Month: Jun 2009

I haven’t had much time to analyse the European election results in London. They look like an unspectacular inching forward for the Tories in the face of the MP’s expenses scandal rather than a revolution. That said Labour lost an MEP. Previously London had nine MEPs – now it only has eight. The Tories retained their three MEPs. The LibDems, Greens and UKIP kept their one MEP each. Labour lost one and went down to two.

You can see the full results here. Coverage from the BBC here and Dave Hill here.

Lots of people will comment on the percentage vote shares. I always think it is worth looking at the numbers of votes. The Tories lost 25,634 (5.1%) votes – an effect of MPs expenses? Labour lost 93,994 votes or fully 20% of their 2004 vote. Disaster. The LibDems lost 48,634 (16.8%) votes. Disaster. Funnily enough UKIP did equally badly as Labour and the LibDems – they lost 44,193 (19.0%) votes. The biggest winners were the Green who gained 31,603 (19.9%) votes. The BNP also did well adding 10,268 (13.5%).

One side story from the London European elections is the performance of independent candidate Jan Jananayagam who managed to pull in 50,004 votes. A quick look at her website indicates that she got the Tamil vote.

I went to vote at about 4.30pm this afternoon in Ealing, West London. Here we are only voting in the Euro elections as London local elections are not until next May.

It was very quiet. I asked the staff a few questions. Up until 4pm only 293 had turned up to vote.

I have heard reports that some people are worried that the ballot boxes won’t be big enough for the very long ballot papers being used for this election. Apparently they have been tested here in Ealing and can accommodate 700 papers. That said the nice lady was having to use a long plastic ballot squasher to push the papers further down into the box even though they were barely over the 300 mark.

http://www.conservatives.com/%7E/media/Flash/Flash%20Applications/videoPlayer_large.ashx

The point about this video from the Tories is that the latest possible date for the next general election is June 3rd next year – one year from today. We all know that Gordon Brown would only call a general election if he thought he could win it. It has not looked like he could since he became unelected Labour leader and unelected Prime Minister. Unless Brown is chucked out by his own party because they calculate that he will destroy them, or in the unlikely event that he decides to go for the good of the country, we will have to put up with Brown for another terrible year.

If you want a general election and a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty then go and vote tomorrow. Forget protest votes and vote Tory.

On Monday I noted that the Sun has come out for the Tories at the European elections on Thursday. Today the Times too endorses the Tories. They say:

So, by a process of elimination, that leaves the Conservative Party. The future of a viable EU surely lies in concentrating on those issues, such as the response to climate change and the need to secure energy supplies, on which co-ordinated work between governments is vital. That means it needs to spend a lot less time on pointless internal deliberation designed to cement power centrally, of which the Lisbon Treaty is an example.

The Conservative Party has the only manifesto which contains both these defining ideas. On that basis it merits support in tomorrow’s election. But the bigger issue is, in fact, whether an increased Conservative presence in Strasbourg can make any difference in finding a purpose for the European Parliament which, just at the moment, it palpably lacks.

As Labour implodes the best way to ensure that we get a referendum on the Lisbon treaty (constitution) and that we get a strong, new government is to vote Conservative.

I just heard on the 11am news bulletin that Cabinet Minister Beverley Hughes will not be standing again as MP for Stretford and Urmston. Check her out at TheyWorkForYou.com here. According to them she has been really going for it with the infamous Additional Costs Allowance. Joint first 2007/8, 2006/7, 2004/5 and 2002/3

The Telegraph seems to be going over the Labour cabinet this week. Yesterday it was Darling. Today it was Hoon. Could it be that Hughes was due to be done tomorrow and has jumped before she hit the headlines?

Nick Melhuish, one of our Conservative Future members, was telling me on Saturday what a warm reception they had had when they were out canvassing on Saturday afternoon at Ealing Broadway station in the run up to the European Parliament elections on Thursday. He did have trouble though getting his head around the issues. Nick worked hard on the London Mayoral campaign this time last year and then he had all of the issues at his finger tips and knew all the arguments and counter-arguments. The same clarity evaded him this year.

Today the Sun nails the only issue and advises its readers to vote Tory on Thursday. All three major parties offered the British people a referendum on the European Constitution. Now only the Tories still promise a referendum. The EU finessed no votes in France (May 2005) and the Netherlands (June 2005) by coming up with the Lisbon Treaty (December 2007) that was indistinguishable from the constitution in every area that was substantial – only frippery such as flags and anthems were dropped. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have used the Lisbon Treaty as an excuse to renege on their 2005 election promises. Even after the Irish voted against the treaty in June 2008 the unaccountable EU machine would not let the constitution (by another name) die.

This is what the Sun says:

David Cameron promises a Tory government will hold a referendum on the Constitution if it hasn’t been enacted by the next election.

We want a referendum whatever stage this wretched treaty has reached. But realistically, the Tories are the only game in town.

The sooner that election is called, the better. Thursday offers us a real chance to make sure we get one.

Our advice to Sun readers? If you want your vote to count in Europe, vote Tory.

On Thursday, however fed up you are with MPs – and we know that MEPs are probably much worse, get out and vote and vote for the Tories. A good result for the Tories and a bad result for Labour may precipitate a general election and that would give us a referendum.