In 1996, only 11 years ago, Labour held 64 Barnsley Council seats out of 66. They must literally have felt invincible. In the local elections that year in 14 out of the 22 Barnsley wards the Labour Party candidate was elected unopposed. Despite a public appeal for candidates to step forwards from the other parties no one else thought it worthwhile to stand against Labour in those wards.
Jump ahead only 11 years and we see a completely different picture. Out of the 63 seats on Barnsley Council, Labour now holds only 33. The Barnsley Independent Group (BIG) holds 21, the Conservatives 5, the Lib Dems 2, and the non-aligned Independents 2. In the local elections this year Labour had to fight tooth and nail in every single ward, and then they lost 2 seats to BIG, leaving them with an overall majority of only 3. In many wards where they did win it was not by a convincing margin at all.
This is failure on a grand scale. In 1996 they could have stood the proverbial donkey wearing a red rosette and won, and now they can’t even hold onto seats by standing their best and most experienced candidates.
As the Labour Party goes into terminal decline in Barnsley it seems that it’s the Independents of BIG that are going to dominate the Council in years to come. But ask yourself why would a person vote for an Independent candidate? The Independent candidate has no identifiable position on the important issues of the day. He is just there. You have no way of knowing what his opinions are – they could even be diametrically opposed to yours.
People vote for an Independent candidate basically because there’s no one else on the ballot paper that they feel they can back. They don’t want to vote Labour anymore because of the total disaster wrought upon our town and country by the Labour Party. They will certainly never consider voting Conservative in most areas of Barnsley. The Lib Dems which are the traditional protest vote are also unappealing, so all that’s left for the person who wants to do their duty and vote – is the Independents.
But now with the BNP emerging as a significant force in Barnsley politics there IS an alternative party for people to vote for. Instead of voting for a candidate with indeterminate views and vague policies and promises of jam for all, they have a candidate whose views they know and in many cases agree with. They have a candidate with the strength of conviction to stand for a Party with a definite positive agenda.
At the moment there’s still a reluctance on the part of many people to vote for the BNP despite the fact that they understand and identify very strongly with our policies. This is because of the unprecedented campaign of lies and vilification of our Party in the media. But many other people are now beginning to see through the lies. They see a BNP candidate standing in their ward who is every bit as respectable and elect able as the candidates from the other parties. They see that there is a big discrepancy between the type of person that the media claims are our members, and the person that is actually standing for the BNP in their own area.
We’re going to win in Barnsley by persevering year after year until we do win. That’s all we have to do. It may take us another 2 years to win our first seat in Barnsley. It may be another 6 or 7 years before we have enough elected Councillors to make an impact on policy. But as can be seen by what has happened to Barnsley Labour Party in the last 11 years the political landscape can and does change dramatically.
Jump ahead only 11 years and we see a completely different picture. Out of the 63 seats on Barnsley Council, Labour now holds only 33. The Barnsley Independent Group (BIG) holds 21, the Conservatives 5, the Lib Dems 2, and the non-aligned Independents 2. In the local elections this year Labour had to fight tooth and nail in every single ward, and then they lost 2 seats to BIG, leaving them with an overall majority of only 3. In many wards where they did win it was not by a convincing margin at all.
This is failure on a grand scale. In 1996 they could have stood the proverbial donkey wearing a red rosette and won, and now they can’t even hold onto seats by standing their best and most experienced candidates.
As the Labour Party goes into terminal decline in Barnsley it seems that it’s the Independents of BIG that are going to dominate the Council in years to come. But ask yourself why would a person vote for an Independent candidate? The Independent candidate has no identifiable position on the important issues of the day. He is just there. You have no way of knowing what his opinions are – they could even be diametrically opposed to yours.
People vote for an Independent candidate basically because there’s no one else on the ballot paper that they feel they can back. They don’t want to vote Labour anymore because of the total disaster wrought upon our town and country by the Labour Party. They will certainly never consider voting Conservative in most areas of Barnsley. The Lib Dems which are the traditional protest vote are also unappealing, so all that’s left for the person who wants to do their duty and vote – is the Independents.
But now with the BNP emerging as a significant force in Barnsley politics there IS an alternative party for people to vote for. Instead of voting for a candidate with indeterminate views and vague policies and promises of jam for all, they have a candidate whose views they know and in many cases agree with. They have a candidate with the strength of conviction to stand for a Party with a definite positive agenda.
At the moment there’s still a reluctance on the part of many people to vote for the BNP despite the fact that they understand and identify very strongly with our policies. This is because of the unprecedented campaign of lies and vilification of our Party in the media. But many other people are now beginning to see through the lies. They see a BNP candidate standing in their ward who is every bit as respectable and elect able as the candidates from the other parties. They see that there is a big discrepancy between the type of person that the media claims are our members, and the person that is actually standing for the BNP in their own area.
We’re going to win in Barnsley by persevering year after year until we do win. That’s all we have to do. It may take us another 2 years to win our first seat in Barnsley. It may be another 6 or 7 years before we have enough elected Councillors to make an impact on policy. But as can be seen by what has happened to Barnsley Labour Party in the last 11 years the political landscape can and does change dramatically.
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