National to Local

Are the local elections a vote on 'local' issues and local personalities? Or are they a referendum on national issues?

Maltheus recognises that both have some sway. It is not a national election or else we would have whole councils representing the colour of their local MP. Local elections showcase the diversity of communities. Norwich - A city with 2 Labour MP's can have councillors from Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens.

It would be wrong for voters to treat the local elections as a referendum on Blair and to vote accordingly. The best approach would be to consider what their local councillors have done for them. If they are represented by a repellent, slug of a councillor who can't spell, let alone represent the ward then kick them out. Maltheus also considers what the council has done as a whole - if, for example, they decided like the last Lib Dem administration to try and destroy Norwichs finances then they have to be carefully approached!

However, national issues do come into play. Labour has left this country in a bit of a mess, across the country hospitals are closing, ASBO's are being handed out in their hundreds and the governments solution is to give us all a flimsy ID card so that they can follow our lives even more closely. Topping that - One of our local MP's - Charles ' Kamikaze' Clarke is intent on having a jolly good fight about the leadership election and Maltheus is betting that his oversized ear warmers will be thrown into the ring...

A mix of national and local...always nice to give the government a bit of a duff up but we have to think about local issues. I, for one, wouldn't mind it if the council actually decided to empty my bins for once and didn't raise the council tax by +5%

Let me know your views...