do feel you should have not just dismissed them because you think ( probably correctly) they will lose. A bit of coverage wouldn't have taken much time, effort or space but might have made your readers appreciate your balance!
Just about all our local press are disposed generally towards lab, with the broad framing pretty much accepted -so how will lab do is always - pretty much - the basic question. Keeps the focus right there....
When did it become a self-evident truth that the rollout of the CAZ was 'mishandled'? Mishandled because it doesn't go far enough? I don't expect that's what you mean though... To be fair I didn't follow the story that closely: self-care and all that.
Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer. The three reasons given for Fox’s defenestration (response to Lowcock, Fargate containers and CAZ rollout) where what the Labour hierarchy said when the media asked them why they had got rid of him. I’m certainly not presenting it as fact or saying I agree.
Why do peopke think 'overall control' (of mayor, council and govt) s a good thing? When it's likely only around 30% of a vote share is likely to be lab, this produces a wildly unbalanced and disproportionate result.
This is made far worse when one considers turnout locally with a very significant majority (circa 70%) so totally turned off from our local politics as to mean no council has any real legitimacy. Not voting is not the same as consenting, nor of not being interested. A lot of people are truly furious with our political classes, locally as well as nationally. The implications of such consistently low turnout are almost never explored - I wish people would at least go and spoil their ballots but mostly they stay away.
And the mayoral election is becoming more important as more powers accrue at that level. Personally I think utterly ridiculous that half of England is now run by 12 people as metro mayor's- especially as more and more powers accrue there.
BUT WHY ABSOLUTELY NO COVERAGE of the scandalous behaviour of our Mayor and other political leaders in utterly failing to speak up for the people of South Yorkshire and allowing what is an unlawful transfer of Police and Crine Commissioner powers to take place? (Unlawful as ruled by Judicial Review in the West Midlands yet our self-serving political leaders just staying quiet and allowing South Yorkshire's transfer to proceed and hoping people won't notice. Utterly scandalous and exposing total lack of integrity of the Mayor- who nonetheless will get voted back in - only by about a 25-30% turnout across the region though).
Thanks for your comment Ruth. I'm not saying winning overall control would be a good thing but it's understandable that political parties want to win elections. That's kind of the point I think. In terms of the mayor, I have seen your efforts about the consultation and it is clear that it was unlawful. However, the idea that if we ran the consultation again there would be a sudden groundswell of support for retaining a separate PCC doesn't hold much water in my opinion. Also, I don't think it's true that "half of England is now run by 12 people". Metro mayors are important figures but they don't have huge power they can exercise on their own. The constituent local authorities of combined authorities all have equal voting rights to the mayor so the role is best seen as a chairman of the combined authority. Important yes, but certainly not all powerful.
Yes, tho this isn't the point about the Mayor and PCC. (And I've no particular desire to retain a separate PCC - I don't really like either option we were given tbh).
I should have explained better. This wasn't any old consultation. It was specifically required in statute - as an integral part of making the decision to transfer! The fact that the consultation was ruled unlawful AND ; as a result has STOPPED the transfer dead in the West Midlands is what makes this such a fiasco - a complete mockery of the legal/democratic rights of all in South Yorkshire to be part of that decision - as required in actual law.. Our consultation was the exact same unlawful one yet our transfer goes ahead! Just bonkers. Our Mayor and other political leaders were wholly and determinedly silent at the crucial moment. Instead of sticking up for the peopke of sth yorks (or even the rule of law) they acted solely out of self interest. Seriously, no wonder people have so little confidence in politicians and most don't even bother with voting - total lack of integrity. Our Mayor would have understood entirely what was going on I think, he chose to be silent at the crucial point to, in effect, ensure the unlawful transfer of more powers to.....himself.
On the wider point both main parties chosen path is more and more powers at metro mayoral level. Whilst u r right that clearly 12 people do t run half of England, they do run half of England on SOME things and will do - increasingly- on others. This and the implications needs attention from citizens - and the media! Govt of course loves being able to 'run' things via one individual - not sure it works for actual people imo...
I'd add, we already know a big majority of respondents to that unlawful public consultation (65%) were against pcc transfer. The role of SY people - any people - is a complete con. That does need to be called out. And the legitimacy of the transfer - and our Mayor- is pretty trashed..
Yeah, I’ve seen the figure of 65% but do you know how many people took part? (that’s a genuine question, I’d like to know). I filled it in saying I was happy for the PCC to go as I’ve always thought it was a silly job. But I bet I was in a tiny minority who did so. So that says to me that most people don’t care about it (most people couldn’t probably tell you what or who the PCC was). I appreciate the consultation was done wrong but to redo it only for the vast majority of people not to fill it feels like a waste of time and money to me. The PCC role is done by the mayor in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and London. The only reason there was a row in the West Midlands was that the PCC and mayor were from different parties. I admire your tenacity and the way you are standing up for things to be done in the right way but personally I find it difficult to get particularly worked up about this story.
So you are happy for our local politicians to decide between themselves, even though the law says they must not?
Anyway, there were 3002 responses to an extremely last minute and rushed consultation over xmas/new year. The House of Lords various scrutiny committees have been all over this since december, appalled at how govt proceeded etc etc.
So yeah, 3002.
I'm the first to admit that the transfer of powers doesn't exactly float many peoples' boats...(it dorsnt mine much at all). However, it is absolutely significant in and of itself AND because of the context. And quite a few realise its significance legally and democratically, for accountability, for scrutiny and checks and balances, for transparency etc etc. Plus there will be a fair few stakeholder groyps around eg perhaps those working with victims of crime of different kinds or those concerned with how the police operate and use their powers for whom this transfer may mean quite a lot. (And because in some cases public education on these political and Democratic questions is so very very poor does not mean it is unimportant.)
(On a personal level, certainly many, perhaps most, of the people I know would actually rely on people like me to take a view, to understand stuff, and tho they might not respond themselves for all kinds of reasons would expevt and want people lije me to!)
But fundamentally Dan it's about the integrity, leadership and standards of behaviour of our of our politicians....at a rime when they are in the dustbin and they dont seem to give a damn. ...
For East Ecclesfield, I think you meant to say that in 2021 the Lib Dems won by 20 votes, although that spoils the rest of the note. The story here is 2021: Lib Dems win by 20; 2022: Labour win by 358; 2023: Lib Dems win by 108. The last may possibly have been helped by the presence of a TUSC candidate. Goodness only knows what the effect of a Yorkshire Party candidate was in 2021.
And to anyone tempted to refer to a "an unofficial Very Silly candidate, who might split the Silly vote", please take your chair to the back of the classroom and stand on it, facing the wall.
Thanks for pointing that out Rob and sorry for the mistake. I have changed it now. But the point that East Ecclesfield has been a close ward for the last three years (and will probably be so again this year) still stands I think.
2021 was unusual in East Ecc, because the vote was split three ways (Labour, the Lib Dems, and the Conservatives all came within 150 votes of each other), with only about 250 votes each going to the Yorkshire and Green candidates respectively.
The Green and Yorkshire party votes weren't much changed from their 2019 results, but the Tories had a ~20 point uptick, possibly helped by the absence of UKIP who took ~20% of the vote there in 2019
Dan you used the words ‘modern, white collar, centrist’ to describe labour’s approach. This may work better in Leeds or Manchester but I am less sure about Sheffield. It’s as if socialism worked for some who as a result joined the middle classes but not everyone.
With the industrial history and the void it left around these parts, there are more people left behind who’ve become disengaged and disillusioned with labour seeing it as Tory-lite
Thanks for your comment Chris. I'm just describing the direction of travel in the Labour Party not saying it is a good or a bad thing. The party is clearly trying to project a different image and trying to appeal more to the centre ground. As you say this may alienate voters on the left. Maybe Labour will be challenged from the left at some point but it's difficult to see that happening at the moment.
Local politics may not be directly related to international policy, but being affiliated with Labour at this point means de facto supporting the national party's program. And on Gaza alone, that has been a moral travesty. So absolutely, I think people should weigh that in their vote.
Personally, I think it's important to do everything possible to reduce the power which is about to drop - completely unearned - into Starmer's lap. Because even in opposition, he's destructive, bigoted and dangerous.
I want the Tories out as much as anyone but this couldn't be more obviously an out-of-frying-pan-into-fire-situation.
Well sure, but as the article says: it's not just about local issues, is it?
Quote:
>>>> "However, the main reason that Labour really wanted to win this time is because of power. With a general election imminent, the party wanted a Labour controlled council to go with its Labour mayor and then a Labour government. The idea being that if you get that, and hold all the levers of power at the different levels of government, you are more likely to be able to get stuff done.
...
Insiders may see the two elections as disconnected — but the looming general election is shaping the local race in one key way. Labour has been on a general election footing since last year and are actively targeting wards which are in their target seats for the national poll: Sheffield Hallam and Penistone and Stocksbridge."
--
"If you... ...hold all the levers of power at the different levels of government, you are more likely to be able to get stuff done."
I do NOT want Kier Starmer to be able to get "more stuff done". He has literally broken every one of the "ten pledges" which won him the leadership. He's replaced those goals with absolute - absolute - pablum, or worse, new and dreadful policies.
When he took power had the largest membership of any left-wing party in Europe - now he has expelled (or disgusted) so many members that it's right back to being wholly in the pocket of major business donors. Just like Peter-Friend-of-Epstein-Mandelson intended. The fact that that loathsome, utterly disreputable man is right back at the heart of the party should tell you everything.
Starmer has totally ignored the anti-black and Islamophobic racism highlighted in the Forde Report. He has himself - ironically - manifested disgusting antisemitism in conflating Jewishness with Zionism while spuriously smearing and expelling countless Jews from his party.
He is dissembling and hypocritical on trans rights and increasing numbers of his colleagues have been emboldened by the wearyingly biased Cass report to reveal their own nasty prejudices - which in years to come will be recognised as a gross reheating of the homophobic tropes of the 1980s.
Wes Streeting meanwhile can't wait to accelerate the intrusion of private healthcare into the NHS, dismantling it stealthily - but not THAT stealthily, as anybody with half an eye open can see what he's doing.
Starmer never opposes reactionary Tory policies on ideological grounds - he has no meaningful leftwing values. His party only constantly crow that Labour will administer essentially the same policies 'more efficiently' - which I don't want to happen. I don't people on benefits to continue getting hosed.
What is left-wing about the Labour party? Certainly not their economically illiterate fiscal policies which will only further the decline of all our public services and do nothing to help the ever-increasing numbers of poor people in this country.
I still remember when Starmer was DPP and went out of his way to performatively punish - imprison - people for stealing water or shoes during the riots, potentially ruining their lives so he could look like a big, strong boy. I saw who and what he was, then - and he remains an absolutely venal careerist.
I have a degree of sympathy for the vanishingly small number of MPs left in the party who are genuine social democrats like Zarah Sultana or Richard Burgon, say. I understand that they're in a difficult position because of the lamentable and corrupting first-past-the-post system we have in this country.
But if you're in the Labour party at any level, local or national, you have to acknowlege that you're part of a discredited, intellectually exhausted project, a zombie-throwback to Blairism - an era of politics which was so dreadful that it cemented more than a decade following, of the cruelest, third-rate, Tory government there's been.
So no: I don't think you CAN unpick these local elections from the national party, except perhaps, where the councilors are explicitly - explicitly - in opposition to their utterly wretched leadership.
Some very interesting comments here-esp by John and Peter [surely that Peter Moore] given my attitude to today's politics it surprises me that I feel the need to comment.For all the hype and development- at a basic level this city makes me shake my head and my disillusionment makes me feel sad.We have been disenfranchised by a local media [apart from the Tribune] which is distant and which sets its own agenda to a degree- I hear much of local democracy reporting but not much of it in action.In essence on a local level nowts going to change and I think we -the great Sheffield public -are largely to blame.My old man once said 'Sheffield's run like a working man's club' -is he still correct?
I did think it was interesting that Labour only just bothered to send a flyer through my door in Hillsborough yesterday!
As far as I wam aware it was fairly close last time? And just speaking to plenty of people about I'd be surprised if the Green party gets the same level of support.
As an age of when it was THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SOUTH YORKSHIRE red and very few blue known throughout the land. Why mines, steel, railways ,the men were Union orientated Labour. All gone, so its anyone's guess what they vote for and why.
Another ward to watch is Firth Park where there are two seats for election. The incumbent Cllr Fran Belbin won by only 44 votes last time she stood, and is vulnerable to any Muslim opponent given the ward's demographics and widespread anger at Labour's lack of support for Palestine. The other vacancy is due to the councillor stepping down in order to stand in the General Election.
The main problem in Sheffield is that for decades the council has been content to see the city as inferior to Manchester and Leeds locally, and to the other core cities nationally. We need a council that will stand up and fight, not roll over and shrug. I will not be voting for any of the main parties, nor will I vote in the SY Mayoral election for the unimpressive Oliver Coppard or any of his challengers. This is not democracy, it's a farce.
Case in point - the transfer of PCC powers to the Mayor is unlawful because the public consultation was ruled unlawful by Judicial Review in the West Midlands. We had word for word the same - unlawful - consultation. Coppard kept totally quiet at the crucial time knowing the people of South yorks. had been conned - total failure to stand up for us all. Conveniently self-serving knowing keeping quiet would serve his own interests.
Interesting article. Give me modern technocrats every time over Terry Fox dinosaurs.
Thanks Eileen.
So apparently Labour in Sheffield is now the party of Technocrats. 'Technocrat' is one of those words that gets bandied about a lot, particularly by the media. But exactly what is a technocrat? I asked Google to tell me. The answer amazed me. It said a technocrat is "One who downloads a vast array of music and movies from the internet by less than legal ways, but will not get rid of either after watching it or losing interest in it." But then I saw I had misspelled 'technocrat' as 'techno rat'. I tried again. "A technocrat is a member of a skilled elite" said Google. Still not sure what a technocrat does I found a definition which defined technocrat in the context of technocracy. It said "A technocracy is a form of governance whereby government officials or policymakers, known as technocrats, are chosen by some higher authority due to their technical skills or expertise in a specific domain." So there you have it. A technocrat (in this case the current Council Leader) is someone 'chosen by a higher authority' (in this case unknown party big wigs in London) to govern Sheffield. I'm old enough to remember a time when the higher authority chosen to govern Sheffield was called 'the electorate'. I quite liked that system. So presumably that makes me a Dinosaur. To be honest if I have a choice between a 'technocrat' and a 'techno rat' I think the 'techno rat' sounds more appealing and definitely more interesting.
Thanks Peter 😂 I'll try to find out this week if any Labour councillors are techno rats as well as technocrats.
Levity is often absent when discussing politics. Thank you Peter for remedying that.
Thanks again to the lovely Daniel Timms, this time for his diagram of the Sheffield wards. For a Sheffield newby (and fellow data boff), a clear, straightforward presentation is a great first step for me in grasping the local political scene.
Thanks Susan. I'll pass that one to Daniel.
I'm not a Conservative but I do feel you should have not just dismissed them because you think ( probably correctly) they will lose. A bit of coverage wouldn't have taken much time, effort or space but might have made your readers appreciate your balance!
Thanks for your comment Elaine. Yep, maybe we should. Sorry about that.
Elaine is quite right -Dan you made an oversight.
Just about all our local press are disposed generally towards lab, with the broad framing pretty much accepted -so how will lab do is always - pretty much - the basic question. Keeps the focus right there....
When did it become a self-evident truth that the rollout of the CAZ was 'mishandled'? Mishandled because it doesn't go far enough? I don't expect that's what you mean though... To be fair I didn't follow the story that closely: self-care and all that.
Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer. The three reasons given for Fox’s defenestration (response to Lowcock, Fargate containers and CAZ rollout) where what the Labour hierarchy said when the media asked them why they had got rid of him. I’m certainly not presenting it as fact or saying I agree.
Lib Dems are definitely winning on the volume of junk mail coming through the letterbox in Fulwood, but it is ever thus.
That's interesting. Fulwood is safe as houses for them so I don't know why they are wasting their money.
It's constant. Whether there's an election or not. They must have a ridiculous amount of money.
Did they manage to print out charts that don’t try to make 20% lead seem like 50% this time?
I don't really look at them as they go straight in recycling, but they're concentrating on the fact Tories can't win with a dubious looking graph.
I think the thinking there is that most votes are anti-conservative and so the message is “relax, cons can’t win, so you don’t have to vote labour”.
I think it's probably more trying to say it's pointless to vote Conservative as they can't win. The only way to stop Labour is voting Lib Dens
Great in-depth article, interesting & informative, needs a wider audience, will share amongst my small following!
Thanks Naomi 🙏
Why do peopke think 'overall control' (of mayor, council and govt) s a good thing? When it's likely only around 30% of a vote share is likely to be lab, this produces a wildly unbalanced and disproportionate result.
This is made far worse when one considers turnout locally with a very significant majority (circa 70%) so totally turned off from our local politics as to mean no council has any real legitimacy. Not voting is not the same as consenting, nor of not being interested. A lot of people are truly furious with our political classes, locally as well as nationally. The implications of such consistently low turnout are almost never explored - I wish people would at least go and spoil their ballots but mostly they stay away.
And the mayoral election is becoming more important as more powers accrue at that level. Personally I think utterly ridiculous that half of England is now run by 12 people as metro mayor's- especially as more and more powers accrue there.
BUT WHY ABSOLUTELY NO COVERAGE of the scandalous behaviour of our Mayor and other political leaders in utterly failing to speak up for the people of South Yorkshire and allowing what is an unlawful transfer of Police and Crine Commissioner powers to take place? (Unlawful as ruled by Judicial Review in the West Midlands yet our self-serving political leaders just staying quiet and allowing South Yorkshire's transfer to proceed and hoping people won't notice. Utterly scandalous and exposing total lack of integrity of the Mayor- who nonetheless will get voted back in - only by about a 25-30% turnout across the region though).
Thanks for your comment Ruth. I'm not saying winning overall control would be a good thing but it's understandable that political parties want to win elections. That's kind of the point I think. In terms of the mayor, I have seen your efforts about the consultation and it is clear that it was unlawful. However, the idea that if we ran the consultation again there would be a sudden groundswell of support for retaining a separate PCC doesn't hold much water in my opinion. Also, I don't think it's true that "half of England is now run by 12 people". Metro mayors are important figures but they don't have huge power they can exercise on their own. The constituent local authorities of combined authorities all have equal voting rights to the mayor so the role is best seen as a chairman of the combined authority. Important yes, but certainly not all powerful.
Hi Dan!
Yes, tho this isn't the point about the Mayor and PCC. (And I've no particular desire to retain a separate PCC - I don't really like either option we were given tbh).
I should have explained better. This wasn't any old consultation. It was specifically required in statute - as an integral part of making the decision to transfer! The fact that the consultation was ruled unlawful AND ; as a result has STOPPED the transfer dead in the West Midlands is what makes this such a fiasco - a complete mockery of the legal/democratic rights of all in South Yorkshire to be part of that decision - as required in actual law.. Our consultation was the exact same unlawful one yet our transfer goes ahead! Just bonkers. Our Mayor and other political leaders were wholly and determinedly silent at the crucial moment. Instead of sticking up for the peopke of sth yorks (or even the rule of law) they acted solely out of self interest. Seriously, no wonder people have so little confidence in politicians and most don't even bother with voting - total lack of integrity. Our Mayor would have understood entirely what was going on I think, he chose to be silent at the crucial point to, in effect, ensure the unlawful transfer of more powers to.....himself.
On the wider point both main parties chosen path is more and more powers at metro mayoral level. Whilst u r right that clearly 12 people do t run half of England, they do run half of England on SOME things and will do - increasingly- on others. This and the implications needs attention from citizens - and the media! Govt of course loves being able to 'run' things via one individual - not sure it works for actual people imo...
I'd add, we already know a big majority of respondents to that unlawful public consultation (65%) were against pcc transfer. The role of SY people - any people - is a complete con. That does need to be called out. And the legitimacy of the transfer - and our Mayor- is pretty trashed..
Yeah, I’ve seen the figure of 65% but do you know how many people took part? (that’s a genuine question, I’d like to know). I filled it in saying I was happy for the PCC to go as I’ve always thought it was a silly job. But I bet I was in a tiny minority who did so. So that says to me that most people don’t care about it (most people couldn’t probably tell you what or who the PCC was). I appreciate the consultation was done wrong but to redo it only for the vast majority of people not to fill it feels like a waste of time and money to me. The PCC role is done by the mayor in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and London. The only reason there was a row in the West Midlands was that the PCC and mayor were from different parties. I admire your tenacity and the way you are standing up for things to be done in the right way but personally I find it difficult to get particularly worked up about this story.
So you are happy for our local politicians to decide between themselves, even though the law says they must not?
Anyway, there were 3002 responses to an extremely last minute and rushed consultation over xmas/new year. The House of Lords various scrutiny committees have been all over this since december, appalled at how govt proceeded etc etc.
So yeah, 3002.
I'm the first to admit that the transfer of powers doesn't exactly float many peoples' boats...(it dorsnt mine much at all). However, it is absolutely significant in and of itself AND because of the context. And quite a few realise its significance legally and democratically, for accountability, for scrutiny and checks and balances, for transparency etc etc. Plus there will be a fair few stakeholder groyps around eg perhaps those working with victims of crime of different kinds or those concerned with how the police operate and use their powers for whom this transfer may mean quite a lot. (And because in some cases public education on these political and Democratic questions is so very very poor does not mean it is unimportant.)
(On a personal level, certainly many, perhaps most, of the people I know would actually rely on people like me to take a view, to understand stuff, and tho they might not respond themselves for all kinds of reasons would expevt and want people lije me to!)
But fundamentally Dan it's about the integrity, leadership and standards of behaviour of our of our politicians....at a rime when they are in the dustbin and they dont seem to give a damn. ...
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/south-yorkshire-police-and-crime-commissioner-functions-transfer/outcome/south-yorkshire-police-and-crime-commissioner-functions-transfer-government-response
For East Ecclesfield, I think you meant to say that in 2021 the Lib Dems won by 20 votes, although that spoils the rest of the note. The story here is 2021: Lib Dems win by 20; 2022: Labour win by 358; 2023: Lib Dems win by 108. The last may possibly have been helped by the presence of a TUSC candidate. Goodness only knows what the effect of a Yorkshire Party candidate was in 2021.
And to anyone tempted to refer to a "an unofficial Very Silly candidate, who might split the Silly vote", please take your chair to the back of the classroom and stand on it, facing the wall.
Thanks for pointing that out Rob and sorry for the mistake. I have changed it now. But the point that East Ecclesfield has been a close ward for the last three years (and will probably be so again this year) still stands I think.
2021 was unusual in East Ecc, because the vote was split three ways (Labour, the Lib Dems, and the Conservatives all came within 150 votes of each other), with only about 250 votes each going to the Yorkshire and Green candidates respectively.
The Green and Yorkshire party votes weren't much changed from their 2019 results, but the Tories had a ~20 point uptick, possibly helped by the absence of UKIP who took ~20% of the vote there in 2019
Dan you used the words ‘modern, white collar, centrist’ to describe labour’s approach. This may work better in Leeds or Manchester but I am less sure about Sheffield. It’s as if socialism worked for some who as a result joined the middle classes but not everyone.
With the industrial history and the void it left around these parts, there are more people left behind who’ve become disengaged and disillusioned with labour seeing it as Tory-lite
Thanks for your comment Chris. I'm just describing the direction of travel in the Labour Party not saying it is a good or a bad thing. The party is clearly trying to project a different image and trying to appeal more to the centre ground. As you say this may alienate voters on the left. Maybe Labour will be challenged from the left at some point but it's difficult to see that happening at the moment.
Important as it is, it seems wild to me that Gaza is one of the issues of contention in our local elections but not litter and potholes.
Why would that surprise you?
Local politics may not be directly related to international policy, but being affiliated with Labour at this point means de facto supporting the national party's program. And on Gaza alone, that has been a moral travesty. So absolutely, I think people should weigh that in their vote.
Personally, I think it's important to do everything possible to reduce the power which is about to drop - completely unearned - into Starmer's lap. Because even in opposition, he's destructive, bigoted and dangerous.
I want the Tories out as much as anyone but this couldn't be more obviously an out-of-frying-pan-into-fire-situation.
Call me old fashioned, but I just think local elections should be about local issues that councillors can actually influence.
Well sure, but as the article says: it's not just about local issues, is it?
Quote:
>>>> "However, the main reason that Labour really wanted to win this time is because of power. With a general election imminent, the party wanted a Labour controlled council to go with its Labour mayor and then a Labour government. The idea being that if you get that, and hold all the levers of power at the different levels of government, you are more likely to be able to get stuff done.
...
Insiders may see the two elections as disconnected — but the looming general election is shaping the local race in one key way. Labour has been on a general election footing since last year and are actively targeting wards which are in their target seats for the national poll: Sheffield Hallam and Penistone and Stocksbridge."
--
"If you... ...hold all the levers of power at the different levels of government, you are more likely to be able to get stuff done."
I do NOT want Kier Starmer to be able to get "more stuff done". He has literally broken every one of the "ten pledges" which won him the leadership. He's replaced those goals with absolute - absolute - pablum, or worse, new and dreadful policies.
When he took power had the largest membership of any left-wing party in Europe - now he has expelled (or disgusted) so many members that it's right back to being wholly in the pocket of major business donors. Just like Peter-Friend-of-Epstein-Mandelson intended. The fact that that loathsome, utterly disreputable man is right back at the heart of the party should tell you everything.
Starmer has totally ignored the anti-black and Islamophobic racism highlighted in the Forde Report. He has himself - ironically - manifested disgusting antisemitism in conflating Jewishness with Zionism while spuriously smearing and expelling countless Jews from his party.
He is dissembling and hypocritical on trans rights and increasing numbers of his colleagues have been emboldened by the wearyingly biased Cass report to reveal their own nasty prejudices - which in years to come will be recognised as a gross reheating of the homophobic tropes of the 1980s.
Wes Streeting meanwhile can't wait to accelerate the intrusion of private healthcare into the NHS, dismantling it stealthily - but not THAT stealthily, as anybody with half an eye open can see what he's doing.
Starmer never opposes reactionary Tory policies on ideological grounds - he has no meaningful leftwing values. His party only constantly crow that Labour will administer essentially the same policies 'more efficiently' - which I don't want to happen. I don't people on benefits to continue getting hosed.
What is left-wing about the Labour party? Certainly not their economically illiterate fiscal policies which will only further the decline of all our public services and do nothing to help the ever-increasing numbers of poor people in this country.
I still remember when Starmer was DPP and went out of his way to performatively punish - imprison - people for stealing water or shoes during the riots, potentially ruining their lives so he could look like a big, strong boy. I saw who and what he was, then - and he remains an absolutely venal careerist.
I have a degree of sympathy for the vanishingly small number of MPs left in the party who are genuine social democrats like Zarah Sultana or Richard Burgon, say. I understand that they're in a difficult position because of the lamentable and corrupting first-past-the-post system we have in this country.
But if you're in the Labour party at any level, local or national, you have to acknowlege that you're part of a discredited, intellectually exhausted project, a zombie-throwback to Blairism - an era of politics which was so dreadful that it cemented more than a decade following, of the cruelest, third-rate, Tory government there's been.
So no: I don't think you CAN unpick these local elections from the national party, except perhaps, where the councilors are explicitly - explicitly - in opposition to their utterly wretched leadership.
Some very interesting comments here-esp by John and Peter [surely that Peter Moore] given my attitude to today's politics it surprises me that I feel the need to comment.For all the hype and development- at a basic level this city makes me shake my head and my disillusionment makes me feel sad.We have been disenfranchised by a local media [apart from the Tribune] which is distant and which sets its own agenda to a degree- I hear much of local democracy reporting but not much of it in action.In essence on a local level nowts going to change and I think we -the great Sheffield public -are largely to blame.My old man once said 'Sheffield's run like a working man's club' -is he still correct?
What a comment section...
I did think it was interesting that Labour only just bothered to send a flyer through my door in Hillsborough yesterday!
As far as I wam aware it was fairly close last time? And just speaking to plenty of people about I'd be surprised if the Green party gets the same level of support.
As an age of when it was THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SOUTH YORKSHIRE red and very few blue known throughout the land. Why mines, steel, railways ,the men were Union orientated Labour. All gone, so its anyone's guess what they vote for and why.
Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated :)
Another ward to watch is Firth Park where there are two seats for election. The incumbent Cllr Fran Belbin won by only 44 votes last time she stood, and is vulnerable to any Muslim opponent given the ward's demographics and widespread anger at Labour's lack of support for Palestine. The other vacancy is due to the councillor stepping down in order to stand in the General Election.
The main problem in Sheffield is that for decades the council has been content to see the city as inferior to Manchester and Leeds locally, and to the other core cities nationally. We need a council that will stand up and fight, not roll over and shrug. I will not be voting for any of the main parties, nor will I vote in the SY Mayoral election for the unimpressive Oliver Coppard or any of his challengers. This is not democracy, it's a farce.
Case in point - the transfer of PCC powers to the Mayor is unlawful because the public consultation was ruled unlawful by Judicial Review in the West Midlands. We had word for word the same - unlawful - consultation. Coppard kept totally quiet at the crucial time knowing the people of South yorks. had been conned - total failure to stand up for us all. Conveniently self-serving knowing keeping quiet would serve his own interests.