2/15/2024 0 Comments Progressive knockout![]() “It’s not like we came together in a dark room saying, ‘you have this one and I’ll have that one’,” said one local party figure, on condition of anonymity. While the local party bosses admit to “getting on well” with each other, they insist there has been no secret meeting to carve up the council contest between them – something they all know would lead to fierce condemnation from party headquarters. “I couldn’t possibly comment.” Several people said a combination of the struggle to raise enough candidates and cash, together with the local knowledge of where they have the best chance of winning, had led to the unusual election choice. “You might think that,” said one party figure. To believe that this arrangement is the result of some bizarre coincidence stretches credulity, yet when asked how it came to pass, local party figures clam up. “To have it as total as it is in Bracknell Forest is very rare, if not unique.” “It’s not unusual to have alliances between two or three parties at local level,” said local election expert and Tory peer Robert Hayward. None of the 15 wards features Labour candidates taking on the Lib Dems. In 12 of the council’s15 wards, only one of the three progressive parties are standing candidates. You won’t hear any local party figures broadcasting it – in fact, none are prepared to talk about it publicly – but Bracknell Forest has emerged as the unlikely scene of a de facto progressive alliance between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, attempting to make gains on a council where the Conservatives hold 37 of 42 seats.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |