Pretty much my thoughts on it too.

Slight misquote - he says they have the first right to seek to govern, being the party with most seats and votes.

Malik would probably have retained his seat (albeit with a vastly reduced share of the vote) if they hadn't changed the Dewsbury constituency boundaries to include the more affluent areas of kirkburton, denby dale, etc.

True enough. The conservatives only won by ~1500 votes didn't they.

Terrible isn't it.

I can only conclude that it's due to a strong campaign from Nicola Turner (who as you'll know has been really active over the last couple of years) and lots of people people still voting for Labour with Debbie Abrahams causing the vote to be split and letting Tory Boy in with that learing woman from Marsden.

You've also got to remember that most of the Holme Valley will be Tory.

I emailed all the candidates (via Amnesty) before the election to ask for their views on human rights both here and abroad. All the candidates replied apart from UKIP, BNP and McCartney, funny that.

Don't know if it's because I'm a comer inner but I've always quite liked Sheerman, better than Kali Mountford who has done nothing for the last few years.

Cheers, I saw it on one of the News Headlines.


If he was standing then I guess Labour must've been confident of him retaining the seat in spite of his expenses claims. A Homer Simpson moment there.

Please don't get me started on Kali Mountford. I know she has been ill but she was aware of this before she stood in 2005.

Since then she managed to attend Parliament [url=http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/1508&showall=yes#divisions47%[/url of the time but still managed to claim the [url=http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kali_mountford/colne_valley#hansardmaximum for staying away from home and almost £10k[/url for her husband travelling with her to parliament from the valley

One thing that cheeses me right off is that I can never seem to find out any information about my local elections. They're no less significant than the parliamentaries, probably more significant in my day to day life. Hell, I didn't even know who my local councillor was before yesterday, never mind what they proposed to do in my area this year to get me to vote for them. You can find anything on the internet but I drew a blank when googling the names of my LE candidates.

Quote ="Wadski"Please don't get me started on Kali Mountford. I know she has been ill but she was aware of this before she stood in 2005. Since then she managed to attend Parliament [url=http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/1508&showall=yes#divisions47%[/url of the time but still managed to claim the [url=http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kali_mountford/colne_valley#hansardmaximum for staying away from home and almost £10k[/url for her husband travelling with her to parliament from the valley'" I agree 100%, in any other line of work if you're ill and can't do your job then unfortunately you'll probably lose it. Sad but that's the way the cookie crumbles. If you're an MP you can do virtually nothing for your constituents and then retire on a hugely generous stipend. Quote ="Baron Greenback"One thing that cheeses me right off is that I can never seem to find out any information about my local elections. They're no less significant than the parliamentaries, probably more significant in my day to day life. Hell, I didn't even know who my local councillor was before yesterday, never mind what they proposed to do in my area this year to get me to vote for them. You can find anything on the internet but I drew a blank when googling the names of my LE candidates.'" Try these my Danger Mouse goading friend; www.kirklees.gov.uk/you-kmc/kmc- ... ns.asp#v10 twitter.com/kirkleesvote

Quote ="Wadski"Please don't get me started on Kali Mountford. I know she has been ill but she was aware of this before she stood in 2005. Since then she managed to attend Parliament [url=http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/1508&showall=yes#divisions47%[/url of the time but still managed to claim the [url=http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kali_mountford/colne_valley#hansardmaximum for staying away from home and almost £10k[/url for her husband travelling with her to parliament from the valley'" I agree 100%, in any other line of work if you're ill and can't do your job then unfortunately you'll probably lose it. Sad but that's the way the cookie crumbles. If you're an MP you can do virtually nothing for your constituents and then retire on a hugely generous stipend. Quote ="Baron Greenback"One thing that cheeses me right off is that I can never seem to find out any information about my local elections. They're no less significant than the parliamentaries, probably more significant in my day to day life. Hell, I didn't even know who my local councillor was before yesterday, never mind what they proposed to do in my area this year to get me to vote for them. You can find anything on the internet but I drew a blank when googling the names of my LE candidates.'" Try these my Danger Mouse goading friend; www.kirklees.gov.uk/you-kmc/kmc- ... ns.asp#v10 twitter.com/kirkleesvote

Cheers pmh, but I'm actually in Leeds. Specifically the Calverley and Farsley ward.

[urlhttp://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageidentifier=d124fadb-cb23-488d-a4bb-c2d5a9534b6e&cacheId=7067438&siteID=1&ward=CALVERLEY%20AND%20FARSLEY[/url

I feel for Malik. He had his faults, but he did get involved in many local campaigns, more so than most MPs. Yet Reevell is just one of Ashcroft's drones who will just do the non-doms bidding. Also Iqbal Kazir got over 3000 votes and I bet if hadn't of stood then most of those votes would have gone to Malik.

From what I heard from my work mate that is spot on.

Cheers DAZ. So now I'm in a Tory constituency with a Tory councillor. But what does that mean for me and my street? I don't really know the answer. That's what I was (badly) driving at with my original post. What were the specific proposals of messrs ARBUCKLE, JAROSZ, LEARY & WOOD for Calverley & Farsley?

The propoganda leaflets that come through the letterboxes at election time said that the council was proposing to build on Green Field sites but that's it. Given that I live right next to one I wasn't at all keen. But propoganda is one thing. Why haven't I found anything on the internet that shows me specific proposals from each of the candidates that mean something tangible to me and my neighbours anywhere? What about the local parks, street lighting, refuse collection, street paving, road surfacing, libraries, leisure centres? What about the local primary and secondary schools?

Malik got everything he deserved. Massage chairs, surround sound £2000 cinema screen tv, plus a few microwaves in a year, all on expences. And the ultimate putting his remembrance day wreaths on his expences.
All this plus the fact that he would like the Islamic flag flying over Westminster in 20 years time.
How any British person could vote for Malik defies belief.

Support for the Labour party on this forum really surprises me. They are a government who have done some good things and bad things. It is ok to spend money if you have got it, not if you are borrowing all the time to subsidise pet policies. They were a government who racked up more debt than any government since the second world war, and are incapable of balancing their books. The Labour party will be thankfull they lost the election, as it is up to the Conservatives now to try and rectify years of Labour incompetence. They will have to take some very unpopular actions but these need to be done for the sake of the country.

I will let Shogun reminisce about life under Thatcher and how great it was, me i will just remember that many people still have not got over the legacy that was left from her ideology.

Such as the destruction of British heavy industry rather than the restructuring of industry. the privatise everything for the investment capitalists to sell off the profitable bits at a profit and close everything else, the institutionalisation of poverty and the welfare state in former mining, steel and shipbuilding areas
.
The setting up of the British economy based on the service industry, false housing booms and credit and the legacy that left us with. the abolishment of metropolitan councils ( becuase they were LABOUR)which allowed things like bus and train services to be regulated and organised Yorkshire wide ( lets just privatise it and run transport for those who can pay and keep the profitable bits open we dod not need buses in villages for old people ( the net result we all have to have cars).

Privatise the gas , electric etc industry all for ideological reasons not in the interests of consumers so that we now have the highest energy prices in Europe. Never mind Shogun at least when you are ripped off with your gas bill you can say but i am part of the share owning democracy as you cuddle up to your £600 worth of shares.

The problem is that Cameron and Osbourne are the same as Thatcher. the same ideological approach. Yes they will save the Bristish economy by concentarting cuts on those who can least afford it, the Poor, the sick, the unemployed, children, the private sector whilst protecting the rich, the bankers, the city, those who have millions and want to keep it by passing it on to their rick kids ( we would not want Osbourne having to pay inheritance tax when he gets daddies £20m mansion). Lets sell Lloyds TSB back to the rich in the city now that WE have bailed it out and it is in profit , we dont want it to be owned by the state so we make money out of it becuase we have to bow down to great God of privatisation.

I have no time for the Labour party and despise what Brown has contributed to in the public sector particualrly managerialism and the culture of false targets and inspections. Nor do i hav etoo much time for the Lib Dems but at least the pain they inflict will be fairer and weill hit Osbournes and his rich mates as much as Mr and Mrs OAP.


What i do see is a chance for CONSTITUTIONAL reform which will allow Governement in this country to hav eto be based on CONSENSUS and Co-operation in the future. Where decisions are based on =#FF0000What Works rather than what ideology . A bit like Germany where Education, Health, Industry are not political footballs which restructure every 5 to 10 years when a new Government is elected.


Proportional representation, fixed term parliaments, reform of the house of Lords, a Bill of rights etc. that could be the lasting legacy of this election. Something that would mean we would never have a Majority Tory government ever again. That would be a legacy i would like to leave to my kids.

totally agree fella.. i would rather have margaret thatcher than bLIAR or brown... .. and i am a working class lad of the building trade

I normally avoid debates on politics, mainly because by their very nature political views tend to be deeply entrenched and un-movable, but you can't blame Thatcher for the decline of heavy industry in this country. In effect it has been in decline since the 18th-19th century. It was temporarily shored up because we were fortunate (probably not the right word) to be involved in two massive indurstrialised wars in the early part of the 20th century. However even in those we were out-performed industrial by other countries. Indeed had Germany had access to our empire they'd have conquered Europe with no problems. That and the early constitutional reforms that circumscribed the power of the monarchy and the fact that we are too conservative as a nation to have a proper worker's revolution.

In fact you could probably set a date of 1783 as the true date our heavy industry started to decline ie the end of the American War of Independence. True the last Conservative government presided over a large part of the final throws of it's life but you may as well blame Lord Cornwallis for surrendering Saratoga to Benedict Arnold for it's actual death.

I'm absolutely appalled that this thread is on here.

I don't want to hear people's views on politics I come here to discuss the Giants.

I bet the election boards haven't got an O/T thread on the Superleague !

one thing that durham did mention which i would like to see changed is the formation of a fixed term government... everybody knows where they are with that system..

Quote ="Durham Giant"BUT WTF were voters in Dewsbury putting a tory in for '" They didn't. The Boundary Comissions altered the voting boundries to include normally Tory strongholds like Shepley, a village on the outskirts of West Yorkshire, in a Labour stronghold - Dewsbury, with the hope of catching them but it backfired spectacularly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

Quote ="Durham Giant"BUT WTF were voters in Dewsbury putting a tory in for '" They didn't. The Boundary Comissions altered the voting boundries to include normally Tory strongholds like Shepley, a village on the outskirts of West Yorkshire, in a Labour stronghold - Dewsbury, with the hope of catching them but it backfired spectacularly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

Quote ="Raaaaymond"They didn't. The Boundary Comissions altered the voting boundries to include normally Tory strongholds like Shepley, a village on the outskirts of West Yorkshire, in a Labour stronghold - Dewsbury, with the hope of catching them but it backfired spectacularly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering'" They were already in a Labour stronghold - Wakefield. The constituency boundaries were restructured on current local government wards, so that wards weren't split between constituencies.

Quote ="Raaaaymond"They didn't. The Boundary Comissions altered the voting boundries to include normally Tory strongholds like Shepley, a village on the outskirts of West Yorkshire, in a Labour stronghold - Dewsbury, with the hope of catching them but it backfired spectacularly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering'" They were already in a Labour stronghold - Wakefield. The constituency boundaries were restructured on current local government wards, so that wards weren't split between constituencies.

Shepley has as small a link to Wakefield as it does to Dewbury and is close to neither. It is Tory stronghold be it in Wakefield or Dewsbury and moving it only added to the votes against Malik. Kirkburton, Denby Dale and Mirfield wards (all Tory areas)were moved into Dewsbury, which allowed the Tories to gain victory.

Your point was that the boundary restructuring was gerrymandering which backfired. How can it have been gerrymandering when these areas were already in a Labour stronghold, which would have remained as such? I have already stated that Malik would not have lost if the boundaries had not been changed.

Constituency boundaries will never be satisfactory and reflect the towns that villages are linked to due to population densities, but to change them based on electoral wards is at least a little more sensible.

My bad. I was wrong about the gerrymandering, as Wakefield was and is Labour controlled although as we agree, it was the votes from the Tory strongholds I mentioned which were moved to Dewsbury that helped remove Malik.