It's been a while since I did my last blog, due to me finishing my second-year exams at Lancaster University. Before I move on to discuss what’s been happening in Lancaster locally, I would like to thank Ryan Cullen for highlighting this blog in his list of new Liberal Democrat bloggers on Liberal Democrat Voice. Thanks Ryan. (http://www.libdemvoice.org/welcome-to-the-new-bloggers-31-24465.html).
Over the past weeks the new executive of Lancaster City Council has been sworn into office. Lancaster has a long history of strange and relatively rare executives being formed between numerous political parties compared to many other local councils. This is because there are five main political parties that stand locally in the Lancaster area. Obviously there are the three main parties, the Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party and the Conservative party. There is also a very strong Green party in Lancaster, which is arguably the strongest Green presence in the North of England. Furthermore there is a local based Morecambe party called the Morecambe Bay Independents (MBIs). And it is also worth noting that Lancaster City Council has a large number of independents and a group of Free Independents who are independent of the independents and who are also independent of the Morecambe Bay Independents. So there are a lot of independents in Lancaster; if you're still following me. So due to there being so many different political groups on the council, there exists the possibility for many different political outcomes.
The 2007 local council election had resulted in Labour having 15 seats, the Conservatives and the Greens both having 12 states, the MBIs having 11 states and the Liberal Democrats and the Independents both having 5 seats. Hence the 2007 election created a massive hung council with it being impossible for even two parties to form the council executive. Initially, a three-way coalition between Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats was formed. This was followed by a new executive led by Liberal Democrat councillor, Stuart Langhorn, which was formed by the use of a proportional representation cabinet. This meant that the Liberal Democrats, Labour, the Conservatives, the Greens, the MBIs and the Independents were offered seats on the council cabinet. This all party executive (which was subsequently boycotted by the Conservatives) reflected the fact that no party had the ability to govern by itself.
This changed however following the 2011 local council elections, which ended in Labour having 24 seats, the Conservatives having 16 seats, both the Greens and the MBIs each received 8 States and the Independents received 4 seats. Unfortunately we lost all five of our seats meaning an end for now anyway to any Liberal Democrat representation on our local council. This was surely not a reflection on the efforts of local Liberal Democrats and what we have achieved locally but more a reflection on national issues regarding the Coalition in Westminster. Following the results of the local election a new administration in the council was formed in a coalition between the Labour Party and the Green Party. There are currently six Labour seats on the cabinet compared to only two seats for the Green Party. It'll be interesting from a political perspective to see how a Red-Green alliance delivers for the people of Lancaster and Morecambe. Stereotypically, this new executive may become an alliance between authoritarians and hippies, although it's sometimes difficult to say which party those labels best apply to. Going from the fact that I know a few Labour councillors personally and a few former Greens candidates personally, the calibre of those on the council is potentially a very high one. It'll be interesting to see over the weeks and months to come how a national Coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will impact on a local Coalition between Labour and the Greens. One thing is for sure; that considering the transition from a PR cabinet to contrasting coalitions between national government and local government, local politics in Lancaster is surely to remain one of the most interesting in the country.
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