You can't vote ...but just imagine if you could

VOTERS up and down the country will be going to the polls tomorrow to elect their local councillors.

Not here in York, however. The local electorate will have to wait 12 months before having our say on who is running the city.

Before you get all hot under the collar, local politicians are not to blame for that. It is the fault of national bureaucrats.

Until 1995, the then-York City Council, like most other local authorities, held elections most years on an "election by thirds" basis.

Each ward in the city had three members - and each year, one of those three members stood for election. A third of the city's councillors were therefore up for election every year - except on the fourth year, when there was no election.

That changed following local government re-organisation in 1995 and the setting up of the new City of York Council a year later, says Elizabeth Ellis, City of York Council's electoral and civic services manager.

Central Government bureaucrats decided that in future, the council would hold elections only once every four years (measured from 1995) - with every seat on the council being up for grabs at the same time.

Why that model was decided on, Elizabeth admits she doesn't know - except that it does save money. "Annual elections are more expensive than four-yearly elections."

Once we have voted, we now have to live with the consequences of that vote for four years. The Liberal Democrats, who have hardly had the best local headlines recently - think the Barbican, parking charges, the problems over finding the right location for the new Arc Light hostel - might be secretly relieved about that.

Labour, reeling from John Prescott's affair, Charles Clarke's embarrassing admissions over foreign prisoners and Patricia Hewitt's barracking at the hands of nurses, might be even more pleased.

With a recent opinion poll in The Press revealing that almost a fifth of York voters would consider voting BNP, many ordinary people might be glad that we are being spared the prospects of the BNP targeting York, at least for another year.

But would our local leaders have relished the chance of a political scrap tomorrow? And if we had had our own local election, how would you have voted?

The politicians

Liberal Democrat city council leader Steve Galloway

Coun Galloway is in favour of annual elections by thirds. "That gives you the potential for gradual change on the council rather than dramatic change." So he would have liked elections in York tomorrow, particularly with Labour nationally in turmoil. "They will be hoping that things can only get better for them."

That said, over the next 12 months, York people will see many of the Liberal Democrats' longer-term policies bearing fruit, he says. Policies such as? The eco-depot. "So we feel that over the next 12 months people will be able to see what we have achieved."

Despite the recent Press poll, he doesn't think the BNP will get a foothold here. Once York people realise what their policies really are, he says, they will shun them.

Labour opposition leader Dave Merrett

Notwithstanding Labour's troubles at national level, Coun Merrett is itching to take on the Liberal Democrats at the polls.

"Local elections should be about local issues and based on the Lib Dems' track record over the past three years when they have wasted millions of pounds of tax payers money, hiked up charges, deprived the city of vital leisure facilities and completely let down the people of York time and time again, then next year's election can't come soon enough," he says.

The Lib-Dems have betrayed many of their manifesto promises, Coun Merrett claims. "People wouldn't have voted for them in the first place if they had known just how they would act in power."

Green party leader Andy D'Agorne

A system which gives voters the chance to have their say every year is more democratic than one which gives a vote only once every four years, Coun D'Agorne says. As it stands, York voters have to wait a long time to have their say.

He can't wait for next year's local elections: the Lib-Dems are not popular, he says, and the Greens will be going all out to increase their representation on the council.

The apparent rise of the BNP is "quite worrying," he says, and is sometimes used as an argument against an electoral system based on proportional representation, as that would give smaller parties a greater share of seats.

Coun D'Agorne doesn't agree. If politicians faced the real possibility of BNP councillors being elected in York, it would force them to confront an issue which under a 'first past the post" system simply gets swept under the carpet, he says.

Former Conservative leader on York council John Galvin

The Tories were wiped out as a political force in York at the last elections, losing their last remaining seats

Former Conservative leader John Galvin, however, would love to have been able to fight an election tomorrow. "I think we would certainly take some seats," he says. Especially in some of the outer York areas, Mr Galvin says, people feel "completely let down by the activities of this incompetent and discredited Liberal Democrat council".

The publican

Jim Hardie, landlord of the Blue Bell in Fossgate, York, admits he likes to keep politics and religion out of his pub.

That said, he is now very anti-Lib-Dem and would like a chance to be rid of them. "Business rates are going up, rents are going up, and trade is down because people cannot park in the city any more."

Labour, he admits, are also "a bit embarrassing nationally" however. So if there had been a local election tomorrow, he doesn't know who he would have voted for. "But definitely not the Lib Dems."

The older people's champion

Don Parlabean, chairman of the York Older People's Assembly, is a lifelong Labour voter. Labour's recent problems wouldn't change that, he says.

The fuss over John Prescott is overblown. "MPs have been getting off with their secretaries since time immemorial."

Heads should roll over the foreign prisoners affair "but I'm not quite sure whether it should be Charles Clarke's." Civil servants in the Home Office should have been keeping their eye on the ball, he says.

There are "a lot of people" who wish there could be elections in York tomorrow, so that they could get rid of the Lib-Dems and the "mess they have made", Don says. He cites the £1.3m spent on preparing for the new ftr bus as one example.

Despite the recent Press poll, Don does not believe the BNP would get a foothold in York. There are not the same racial tensions to exploit here as in some West Yorkshire towns, he says. York's ethnic population is comparatively small, and fits in well.

The rock star

Former Shed Seven front man Rick Witter, who now heads up his new band Rick Witter And The Dukes, admits he is not that politically aware. He didn't even know there was no election in York tomorrow. He probably wouldn't have voted if there had been. "But I would like to have had the chance to vote. It seems a bit out of order that we can't."

Where we live is hugely important, he says - so if there was ever a local issue he felt really strongly about, he might vote. At the moment, there isn't.

"I'm happy. In some respects, that seems like 'I'm all right Jack', but I don't feel that there are issues that get me fired up at the moment." Apart from the fact he can't, in his part of West York, get a wheelie bin.

Nationally, Labour have been having a bad week. Rick thinks John Prescott should resign. He made political capital out of Tory sleaze and Tory affairs in the past. "He can't have it both ways, especially when he's second in command. He should go."

The market trader

Gordon David, who runs a fruit and veg stall on Newgate Market, would love the chance of a vote tomorrow - so that "whoever it is running the city would be out".

The Lib-Dems have ruined the city, he says. Parking charges have hit business hard, he claims. It is OK to pay for parking in the city centre if you are a tourist who is only here for a week. "But if you live here and need to come into the city regularly, it costs a fortune to park."

So if not Lib Dem, who would he have voted for? "I would have to think very hard. Labour are hardly doing very well. To be honest, I don't think there's much to choose between them all. It is six of one, half a dozen of the other."

Guy Aspin asks people in York how they would vote if local elections were being held here tomorrow.

Paul Tomlinson, 37, of Clifton Green:

"I used to vote Liberal Democrat, but I am not too impressed with the Liberal Democrat councillors in York. I am not a natural Labour voter, but as the Labour councillors have been very helpful, I would vote Labour."

Ralph Tatlock, 62, of Woodthorpe:

"I wouldn't vote at all. I don't like any of the parties. If I had to, I would probably vote Conservative. They are the lesser of three evils."

Stephen Beales, 26, of South Bank:

"I voted Green last time. Labour has annoyed me. I have been turned off Labour by bigger things than what's going on now. I am training to be a teacher so there is the whole education thing. But you wonder who would get that right."

Laura Hudson, 36, of Holme-on-Spalding Moor:

"What's happened with Labour would affect the way I vote. I would have voted Labour and I am still leaning towards Labour. I don't think anybody else cuts it."

Susan Williams, 64, of Middlethorpe:

"I always vote the same way and always will do. I have been Conservative all my life."

Trevor Lakey, 73, of Brafferton:

"I would not vote for Labour. They make all sorts of promises and never keep one of them. There is too much sleaze and they cover up too much. They have let themselves down badly over the last few weeks. I would probably go for the Conservatives."

Updated: 09:53 Wednesday, May 03, 2006