Candidates nominated for Copeland Borough Council
I have previously posted scans of the "Statement of Persons Nominated" which is a public domain document published by the returning officer, listing the candidates to be MP for Copeland and those nominated to be Mayor of Copeland.
Below I have written the list of all the candidates nominated to be councillors representing the wards of Copeland Borough Council.
I was pleased with the number and quality of council candidates put up by the Conservatives and with the outcome of the work that I and colleagues have done dashing round Copeland for the past few weeks persuading people to stand and getting them nominated.
The Conservatives were the only party who have managed to nominate at least one candidate in every ward, we managed to find good people to replace every one of our sitting councillors who was standing down and strong challengers for a number of Labour-held seats, and the people we are standing include a mix of experienced candidates, either in political terms or in life experience, and enthusiastic younger candidates with good ideas.
Yes, I would say that, wouldn't I, but I genuinely believe those aspects of the paragraph above which are matters of opinion and the points about us standing in every ward, having serious candidates for every seat that currently hold and quite a few that we don't, and about the age range of our candidates, are matters of objective fact.
I'm now going to go out on a limb and make a controversial statement which may sound surprising coming from a committed member of a political party: I deeply regret that the alienation of many people in Cumbria both from the established political parties and from politics in general has meant that the voters of many parts of the county, including large areas of Barrow, Copeland and Allerdale, have been cheated by a shortage of candidates.
I'd have liked to see a full slate of Conservative, Labour and Lib/Dem candidates for every seat in every ward in Copeland and the other councils in the county and would have welcomed independent and other candidates standing from other constructive viewpoints to give voters a choice.
I'm not pointing any fingers here and I know just how difficult it has been persuading people to stand but I think all parties need to ask ourselves what we are doing wrong when far fewer candidates than were needed to give all voters a full and complete choice have come forward.
In Copeland only one councillor has been elected unopposed: Keith Hitchin in Bootle is an excellent councillor who would have easily won re-election had anyone stood against him, and I congratulate him on being returned, but in a sense it is a shame that he has not had the opportunity to prove this and that the voters have not had a choice.
Of the 24 wards of Copeland Council, the Conservatives have put up candidates in all 24 and Labour in 21. There are also ten Independent candidates, seven Greens, two Lib/Dem candidates and one from UKIP.
No party has managed to put up enough candidates to have a realistic chance of getting on its' own the two-thirds majority which on some issues would be required to over-rule decisions of the new directly-elected mayor. At the moment the council has a Labour majority, but Labour has not put up enough candidates to retain all the seats they hold today. It is touch and go whether Copeland will remain a Labour council or move to No Overall Control.
A majority on the council requires 26 councillors. Labour has nominated 38 candidates of whom in my opinion about 20 have a very good chance of election, nine have a poor chance of election, and the remaining nine have a serious fight on their hands.
Nobody can take anything for granted in an election, but let's suppose Labour win all the seats I have suggested they have a very good chance of holding, and lose all the seats where I think their chances are poor to terrible. If they can get six or more of the remaining nine candidates elected, which I think they have about a fifty-fifty chance of doing, they will have a majority. If not, there will be a "hung council" in which no party or group has overall control.
In other words there is all to play for. The candidates standing are:
BECKERMET: (two councillors to be elected)
Yvonne Clarkson and Graham Grant (Conservative)
Julia Mary Lee (Labour)
Sam Meteer (Independent)
BOOTLE: (one councillor to be elected)
Keith Hitchen (Conservative) ELECTED UNOPPOSED
BRANSTY: (three councillors to be elected)
Arthur Lamb, Brian O'Kane and Graham Roberts (Conservative)
Anne Bradshaw (Labour)
CLEATOR MOOR NORTH: (three councillors to be elected)
David Walker (Conservative)
Hugh Branney, Joan Hulley, and Linda Jones-Bulman (Labour)
Nick Ford (UKIP)
CLEATOR MOOR SOUTH: (two councillors to be elected)
Elizabeth Hutson (Conservative)
Dave Banks and Dave Riley (Labour)
DISTINGTON: (three councillors to be elected)
Andrew Wonnacott (Conservative)
Jackie Bowman, John Bowman, and Gillian Troughton (Labour)
EGREMONT NORTH: (three councillors to be elected)
Jean Lewthwaite (Conservative)
Jane Tyson (Green)
Lee Butterworth and Jacqui Smith (Independent)
John Burns and Sam Pollen (Labour)
EGREMONT SOUTH: (three councillors to be elected)
Graham Hutson (Conservative)
Erica Lucy Flint (Green)
Paul Downton and Adam Nichol (Independent)
Neil Ferguson, Lena Hogg and Mike McVeigh (Labour)
ENNERDALE: (one councillor to be elected)
John Dirom (Conservative)
Dave Camlin (Green)
Mike Minogue (Liberal Democrat)
FRIZINGTON: (two councillors to be elected)
Dan Glover (Conservative)
Peter Connolly and Gwynneth Everett (Labour)
GOSFORTH: (one councillor to be elected)
Alan Jacob (Conservative)
Jim Hewitson (Labour)
HARBOUR: (three councillors to be elected)
Glen Gray (Conservative)
Ian St John (Green)
Carla Arrighi and Charles Maudling (Independent)
William Kirkbride and Henry Wormstrup (Labour)
HAVERIGG: (one councillor to be elected)
Doug Wilson (Conservative)
Nigel Gilligan (Green)
Barrie Crawford (Labour)
HENSINGHAM: (three councillors to be elected)
Hazel Dirom (Conservative)
Allan Forster, Jeanette Forster, and Raymond Gill (Labour)
HILLCREST: (two councillors to be elected)
Allan Mossop and Alistair Norwood (Conservative)
John Kane (Labour)
(MILLOM) HOLBORN HILL: (two councillors to be elected)
Fred Gleaves and Jane Micklethwaite (Conservative)
Denise Burness and Rowena Pitt (Labour)
KELLS: (two councillors to be elected)
Doreen Platt (Conservative)
Alan Holliday and John Woolley (Labour)
Michael Guest (Independent)
MILLOM WITHOUT: (one councillor to be elected)
Gilbert Scurrah (Conservative)
Rosemary Gilligan (Green)
MIREHOUSE: (three councillors to be elected)
George Higgins (Conservative)
John Little (Independent)
Mark Holliday, Christopher Reay, and Paul Whalley (Labour)
MORESBY: (one councillor to be elected)
Martin Barbour (Conservative)
Alan Lawson (Independent)
Geoffrey Blackwell (Labour)
(MILLOM) NEWTOWN: (three councillors to be elected)
Ray Cole, Ged McGrath and Fee Wilson (Conservative)
Sally Millar (Green)
Bob Kelly (Labour)
SANDWITH: (two councillors to be elected)
Sam Holding (Conservative)
Peter Stephenson and Peter Tyson (Labour)
SEASCALE: (two councillors to be elected)
David Moore and Andy Pratt (Conservative)
Wendy Skillicorn (Labour)
ST BEES: (one councillor to be elected)
Dr Ian Hill (Conservative)
Alan Alexander (Labour)
Les Abrahams (Liberal Democrat)
Below I have written the list of all the candidates nominated to be councillors representing the wards of Copeland Borough Council.
I was pleased with the number and quality of council candidates put up by the Conservatives and with the outcome of the work that I and colleagues have done dashing round Copeland for the past few weeks persuading people to stand and getting them nominated.
The Conservatives were the only party who have managed to nominate at least one candidate in every ward, we managed to find good people to replace every one of our sitting councillors who was standing down and strong challengers for a number of Labour-held seats, and the people we are standing include a mix of experienced candidates, either in political terms or in life experience, and enthusiastic younger candidates with good ideas.
Yes, I would say that, wouldn't I, but I genuinely believe those aspects of the paragraph above which are matters of opinion and the points about us standing in every ward, having serious candidates for every seat that currently hold and quite a few that we don't, and about the age range of our candidates, are matters of objective fact.
I'm now going to go out on a limb and make a controversial statement which may sound surprising coming from a committed member of a political party: I deeply regret that the alienation of many people in Cumbria both from the established political parties and from politics in general has meant that the voters of many parts of the county, including large areas of Barrow, Copeland and Allerdale, have been cheated by a shortage of candidates.
I'd have liked to see a full slate of Conservative, Labour and Lib/Dem candidates for every seat in every ward in Copeland and the other councils in the county and would have welcomed independent and other candidates standing from other constructive viewpoints to give voters a choice.
I'm not pointing any fingers here and I know just how difficult it has been persuading people to stand but I think all parties need to ask ourselves what we are doing wrong when far fewer candidates than were needed to give all voters a full and complete choice have come forward.
In Copeland only one councillor has been elected unopposed: Keith Hitchin in Bootle is an excellent councillor who would have easily won re-election had anyone stood against him, and I congratulate him on being returned, but in a sense it is a shame that he has not had the opportunity to prove this and that the voters have not had a choice.
Of the 24 wards of Copeland Council, the Conservatives have put up candidates in all 24 and Labour in 21. There are also ten Independent candidates, seven Greens, two Lib/Dem candidates and one from UKIP.
No party has managed to put up enough candidates to have a realistic chance of getting on its' own the two-thirds majority which on some issues would be required to over-rule decisions of the new directly-elected mayor. At the moment the council has a Labour majority, but Labour has not put up enough candidates to retain all the seats they hold today. It is touch and go whether Copeland will remain a Labour council or move to No Overall Control.
A majority on the council requires 26 councillors. Labour has nominated 38 candidates of whom in my opinion about 20 have a very good chance of election, nine have a poor chance of election, and the remaining nine have a serious fight on their hands.
Nobody can take anything for granted in an election, but let's suppose Labour win all the seats I have suggested they have a very good chance of holding, and lose all the seats where I think their chances are poor to terrible. If they can get six or more of the remaining nine candidates elected, which I think they have about a fifty-fifty chance of doing, they will have a majority. If not, there will be a "hung council" in which no party or group has overall control.
In other words there is all to play for. The candidates standing are:
BECKERMET: (two councillors to be elected)
Yvonne Clarkson and Graham Grant (Conservative)
Julia Mary Lee (Labour)
Sam Meteer (Independent)
BOOTLE: (one councillor to be elected)
Keith Hitchen (Conservative) ELECTED UNOPPOSED
BRANSTY: (three councillors to be elected)
Arthur Lamb, Brian O'Kane and Graham Roberts (Conservative)
Anne Bradshaw (Labour)
CLEATOR MOOR NORTH: (three councillors to be elected)
David Walker (Conservative)
Hugh Branney, Joan Hulley, and Linda Jones-Bulman (Labour)
Nick Ford (UKIP)
CLEATOR MOOR SOUTH: (two councillors to be elected)
Elizabeth Hutson (Conservative)
Dave Banks and Dave Riley (Labour)
DISTINGTON: (three councillors to be elected)
Andrew Wonnacott (Conservative)
Jackie Bowman, John Bowman, and Gillian Troughton (Labour)
EGREMONT NORTH: (three councillors to be elected)
Jean Lewthwaite (Conservative)
Jane Tyson (Green)
Lee Butterworth and Jacqui Smith (Independent)
John Burns and Sam Pollen (Labour)
EGREMONT SOUTH: (three councillors to be elected)
Graham Hutson (Conservative)
Erica Lucy Flint (Green)
Paul Downton and Adam Nichol (Independent)
Neil Ferguson, Lena Hogg and Mike McVeigh (Labour)
ENNERDALE: (one councillor to be elected)
John Dirom (Conservative)
Dave Camlin (Green)
Mike Minogue (Liberal Democrat)
FRIZINGTON: (two councillors to be elected)
Dan Glover (Conservative)
Peter Connolly and Gwynneth Everett (Labour)
GOSFORTH: (one councillor to be elected)
Alan Jacob (Conservative)
Jim Hewitson (Labour)
HARBOUR: (three councillors to be elected)
Glen Gray (Conservative)
Ian St John (Green)
Carla Arrighi and Charles Maudling (Independent)
William Kirkbride and Henry Wormstrup (Labour)
HAVERIGG: (one councillor to be elected)
Doug Wilson (Conservative)
Nigel Gilligan (Green)
Barrie Crawford (Labour)
HENSINGHAM: (three councillors to be elected)
Hazel Dirom (Conservative)
Allan Forster, Jeanette Forster, and Raymond Gill (Labour)
HILLCREST: (two councillors to be elected)
Allan Mossop and Alistair Norwood (Conservative)
John Kane (Labour)
(MILLOM) HOLBORN HILL: (two councillors to be elected)
Fred Gleaves and Jane Micklethwaite (Conservative)
Denise Burness and Rowena Pitt (Labour)
KELLS: (two councillors to be elected)
Doreen Platt (Conservative)
Alan Holliday and John Woolley (Labour)
Michael Guest (Independent)
MILLOM WITHOUT: (one councillor to be elected)
Gilbert Scurrah (Conservative)
Rosemary Gilligan (Green)
MIREHOUSE: (three councillors to be elected)
George Higgins (Conservative)
John Little (Independent)
Mark Holliday, Christopher Reay, and Paul Whalley (Labour)
MORESBY: (one councillor to be elected)
Martin Barbour (Conservative)
Alan Lawson (Independent)
Geoffrey Blackwell (Labour)
(MILLOM) NEWTOWN: (three councillors to be elected)
Ray Cole, Ged McGrath and Fee Wilson (Conservative)
Sally Millar (Green)
Bob Kelly (Labour)
SANDWITH: (two councillors to be elected)
Sam Holding (Conservative)
Peter Stephenson and Peter Tyson (Labour)
SEASCALE: (two councillors to be elected)
David Moore and Andy Pratt (Conservative)
Wendy Skillicorn (Labour)
ST BEES: (one councillor to be elected)
Dr Ian Hill (Conservative)
Alan Alexander (Labour)
Les Abrahams (Liberal Democrat)
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