This column is old enough to remember when changes to electoral systems were seen as important enough to require a nationwide referendum, a precedent which clearly no longer applies. The reduction in voter choice results from the electoral system for elected mayors being changed to first-past-the-post, a change which wasn’t in the original bill for the Elections Act and was introduced by a government amendment at committee stage in the Commons. Counter to all of the UK’s electoral reform measures going back to 1832, and indeed contrary to what the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales have done over the last few years, these measures are designed to reduce voter choice and introduce barriers to voting. We haven’t had any further local government reorganisation affecting this year’s polls, but there are some innovations for the 2023 English local elections following the passage of the Elections Act this year. Neither are there any polls today in London, Wales or Scotland. Developments over the last fifty years have muddied the waters a bit on that, and there are now some parts of England which don’t have second-tier districts or have a non-standard electoral cycle those areas will not be sharing in the fun this year, and I’ll make clear what’s going on as we come to the detailed profiles below. A four-year electoral cycle was set up in the 1970s, with most English districts given the choice of whether to hold their elections either by thirds or all at once.Īs originally envisaged, this is the year of the cycle where all of the UK’s second-tier districts which have whole-council elections go to the polls. This structure has been hacked around quite a lot over the last few decades, but the vast majority of the councils up for election today trace their lineage in an unbroken line back to 1973. Let’s have a look at what me might expect from these elections.Ģ023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first elections to the present structure of English local government, which came into operation in the following year of 1974.

Despite a decade and more of austerity, the UK’s local councils between them still employ millions of people and control budgets of billions of pounds for the benefit of local residents and local communities. This is your four-yearly (or possibly more frequent) chance to influence the direction of your local district council at the ballot box, and to elect, defeat or re-elect your local representatives. It’s the first Thursday in May 2023, and that means it’s time for what will probably be the biggest electoral event of the year: the local elections in England. “All the right votes, but not necessarily in the right order ” Previewing the English local elections of 4th May 2023

Stockport From Above by Jonathan Webb