UK Elections 2022

[lewys-gp]

Hi all! I thought I would do a short post about the local elections that are happening today (Thursday 5 May) in the UK 🇬🇧.

Voters in England, Wales and Scotland will pick who they want to run services that affect everyday life in their local area. People in Northern Ireland will be choosing their new government.

Who is being elected?

• 146 English councils, that's about 4,360 seats
• 90 seats in Northern Ireland Assembly
• 22 councils in Wales, with a total of 1,234 seats
• 32 Scottish councils with 1,227 councillors to be elected
• 7 directly-elected mayors in England

What issues are being voted on?

In England, Scotland and Wales, it will mainly be about local issues. From bins, bus routes and potholes, to providing mental health services and tackling climate changes.

Many people take this opportunity to give their opinion on the performance of parliament political parties too. I've seen forecasts that the Conservative party will lose over 200 seats and Labour will gain 150, for example.

In my opinion, the Northern Ireland election will be far more interesting to watch though. As it's an election for Northern Ireland's government, it'll largely be a contest between the unionists - who want to remain part of the UK - and the nationalists, who want to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

Since 2003, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been the largest party in the national assembly, followed by nationalists Sinn Féin. This time, Sinn Féin may come out on top. There are 90 seats up for grabs in the Assembly. As well as local, international and national issues will be on voters' minds.

Other bits and bobs

• You do not need to take your poll card to the polling station in order to vote anywhere in the UK for the 2022 local elections or the NI elections
• You do not need ID to vote in the UK local elections either, but do need some form of ID for the NI election
• If you normally vote via post but forgot to do it, you can drop off it at your local polling station instead
• Polling stations open at 7 am and close at 10 pm
• We should get most results tomorrow (Friday 6 May) and all by the weekend

I'll be voting in London for the first time today too. Any opinions or thoughts you want to share, please do so below. Just, maybe, keep it light 😉. Hope this wasn't too boring of a post 🤣😴. Cheers!

[pgn]

And if anyone reading this is interested in the GB vs NI vs EU shenanigans, here's a short piece the tells a story about NI trade that the mainstream press in GB, and in NI, come to that, don't publicise:

https://www.politico.eu/article/experts-brexit-protocol-is-boosting-northern-ireland-economy/

There's a lot of duping going on ...