TIME GENTLEMEN PLEASE!

Well, its 12.05 p.m, and that means that South Tyneside Council have closed the doors on any potential local election candidates standing in this years Borough Council elections. Whilst this will have passed Paxman by, for the area it is still an important time. What will this years elections bring? Looking at the major parties first, the Conservatives will always struggle in this Borough to mount any form of effective opposition. There are wards here who would elect a nanny goat should the Labour Party put one on the hustings (and of course if the nanny goat was stupid enough to join the Party). As for the Liberals, well let’s move on. Labour of course will hope to at least maintain their present numbers. Perhaps national politics will put apathetic pressure on the local vote, with the debacle that is Iraq and the lies surrounding pension schemes having an effect. Looking at the plethora of independent groups, however, we do see a glimmer of hope. The independents did make gains last year, and their star is somewhat on the ascendancy. However, they tend to get elected on “single issue” mandates, so if there aren’t enough of those this year, were looking at another year of insurmountable Labour hegemony. Still, we live in hope.