Talk:2022 United Kingdom local elections

Scotland table

Hi Stv59 (talk · contribs), you recently replaced a table I put together last week with the one on the page 2022 Scottish local elections. I had deliberately used the same layout as other council tables on the page for consistency, which I think is valuable for readers. Personally whilst I think a different format on the page for Scottish local elections makes sense, I'm not sure the current version used there is the clearest approach. Putting equal emphasis on the largest party, which isn't the main indicator of the result of a proportional election, to the coalition leader while putting less emphasis on coalition partners, confuses the results rather than illuminates them. That's more of a matter for that page, but hopefully you understand why I wanted to use the table format from this page rather than that one. Also, by putting the table together from scratch I could avoid the unnecessary use of bold and keep the table formatting more minimal. I was also able to make sure that the labels of council control are correct and up-to-date. Several of the listings on the main Scottish page misidentify coalition leaders, for instance!

I think using no overall control markers in the table, at least on this page, makes the consequences of STV clearer and makes it easier to tell what the results were, especially when comparing to other tables on the page. It might also be useful when it comes to Wales, where some councils will use STV and others might maintain FPTP. I hope that makes sense? The crux is that I prefer the table as it was before your recent edit—but I'm happy to talk about it if you disagree with me! Ralbegen (talk) 15:46, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Hi Ralbegen (talk · contribs), thanks for your feedback. I sympathise with your concern on pagewide consistency and your point on the largest party emphasis. The reason why I change the format is with most of the UK public unfamiliar with STV, I feel that the all NOCs on the Scotland table could reinforce the perception that Scottish councils are "unstable" while they're certainly not. I'm aware that this is hard to gauge among actual page readers but I'm drawing from UK-wide oommon misconceptions and media potrayal. I agree that having the largest party listed alone isn't good, but the coalition column will help to make clear of the importance of coalitions. In summary, I still prefer the largest party+coalition table as I think it helps readers to appreciate those electoral system differences better. Stv59 (talk) 01:22, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

I've added some sourced prose to the start of the section, which I think means that the different system is spelled out clearly while keeping the main table as straightforward as possible to interpret. I can't say I've ever come across a misconception or media protrayal of Scottish local authorities being unstable, though! Ralbegen (talk) 11:07, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

Infobox

Hi, Does anyone know why the leadership of the England and Wales Green Party has been added to the infobox when there is a different Green Party in Scotland also contesting local elections in 2022? Shouldn't there at least be an explanatory note? There are already wiki pages for the 2022 local elections in Scotland and in Wales, but not for England. Given that the SNP and Plaid Cymru do not contest seats in England, and the Green Party figures in the infobox relate to England and Wales only, wouldn't it be less confusing if this page was re-named the English local elections page, with links at the top of each national page to election results in other parts of the UK, or if a separate English results page series could be created and linked to this page like with Scotland, Wales and NI as local elections are all devolved to the four nations? If this remains the UK local elections page, then it would make sense for the English results to have their own summary box. As a result of the way these election pages have been constructed in the past, it can be much harder to find summary national results purely for England on wiki which seems a bit unfair, as well as confusing when trying to do comparisons! For example, the 2021 UK page starts by saying local elections were held in England and Wales, but they were only held in England, so the infobox results are for England only, but the title of the page suggests they include other parts of the UK as there is no summary results table for England at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.187.229.172 (talk • contribs)

The infobox doesn't include all parties that are contesting an election, but all those that performed more than a particular threshold in the last elections. The current set include every party that won more than 5% of the vote in local elections in the nations they contested, which includes the GPEW but not the Scottish Green Party. This page is part of a long-running series of YYYY United Kingdom local elections that covers local elections in whichever nations they're happening. Local elections in 2021 included the election of police and crime commissioners in Wales, which is why the lead introduces them as taking place in England and Wales. Ralbegen (talk) 13:08, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, that's very helpful. In terms of the 2021 UK page, PPC elections are governed by legislation from the UK Parliament, so are not 'local' elections in so far as they are not devolved council elections which are governed by different laws, and so I would argue the opening sentence is still misleading for Wales, but won't amend on your advice. I hadn't known about the 5% test. If that is the case, then the UUP, Alliance and SDLP should also be added to the infobox for the 2019 UK local page. I understand your point about including both the SGP and EWGP in the infobox for the 2027 UK locals page, but only if both parties achieve more than 5% next year. However, that infobox could be quite large, as the 2027 page will also include the NI local election results! I'd have thought it made more sense to aggregate the results of the various UK Green parties, but make that clear. Apologies about the English national results summary too. I can see this info has been added to some past UK local election pages, but not the 2021 UK page for some reason.

There's definitely a case to include the UUP, APNI and SDLP in the 2019 local elections infobox; we can also apply discretion as to what to include there and establishing consensus on the Talk page is the best way to do that. I think the current six parties in the infobox make sense, and we can see whether that should change once we have the results. If I get some time soon I might have a go at adding an England summary table to this year's local election article! Ralbegen (talk) 11:13, 20 September 2021 (UTC)

For some users in the Infobox, GPEW designation simply says 'Green' which could confuse some. In the Infobox can a footnote be added to clarify it is E&W only and Scottish Greens are a separate party. I attempted to but it doesn't work. 2A02:C7E:173E:4100:319C:D3D0:D422:1360 (talk) 15:03, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

PR for local elections in Wales

Are any Welsh councils actually using STV this year? It seems too late to make the changes now - the legislation actually says that the change has to be made 3 years before the elections. Efed Ziel (talk) 09:57, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

@Efed Ziel: This document from the Welsh Government about the implementation of STV states that "The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill... opens the option for 22 principal Welsh councils to choose between ‘first past the post’ (FPTP) and ‘single transferable vote’ (STV) systems for council elections after May 2022, in time for May 2027 elections.", which suggests that no councils will be using it this year. PinkPanda272 (talk/contribs) 14:50, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

English elections

Hi Is there any reason why the Scotland, Wales and NI headings include links to more detailed main articles, but there is no main article on the 2022 elections in England? Thanks 217.137.147.125 (talk) 10:30, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland elect all their councils and councillors at the same time, so it makes sense to have dedicated article series for them. I don't understand what a dedicated English local elections article series would add: there's context for the elections included here and (ideally) in individual council elections. What else is there to say that can't be said in this article? Ralbegen (talk) 10:59, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

How are you calculating net gains?

The Press Association (which the Guardian uses) calculate net gains as seat changes from those before the election. The BBC calculates net gains as the change in seats from the 2018 election. The problem with that is there were by-elections and likely boundary changes in the intervening period. Consequently, net gains or losses could be inaccurate (defunct seat adding a net loss to the party who occupied). Also, by-elections reflect the politics at the time.

I would suggest using the net gains as calculated only from this election period as shown in link below, as it reflects the political situation now.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2022/may/05/elections-2022-results-live-local-council-england-scotland-wales 2A02:C7E:10FA:4000:8080:3BB5:4873:C0CB (talk) 11:39, 8 May 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 16 May 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) NW1223<Howl at me•My hunts> 06:50, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

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2022 United Kingdom local elections → 2022 English local elections – The Scottish and Welsh elections both have their own articles, as does the Northern Ireland Assembly. Everything mentioned about those elections here (and more) is also mentioned on those separate articles.. Unreal7 (talk) 16:30, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose Although a majority of the seats up were in England, I think it makes sense to have the UK page as a summary including Scotland and Wales. I don't think it needs separating, either, because a majority of the seats up were in England, so the UK-wide page probably sufficiently covers it. The previous local elections, which were simultaneous in Wales and Scotland, have a main UK-wide page; for comparison, the 2019 United Kingdom general election has a UK-wide page but also does have separate pages for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. — Bacon Noodles (talk • contribs • uploads) 19:06, 16 May 2022 (UTC)
• Oppose Long standing tradition to encompass all May elections under the United Kingdom title unless bindingly obvious that it would be inappropriate. These Elections were held across the UK and our title should reflect that doktorb _words^deeds 19:37, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

Oppose

Fair enough and perhaps a separate page listing the English results only could be added.

However, this should be the overview page where you can see the results for the whole country, rather than having to check and add up the results of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Batteries4ever (talk) 07:20, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

Oppose Given all three of the largest UK-wide parties operate in Wales and Scotland, having the UK wide summary makes sense I think and I wouldn't want to change that 2A00:23C7:A88F:9F01:459B:209C:B07D:81C (talk) 13:09, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Jim Bollan being included under "Residents Association"

I have to object to Jim Bollan and the West Dunbartonshire Community Party being included in the overall "Residents Association" counts. While the party bills itself as primarily a local party, it is, essentially, made up of ex-members of the Scottish Socialist Party (including Councillor Bollan). The more left-wing policies the party espouses seem to stand at odds with the more typically Tory-in-all-but-name leanings of Residents Associations in England. Eilidhmax (talk) 13:14, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

In all, the Rubbish Party has the same kind of insular, local facilities for local people, mentality that is typical of Residents Associations, to be quite honest... Eilidhmax (talk) 13:17, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Turnout figure

Why is the turnout not included? It was the only reason I came over to this page today. From the page: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/elections-and-referendums/past-elections-and-referendums/england-local-council-elections/report-may-2022-local-elections-england, it would appear that it was 33.6%. This figure should be present on the page, to at least to reflect on, if not highlight, how disillusioned people are with local government elections.

From the Electoral Commission website.

"Turnout at these elections (33.6%) was broadly consistent with previous comparable elections, although it remains low compared with some other types of elections. Overall, estimated turnout decreased by one percentage point compared to the last time there were comparable elections for district, metropolitan, unitary councils and London boroughs in 2018. There was a larger decline in turnout in elections in London, with a decrease of 3.4 percentage points." Furbian (talk) 15:27, 4 May 2023 (UTC)