In a number of wards, turnout was higher than previous years. In all but one ward turnout was over 40% and in some it was over 50% – very high for local elections. This is excellent news because without voting, your voice can’t be heard.
Local Government is important and local elections matter. They effect vital universal services without which we couldn’t go about our daily lives, such as bins, road sweeping, parks. And they effect services that protect and care for the most vulnerable people in our community.
Around the world democracy is sadly under threat and it is important that we don’t take hard-won freedoms for granted.
Labour suffered badly at the hands of voters’ feelings towards Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Government. As I write, a whole group of Government ministers have resigned, calling for Starmer to go, and going on for a quarter of his MPs are demanding he set out a timetable for departure. The markets are reflecting this uncertainty, with the cost of borrowing sky-rocketing. Starmer promised stability, but has in fact delivered the exact opposite.
The result in Wokingham Borough was not good for the Liberal Democrats locally, despite their best attempts to spin it. While the Liberal Democrats made bigger gains in other parts of the South East, in the Earley and Woodley part of the Borough, the Liberal Democrats got less votes than the Conservatives.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives secured two new seats with two excellent new councillors. David Bragg in Loddon ward has been a Woodley Town councillor since 2018, and he ran a strong campaign around improving Woodley town centre, backing one hour free parking, and fighting the Liberal Democrats’ imposition of inappropriate 20mph speed limits.
Leon Cook worked hard to successfully unseat the Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Environment in Thames ward. He stood on a clear pledge to protect the greenbelt, to reduce council waste and ensure that it listens to residents, to make our roads safe, and afford local families the choice of school that is appropriate for them. The fact that voters put their support behind him shows how much this resonated locally. It also demonstrates a strong rejection of the Liberal Democrats’ botched environmental policies, particularly the mismanagement of the solar farm project which has been subject to repeated delays.
I’m proud of how Wokingham Borough’s Conservatives performed in these local elections. Our excellent new councillors will be working hard all year round to deliver for you.
By Cllr Pauline Jorgensen
