Editor's blog: Tory hold slips under radar
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Amid the febrile atmosphere that has followed the General
Election, one local political affair has perhaps slipped under
the radar.
That is the Conservative group's surprising hold onto power at
Maidstone Town Hall. It didn't look good for Cllr Chris Garland's
Tories earlier in the night when they saw cabinet member Brian Moss
unceremoniously dumped in Bridge ward.
The writing appeared to be on the wall until they turfed out
Labour defector Daniel Moriarity in Park Wood, veteran independent
and former mayor Pat Marshall and Sheena Williams in Shepway
south.
A rather chipper Chris Garland says it vindicates the Tories
two-year tenure running the council. Perhaps now we can see them
getting on with the High Street regeneration project, which the Lib
Dems have severely criticised.
As for the Lib Dems they are spinning their defeat somewhat.
They are conveniently pushing the Moriarty defeat into the
Faversham and Mid Kent constituency to demonstrate a powerful
performance in Maidstone and the Weald.
They point to a nine per cent swing to the Lib Dems and suggest
Maidstone and the Weald is now a effectively a marginal seat. Fair
enough, Peter Carroll did exceptionally well to close the gap by
nearly 10,000, but sorry chaps 6,000 isn't a marginal.
We are hearing a lot about the importance of 'stable
government'. Party politics aside, at least the Tories will now
have had a three-year run at controlling Maidstone. The madness of
yearly elections has not been helpful and the sooner the council
reverts to a four-year cycle the better. Maybe even a
directly-elected mayor?
In the fevered political atmosphere and the relentless
number-crunching with swings, majorities, shares, socio-demographic
statistics, one set of figures caught my eye.
The Kent Messenger, at the beginning of the campaign, launched a
'use your vote' plea to readers and we're pleased to report that
turn-outs in all our constituencies went up.
But one interesting fact was where the highest votes
came in. You might think that the excitement and frenzied
campaigning within a marginal might prompt the heaviest voting
patterns.
But you'd be wrong. In Chatham and Aylesford, our most
closely-fought seat it was 61.5 per cent - well below the national
average of 65. Yet in Tonbridge and Malling where Sir John Stanley
romped home with the biggest majority in Kent, the turn-out was a
whopping 71.5 per cent. In neighbour Sevenoaks, again one of the
safest Tory seats in the country, 71 per cent voted.
Tuesday, May 11 2010
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