Thursday 6 April 2017

Just 80 Ukip candidates in Wales as Reckless quits.

Ukip really look like a busted flush on top of the news that UKIP AM Michelle Brown is to face a vote of no confidence among party members across north Wales. comes the news that UKIP AM Mark Reckless is set to quit the party and vote with the Conservative group in the Assembly.
Tory sources have said Mr Reckless, the AM for South Wales East, has held talks with Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives.
An announcement is due on Thursday which would see Mr Reckless join the Tory group in Cardiff Bay.
It is understood Mr Reckless will be an independent AM rather than re-join the Conservative Party.
The move could  give the Assembly Llywydd Elin Jones a headache  as she may have to decide if this  mean the Conservative group would become the second-largest, with 12 seats to Plaid Cymru's 11 and therefore the main opposition
Things are not much better in local government Just 80 UKIP candidates are standing in May's council elections in Wales, despite the party finishing fourth in the 2016 assembly poll.
Even in  Merthyr Tydfil where they seemed to be making a presence there are no Ukipcandidates.
BBC Wales' analysis of nominations suggests there are 944 Labour candidates, 630 Conservatives, 577 Plaid Cymru candidates, 280 Liberal Democrats, 80 UKIP and 78 Greens.
There are 160 candidates standing for other parties and 714 independents.
Supprisingly Independents seem to be the main challenger to Labour in Merthyr, Blaneau Gwent and Torfaen.
Disappointingly for me there will be no Plaid Candidate for me to vote in Beddau so as its a choice between Labour and a Tory . I will vote for the Labour candidate who seems a nice guy.
Indeed although Plaid look to be putting up a strong challenge in the Rhondda . they seem to be weak in the South of the County not fighting former seats like LLanharry and where there seems to be a concerted Tory effort.
Altogether 1,254 seats are up for grabs in Wales' 22 local authorities.
But 92 candidates have already been returned unopposed, a similar number to the 2012 elections. including Plaid rising star Mabon ap Gwynfor in Dembeigh.
One ward, Yscir in Powys, has attracted no candidates at all.
I hope this wil be the last time these elections are fought under First Past the vote and we will have STV  in the election so people can vote for which Party or Person they want and not against who they don't want.

2 comments:

Leigh Richards said...

All the more frustrating that 52 percent of the welsh electorate followed this dysfunctional disintegrating rabble over the cliff on June 23rd.

Anonymous said...

The general point is right, but UKIP is standing in places like Merthyr Tydfil, they're just standing as independents, like the Tories used to do. You'd think the welsh media would know that and it makes you wonder what agenda is at play.

Having done some canvassing in the Heads of the Valleys I've found the UKIP brand is pretty toxic, which makes the majority vote in Wales to leave the EU and against the welsh national interest last June even more tragic and hard to bare.