Barnet Council Election Result - Every Party got what they really deserved in the end

 So Barnet Council is now a hung council. The Tories and Labour are tied on 31 seats each and one Green councillor holds the balance of power. I foresaw Labour losing control, but not in the way they have! I thought the Tories would win, but I also felt that no party deserved victory. All parties clearly thought Mill Hill Ward was as done deal for the Tories and none bothered to do any work. I have no idea what it was like in marginal wards. The truth is that we had 20 years of Tory misrule in Barnet, followed by four years of incompetence from Labour. Neither party has given a stuff about residents. I hav e my reservations about The Green Party, but at least they have a clear position on many issues and are not afraid to upset people, which is actually something politicians should be prepared to do. In many parts of Barnet, their stance on Israel and Palestine is deeply unpopular with the Jewish community. That doesn't mean that the Greens should not make their case. I believe that what they have to say is legal and just because it upsets people doesn't mean they shouldn't say it. I feel the same way about much of what Reform says about immigration. If you disagree with a party, work to defeat them and use rational argument rather than bans. 

The Greens did work in their target wards and their share of the vote in Barnet was far more than 1 out of 63 councillors. That is the trouble with our voting system and our council system. It has contrived to deliver a result where the most powerful single councillor is from a party with one seat but maybe 15% of the vote. Lib Dem and Reform voters have no representation at all. Tories and Labour have around 49% of the councillors with around 25-30% of the vote. It is utterly ridiculous that we have 62 nodding dog councillors towing the party line. and one who can call all the shots. I hate Reforms policies but it is not democratic to deny their voters representation due to an outdated and arcane system.

As far as I am concerned, every party got what they deserved in the end. Labour lost control, for four rotten years and a lousy campaign. The Tories didn't get back in after 20 years of misrule. The Greens got a seat because they had a strategy for their target seats and it worked. Reform had no strategy and nothing to offer Barnet so they got nothing. My party, The Lib Dems hardly bothered to do anything and got nothing. I didn't stand this time, as I am chairman of The Mill Hill Services Club and felt it was a conflict of interest. I didn't support the Mill Hill Residents Association candidates for the same reason. The Association is not political. If they'd have won, they would have potentially held the balance of power and deciced whether Mill Hill had a Tory or Labour adminstration and you can't get any more political than that. 

Have a nice weekend. I'm done with local politics for a while now.