North East is a different country !

North East voters are the last remaining part of England to remain loyal to Labour. Labour is vanishing from town halls all over the country. May 3rd gives the North East voters a chance to catch up with the rest of the country.

[ClickPress, Sat Mar 17 2007] According to UKIP Councillor Stephen Allison “Visiting other parts of Britain can make you to think the North East is a different country to the rest of England”.

UKIP Councillor Allison continued. ““Labour! Always have and always will!” is thankfully getting very rare outside our region”.

Analysis of Councillor numbers in English Local authorities show sixty nine English local authorities where there are NO Labour Councillors at all. This is in comparison to thirty seven without Lib-Dems, and only nineteen without any elected Conservative members.

Historically every local authority had a few Labour wards but even that vote appears to be vanishing. Along with the sixty nine authorities without Labour, there are thirty five where Labour has three, or fewer, councillors left. When these tiny groups are wiped out Labour will have no representation in more than a quarter of English local authorities. In two authorities (Fenland and Watford), Labour had overall control until very recently and in some Authorities that were Labour-controlled in the 1990s, (Cherwell, Dacorum, Hertsmere, North Hertfordshire and Pendle), the Labour numbers are very likely to soon be reduced to low single figures.

UKIP Councillor Allison also said “Loyalty to the Labour Party has rewarded the North East with worse health, lower life expectancy, poorer job prospects and lower average incomes than just about anywhere else in England. How much longer will the voters stand for this?”

The North East (along with Scotland and Wales, the only other solid Labour areas in the UK) does have more public sector jobs than the national average. However, that also means these areas are less attractive to investors as private companies cannot compete with public sector working conditions, holidays and of course gold plated public sector pensions.

In conclusion UKIP Councillor Allison said “Hopefully on May 3rd the North East Labour voters will catch up with the rest of England and finally realise that it is time for a change. Remaining loyal to Labour has held back the North East for years, voting Lib-Dem or Tory is actually voting for more of the same since all three main parties are now following almost identical policies. The UK Independence Party is the only party offering a realistic alternative”.


Stephen Allison
UKIP Councillor
St Hilda Ward
Hartlepool Unitary Authority

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