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For the second of my three posts on how I plan to vote in the elections (See here for my constituency decision), here’s my thinking on the Glasgow council elections. Surprisingly, I’ve found this the hardest decision to make, because we have three councillors, and a new STV system, and I’ve been struggling to work out the best way to vote to help achieve the result I want, which is the strongest non-Labour voice in the council.

I previously pulled together details of the candidates given the lack of available information. I’m still quite surprised by the lack of candidate specific internet pages and services. This has not been a very internet driven campaign at the local level. Indeed, it’s seemed to cling to the coat-tails of the parliament elections.

Judging by the number of search-engine hits I’ve received, there’s some demand for a bit more information than the candidates seem to want to put up. Whilst I appreciate web-site authoring skills may not be high up the candidates CV, I’m genuinely surprised the parties haven’t provided some sort of service to get a decent candidate specific sites together for the benefit of their ward members.

I’ve certainly found it very hard to distinguish between ALL the parties on council matters. It’s frequently the same: Cut crime. Tackle anti-social behaviour. Sort out the litter. So much of a scratched record, so little innovative thinking, and for what is often described as the most important of vote of all, as councillors have more direct impact over your life.

Once again, no Labour vote for me. Glasgow is in the state it is in because the council has been massively Labour dominated for decades. I am unimpressed with their record. Add to that the cynical attempt to politely buy votes with a council tax freeze, and the whole silliness with the commonwealth games bid (Where do I sign up not to back it?). Time for somebody else if at all possible.

Ditto the cynical party naming by ‘Solidarity-Tommy Sheridan’ the candidate, which I suspect will get them a few more votes. Neither are their policies, or those of their comrades in the Scottish Socialist party, at all appealing to me. We’ve already seen where left wing dominated politics has got Glasgow already. So I’ll not be giving any vote preference to any of their candidates.

I’m not too sure that I’m that keen on the SNP at council level. I had a comment from the candidates campaign manager (see them here), and am very cynical about the relevance or importance of Scottish independence at a local level, certainly not as the ‘top priority’ their candidate cites it. Perhaps, at best, a low-preference vote.

I struggle with the idea of voting Conservative. Whilst their candidate has a weblog, it’s a bit patchy. I also prefer some previous experience with candidates. A reflective post gives me some hope. This is also a party that’s under-represented on Glasgow council, although this area has some strong support historically. So I’m giving some thought to a low-preference vote in the hope of increasing the voice of other (ideally centrist) parties.

I can’t vote for the Independents. There’s just too little information out there. Incomplete fliers, and vague ones with insufficient detail (I have received e-mails from one, but can’t get enthusiastic about them). Perhaps after all, I should have gone to the hustings instead of Yann Tiersen, but I can’t support policies I don’t know anything about. The argument for an Independent voice is all very well, but Glasgow would, in my view, actually benefit from more organised and strong opposition parties. It’s been Labour dominated for decades.

So that leaves the Green party and Liberal Democrats. All said, I think Glasgow could use a bit more of a Green voice in chambers. Such policies seem an after-thought right now. Ditto the Liberal Democrats. I just can’t quite decide which way to go, although right now I expect the Liberal’s will get my 1st preference, I’m going to think about it some more between now and when I go to vote.

So right now, my council vote is likely to be:

• 1st or 2nd – Liberal Democrat (Isabel Nelson)
• 1st or 2nd – Green party (Ian Ruffell)
• 3rd – Conservative (David Meikle)
• 4th – SNP (Khalil Malik) – No vote in the end.

But I’m still very concerned that the new STV system is being cynically played by the parties. We’re certainly going to get a less Labour dominated council, but I still worry that we’re having candidates foisted on us.

Post-vote update – I decided not to vote for the SNP council candidate after all. That Scottish independence was his first priority in the campaign managers e-mail just sat badly with me after writing this. Councils are simply not a forum for such matters. Mention it by all means, but not as a key priority.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 11:11 am and is filed under Glasgow, Politics, Scotland, Scottish elections, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.