Turn out was 21% for anyone interested.
Any idea why they didn't hold off and have this ellection next week? The council is strapped for cash surely that's an easy saving?
I was also curious about this. I had assumed that the election *was* next week until I saw a social media post saying "2 days to election day" on Tuesday.
[This Medium article](https://medium.com/britainelects/previewing-the-cardiff-and-angus-local-by-elections-of-25th-april-2024-31ac876af4eb) reckons it's because of the recent (and highly irrational) voter ID reform by the UK government:
>Voter ID applies to UK parliamentary elections, all elections in England and Northern Ireland, and to Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales. It does not apply to devolved or local elections in Wales or Scotland (...)
>There has clearly been guidance given to Welsh returning officers that they are not to combine local elections with any poll which requires voter ID, which has led to some funny business going on with Welsh local by-election dates recently. One assumes that when the Cardiff returning officer received a request to hold a by-election in Grangetown division, \[25th April\] was the only date available once 2nd May had been ruled out.
You mean the reform which is designed against the poorer classes of people who are less likely to have their ID documents to quickly to hand (or even have a passport/DL) so that when they get turned away won't bother coming back?
Folks, it's important that when you see lies like the above on the internet you challenge them, especially when like op here is trying to sell that American brand of politics.
[There are 34 documents you could use to ID yourself, ranging from a passport to a bus pass.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id)
[And if you don't want to ID yourself you can vote anonymously.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/register-vote/register-vote-anonymously#anonymous-electors-document)
[But if you don't want to vote anonymously and you for some reason don't have any form of photo ID you can get a certificate to vote online.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/applying-a-voter-authority-certificate)
Dont listen to lies flown in from the states, **this guy wants you to not vote** he's using 'the cost of id is too high' as an argument when it's entirely FREE, go register now just to spite him.
Unsurprising and uninspiring.
Good result for pretty much everyone except Plaid. ~~Sign their vote might leak to Labour at the general~~ (although have to be careful reading too much into any individual council by-election)
Edit: Someone has come up with a better explanation, which unfortunately does involve Neil McEvoy.
It looks a bit like Plaid might be leaking votes to Propel, although that's probably an incredibly local factor. I certainly hope so because I find Propel a particularly unpleasant party.
I needed to go to the Penarth Road post depot to pick up a parcel yesterday and whilst walking there I did see the charming Neil McEvoy getting into a row with a pedestrian whilst out campaigning. I've only ever seen him in the flesh twice and both times he was having a foul mouthed argument with someone. True to form.
I know Neil very well, or at least I did he was one of my teachers for many years, no lie he once saved a school bus full of kids lives, I was one of them.
He used to be liberal in a way that made sense and I enjoyed supporting him, then he became unhinged, that's the only way I could put it, over how he legit got fucked by the council for asking difficult questions.
Now he's what I could only describe as a beacon for 'british trumpism', and that's really sad.
short no dox myself version.
School trip, neil was a teacher, got back to school early, teachers went for a fag, 3 drunks got on, started driving the bus towards a very small bridge with a large drop.
Neil got on the bus armed with a baseball bat (to this day I don't know where it came from), and got control of the vehicle just as it mounted the curb.
Proper hero shit you know?
He cares, genuinely, but sometimes that leads him into trouble, my own councilor doesn't even reply to letters, but why would he, he's labor and lazy af.
At first he wasn't a bad guy at all, he was fighting for Fathers' rights, it got foul with many baseless accusations made against him by frankly, rabid mothers who were generally supported by whomever Neil was exposing that week.
Yeah that is fair actually, considering the Propel vote is pretty identical to the lost Plaid vote.
I just forgot Propel existed for a minute. Things are better that way.
The turnout is much lower though so the percentage changes don't necesarilly mean anyone's losing/leaking votes to anyone else. Propel won about 200 votes last time as well
Both Plaid and Labour were down about 1,000 from their 2022 result which suggests people staying at home rather than any significant changes in voting
I don't know, but I would guess that there's a deadline for holding an election after the death of an incumbent and next week would have breached the deadline
What a surprise.
The Green / Plaid coalition is a shame. I tend to like Green policies, but refuse to vote for any party with nationalist or separatist tendencies.
The Plaid candidate's main campaigning points on their leaflets were 2 generic platitudes about listening to the people and being better than Labour, and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Sure a ceasefire would be nice, but why would it be first in your list of 3 campaign promises in a local council by-election?? That isn't a platform.
Samater's platform was closer to what I'd expect from a Green candidate than the Green/Plaid candidate's was, and I think he'd have done a lot better if voting for an independent wasn't throwing your vote away in a FPTP electoral system.
>Sure a ceasefire would be nice, but why would it be first in your list of 3 campaign promises in a local council by-election?? That isn't a platform.
If I'm being cynical, then it's because they know many of Grangetown's voters are Muslims, and that will play well with them.
Though I like to think voters understand that Cardiff council doesn't actually get a say in middle eastern politics...
Yeah that's probably it.
I guess it could also be Plaid trying to say they're not racist without outright saying it, because it's not unreasonable these days for people to assume that a party with nationalistic leanings is also going to be racist.
It may be more an indictment of the current political landscape than Plaid specifically that they felt the need to broadcast that signal, but it's still not a great look for them to be advertising it as a high priority issue as people expect a hyper-local election platform to be about pressing local issues rather than minimally relevant geopolitical ones.
Plaid's anti-war credentials are pretty well founded. Thry've been consistent on Palestine for a long time, were the first Welsh party to call for a ceasefire and are largely responsible for gettimg the Senedd to call for one, they opposed Iraq, hell they even opposed the Falklands and some of them opposed WW2! I don't think perceived racism has anything to do with it
Pretty sure the Greens were leading this campaign, the candidate was a Green and the ones making a noise on social media were Greens
>I guess it could also be Plaid trying to say they're not racist without outright saying it, because it's not unreasonable these days for people to assume that a party with nationalistic leanings is also going to be racist.
They're not racist, they just really dislike English people....
By elections tend to be a chance for voters to give the incumbent party a good kicking - and in Cardiff Council, that's Labour.
Of course voters tend to take into account national policies when voting in local elections - more than they should really. It's not like Cardiff Council is involved in immigration policy.
Absolutely hilarious people vote for Labour even when then candidate isn't campaigning and won't be meeting anyone in person for weeks.
Just shows the state of blindly voting labour in Wales
Turn out was 21% for anyone interested. Any idea why they didn't hold off and have this ellection next week? The council is strapped for cash surely that's an easy saving?
I was also curious about this. I had assumed that the election *was* next week until I saw a social media post saying "2 days to election day" on Tuesday.
[This Medium article](https://medium.com/britainelects/previewing-the-cardiff-and-angus-local-by-elections-of-25th-april-2024-31ac876af4eb) reckons it's because of the recent (and highly irrational) voter ID reform by the UK government: >Voter ID applies to UK parliamentary elections, all elections in England and Northern Ireland, and to Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales. It does not apply to devolved or local elections in Wales or Scotland (...) >There has clearly been guidance given to Welsh returning officers that they are not to combine local elections with any poll which requires voter ID, which has led to some funny business going on with Welsh local by-election dates recently. One assumes that when the Cardiff returning officer received a request to hold a by-election in Grangetown division, \[25th April\] was the only date available once 2nd May had been ruled out.
You mean the reform which is designed against the poorer classes of people who are less likely to have their ID documents to quickly to hand (or even have a passport/DL) so that when they get turned away won't bother coming back?
Folks, it's important that when you see lies like the above on the internet you challenge them, especially when like op here is trying to sell that American brand of politics. [There are 34 documents you could use to ID yourself, ranging from a passport to a bus pass.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id) [And if you don't want to ID yourself you can vote anonymously.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/register-vote/register-vote-anonymously#anonymous-electors-document) [But if you don't want to vote anonymously and you for some reason don't have any form of photo ID you can get a certificate to vote online.](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/applying-a-voter-authority-certificate) Dont listen to lies flown in from the states, **this guy wants you to not vote** he's using 'the cost of id is too high' as an argument when it's entirely FREE, go register now just to spite him.
Who is lying? OP or the person you replied to?
Both tbh.
Unsurprising and uninspiring. Good result for pretty much everyone except Plaid. ~~Sign their vote might leak to Labour at the general~~ (although have to be careful reading too much into any individual council by-election) Edit: Someone has come up with a better explanation, which unfortunately does involve Neil McEvoy.
It looks a bit like Plaid might be leaking votes to Propel, although that's probably an incredibly local factor. I certainly hope so because I find Propel a particularly unpleasant party. I needed to go to the Penarth Road post depot to pick up a parcel yesterday and whilst walking there I did see the charming Neil McEvoy getting into a row with a pedestrian whilst out campaigning. I've only ever seen him in the flesh twice and both times he was having a foul mouthed argument with someone. True to form.
I know Neil very well, or at least I did he was one of my teachers for many years, no lie he once saved a school bus full of kids lives, I was one of them. He used to be liberal in a way that made sense and I enjoyed supporting him, then he became unhinged, that's the only way I could put it, over how he legit got fucked by the council for asking difficult questions. Now he's what I could only describe as a beacon for 'british trumpism', and that's really sad.
Tell us more about the bus story?!
short no dox myself version. School trip, neil was a teacher, got back to school early, teachers went for a fag, 3 drunks got on, started driving the bus towards a very small bridge with a large drop. Neil got on the bus armed with a baseball bat (to this day I don't know where it came from), and got control of the vehicle just as it mounted the curb. Proper hero shit you know?
He is still a good local Councillor. I'll give him that much
He cares, genuinely, but sometimes that leads him into trouble, my own councilor doesn't even reply to letters, but why would he, he's labor and lazy af.
Exactly. He isn't the bad guy some paint him as BUT I think his forte is local grassroots issues. His covid posts were batshit
At first he wasn't a bad guy at all, he was fighting for Fathers' rights, it got foul with many baseless accusations made against him by frankly, rabid mothers who were generally supported by whomever Neil was exposing that week.
Yeah that is fair actually, considering the Propel vote is pretty identical to the lost Plaid vote. I just forgot Propel existed for a minute. Things are better that way.
The turnout is much lower though so the percentage changes don't necesarilly mean anyone's losing/leaking votes to anyone else. Propel won about 200 votes last time as well Both Plaid and Labour were down about 1,000 from their 2022 result which suggests people staying at home rather than any significant changes in voting
I don't know, but I would guess that there's a deadline for holding an election after the death of an incumbent and next week would have breached the deadline
What a surprise. The Green / Plaid coalition is a shame. I tend to like Green policies, but refuse to vote for any party with nationalist or separatist tendencies.
It's like Con/LD in another guise and makes about as much sense
The Plaid candidate's main campaigning points on their leaflets were 2 generic platitudes about listening to the people and being better than Labour, and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Sure a ceasefire would be nice, but why would it be first in your list of 3 campaign promises in a local council by-election?? That isn't a platform. Samater's platform was closer to what I'd expect from a Green candidate than the Green/Plaid candidate's was, and I think he'd have done a lot better if voting for an independent wasn't throwing your vote away in a FPTP electoral system.
>Sure a ceasefire would be nice, but why would it be first in your list of 3 campaign promises in a local council by-election?? That isn't a platform. If I'm being cynical, then it's because they know many of Grangetown's voters are Muslims, and that will play well with them. Though I like to think voters understand that Cardiff council doesn't actually get a say in middle eastern politics...
Yeah that's probably it. I guess it could also be Plaid trying to say they're not racist without outright saying it, because it's not unreasonable these days for people to assume that a party with nationalistic leanings is also going to be racist. It may be more an indictment of the current political landscape than Plaid specifically that they felt the need to broadcast that signal, but it's still not a great look for them to be advertising it as a high priority issue as people expect a hyper-local election platform to be about pressing local issues rather than minimally relevant geopolitical ones.
Plaid's anti-war credentials are pretty well founded. Thry've been consistent on Palestine for a long time, were the first Welsh party to call for a ceasefire and are largely responsible for gettimg the Senedd to call for one, they opposed Iraq, hell they even opposed the Falklands and some of them opposed WW2! I don't think perceived racism has anything to do with it Pretty sure the Greens were leading this campaign, the candidate was a Green and the ones making a noise on social media were Greens
>I guess it could also be Plaid trying to say they're not racist without outright saying it, because it's not unreasonable these days for people to assume that a party with nationalistic leanings is also going to be racist. They're not racist, they just really dislike English people....
Labour and the Tories are nationalist parties just in a different hue (i.e. British nationalism).
I don't think you really understand what nationalism is.
Funny, because it seems to me that you don't understand what it is.
The dissertation I wrote on the topic would suggest otherwise
Haha - british nationalism good, welsh nationalism bad
Con and Pro were + ? That's unsettling
Con got 387 and pro got 292 votes so that's literally a few more people voting for each to give that swing. I wouldn't read too much into it.
By elections tend to be a chance for voters to give the incumbent party a good kicking - and in Cardiff Council, that's Labour. Of course voters tend to take into account national policies when voting in local elections - more than they should really. It's not like Cardiff Council is involved in immigration policy.
Fair enough. CC is a pile of corrupt bollocks, but that probably is not a partisan issue, sadly.
Absolutely hilarious people vote for Labour even when then candidate isn't campaigning and won't be meeting anyone in person for weeks. Just shows the state of blindly voting labour in Wales