The results for all local elections held in Barnsley since 1979 can be found on the Barnsley Local Government website. We decided to look at how the Lib Dems and their precursors the Liberal/SDP Alliance had performed in these elections. It proved to be fascinating. The tables below show how many candidates they stood in each election, and how many Council seats they held each year.
The first manifestation of the Party was as an alliance between the old Liberal Party and the newly formed SDP (Social Democratic Party). The SDP had been founded by breakaway members of the Labour Party which at the time was adopting hardline socialist policies. It was felt at the time that the SDP/Liberal Alliance was a new force in British politics, adopting the middle ground instead of hard left or right wing, and that it would make rapid gains in British politics.
This mood had obviously caught on in Barnsley and the Alliance stood a full slate of 22 candidates in 1982 and actually won two Council seats. They also won one seat in a by-election which took place the same year. These were remarkable results considering that this was the first year the Party had stood in Barnsley. However in the following years this mood must have subsided. The three seats were lost and the number of candidates declined dramatically. The Liberal/SDP Alliance became the Liberal Democratic Party (Lib Dems) in 1988 but as can be seen from the tables by this time Barnsley had just lost interest.
There was a brief revival in 1992 when 12 candidates stood for the Lib Dems that year. Most likely someone had come along all fired up with enthusiasm and recruited these candidates for the Party. But this person for whatever reason had no stamina for a prolonged drive to win seats. The Party stood in three by-elections in 1993, stood a single candidate in 1994, and then disappeared again.
We then go into another long period of inactivity with no candidates at all standing in elections, meaning presumably that the Party did not exist in Barnsley. However the Party revived again in 1998 with 12 candidates standing in the elections that year. This was rewarded in ’99 with their first victory in the Central ward. Again the Party was firing on all cylinders and stood a full slate of candidates in the years 1999-2002. They succeeded in picking up another three seats to give them four in all. However by 2003 this rush of blood had subsided once again, and the number of candidates standing for the Party declined.
In 2004 the ward boundaries were re-organised leaving only 21 instead of the previous 22 wards. All 63 Council seats (3 seats per ward) were up for election and each party could stand 3 candidates in each ward. There was a reasonable effort by the Lib Dems to recruit candidates for this contest, although not anything like that seen in previous years. They won three seats in this election, but subsequently lost one of them in 2006. In the elections of 2007 they stood only 8 candidates.
Our opponents will be hoping that the progress of the BNP in Barnsley mirrors that of the Alliance/Lib Dems. An initial burst of activity, maybe picking up one or two seats, but followed by a decline into relative obscurity. Possible further bursts of activity but no real progress made towards taking power in the town. We have to examine the progress of the Alliance/Lib Dems and see if there are any lessons we can learn to avoid this happening to our Party.
If we examine the results from 1982 we see that the Liberal/SDP Alliance not only won three seats but actually came close to winning several others too. So why did they not succeed at building on these initial successes?
As we were not involved with politics at the time we can only guess at what went wrong:-
Possibly the person who was leading the Party in Barnsley at the time lacked the stamina and commitment to keep pushing things forwards.
Possibly the motivating ideology of the Alliance was not strong enough to maintain its membership and momentum.
Possibly something happened on the national stage or with the other political parties to reduce the relative appeal of the Alliance.
Possibly the internal organisation of the Alliance both locally and nationally was not well enough developed to ensure it continued making progress.
Possibly Barnsley was just not ready at that time to discard Labour.
Or possibly it was a combination of these factors.
The BNP is not prone to failure on any of these counts. Our national and local leadership is strong and dedicated. The motivating ideology of the Party is robust and appeals to many people from all walks of life. The internal organisation of our Party is now fully developed and efficient. Events on the national stage could not be more conducive to maintaining the momentum of the Party. In addition the other parties are not adopting our policies which could steal our thunder, and as has been seen from the success of the Barnsley Independents the people of Barnsley have had enough of Labour.
If we look at what happened in 1998 – 2003 we see another great burst of activity from the Lib Dems without them making any significant long term progress. It was during this time that Barnsley Labour Party started seriously losing to the Independents. The leadership of the Lib Dems must have thought that as Labour was falling out of favour in Barnsley it was their chance to move in. It is hard to say why they failed. It may be that people could see no difference between the policies of either Party. It may be that the image of the Party as weak and ‘all things to all men’ discouraged people from giving it their support. Neither of these factors applies to the BNP.
In conclusion we can say that the reasons for the failure of the Alliance and the Lib Dems in Barnsley do not apply to the British National Party. Where the Liberal/SDP Alliance and the Lib Dems have failed to keep up their momentum the BNP can go all the way to the top.
Note: If anyone has difficulty locating the Barnsley Local Government website or the election results therein please send an email to Barnsley@bnp.org.uk
This mood had obviously caught on in Barnsley and the Alliance stood a full slate of 22 candidates in 1982 and actually won two Council seats. They also won one seat in a by-election which took place the same year. These were remarkable results considering that this was the first year the Party had stood in Barnsley. However in the following years this mood must have subsided. The three seats were lost and the number of candidates declined dramatically. The Liberal/SDP Alliance became the Liberal Democratic Party (Lib Dems) in 1988 but as can be seen from the tables by this time Barnsley had just lost interest.
There was a brief revival in 1992 when 12 candidates stood for the Lib Dems that year. Most likely someone had come along all fired up with enthusiasm and recruited these candidates for the Party. But this person for whatever reason had no stamina for a prolonged drive to win seats. The Party stood in three by-elections in 1993, stood a single candidate in 1994, and then disappeared again.
We then go into another long period of inactivity with no candidates at all standing in elections, meaning presumably that the Party did not exist in Barnsley. However the Party revived again in 1998 with 12 candidates standing in the elections that year. This was rewarded in ’99 with their first victory in the Central ward. Again the Party was firing on all cylinders and stood a full slate of candidates in the years 1999-2002. They succeeded in picking up another three seats to give them four in all. However by 2003 this rush of blood had subsided once again, and the number of candidates standing for the Party declined.
In 2004 the ward boundaries were re-organised leaving only 21 instead of the previous 22 wards. All 63 Council seats (3 seats per ward) were up for election and each party could stand 3 candidates in each ward. There was a reasonable effort by the Lib Dems to recruit candidates for this contest, although not anything like that seen in previous years. They won three seats in this election, but subsequently lost one of them in 2006. In the elections of 2007 they stood only 8 candidates.
Our opponents will be hoping that the progress of the BNP in Barnsley mirrors that of the Alliance/Lib Dems. An initial burst of activity, maybe picking up one or two seats, but followed by a decline into relative obscurity. Possible further bursts of activity but no real progress made towards taking power in the town. We have to examine the progress of the Alliance/Lib Dems and see if there are any lessons we can learn to avoid this happening to our Party.
If we examine the results from 1982 we see that the Liberal/SDP Alliance not only won three seats but actually came close to winning several others too. So why did they not succeed at building on these initial successes?
As we were not involved with politics at the time we can only guess at what went wrong:-
Possibly the person who was leading the Party in Barnsley at the time lacked the stamina and commitment to keep pushing things forwards.
Possibly the motivating ideology of the Alliance was not strong enough to maintain its membership and momentum.
Possibly something happened on the national stage or with the other political parties to reduce the relative appeal of the Alliance.
Possibly the internal organisation of the Alliance both locally and nationally was not well enough developed to ensure it continued making progress.
Possibly Barnsley was just not ready at that time to discard Labour.
Or possibly it was a combination of these factors.
The BNP is not prone to failure on any of these counts. Our national and local leadership is strong and dedicated. The motivating ideology of the Party is robust and appeals to many people from all walks of life. The internal organisation of our Party is now fully developed and efficient. Events on the national stage could not be more conducive to maintaining the momentum of the Party. In addition the other parties are not adopting our policies which could steal our thunder, and as has been seen from the success of the Barnsley Independents the people of Barnsley have had enough of Labour.
If we look at what happened in 1998 – 2003 we see another great burst of activity from the Lib Dems without them making any significant long term progress. It was during this time that Barnsley Labour Party started seriously losing to the Independents. The leadership of the Lib Dems must have thought that as Labour was falling out of favour in Barnsley it was their chance to move in. It is hard to say why they failed. It may be that people could see no difference between the policies of either Party. It may be that the image of the Party as weak and ‘all things to all men’ discouraged people from giving it their support. Neither of these factors applies to the BNP.
In conclusion we can say that the reasons for the failure of the Alliance and the Lib Dems in Barnsley do not apply to the British National Party. Where the Liberal/SDP Alliance and the Lib Dems have failed to keep up their momentum the BNP can go all the way to the top.
Note: If anyone has difficulty locating the Barnsley Local Government website or the election results therein please send an email to Barnsley@bnp.org.uk
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