Government Business

NEW RELEASE:
GOVERNMENT BUSINESS 26.02

Local election season approaching

Polls open at 7am on Thursday 2 May for local elections in 248 councils across the country. Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned that the Conservatives are likely to lose control of some seats following continued anger over Brexit.

There are approximately 8,400 council seats to be contested, as well as votes for directly-elected mayors at six authorities; Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and North of Tyne. While much focus will be on Tory councils in Leave-voting heartlands, it will be interesting to see what the Labour Party achieves, especially following the recent success in the Newport West by-election at the start of the month.

Interestingly, the opposition party has announced that it is considering adopting automatic voter registration as a new policy, if it were victorious in any possible upcoming general election, examining where automatic voter registration has successfully increased overall registration levels globally.

With an estimated seven million people in the UK not on the electoral register, Labour hopes that the change in voting policy would increase turnout at elections. Having previously announced its intention to lower the voting age to 16, gaining fairly widespread support in the process, it will be interesting to see whether this latest electoral intention has the legs to enforce change to a system in much need of repair.

Michael Lyons, editor