On Thursday, voters across Yorkshire will line up to pick their new councillors. These individuals will go on to have a say on key issues like infrastructure, housing, and of course bins, across the region.
While the national press is already looking to weave a narrative around these elections, the facts on the ground about what issues matter most to voters are often very different. The last local elections in 2022 were seen by many as a referendum on ‘Partygate’, but often far more menial things swung power in councils across the country.
So, as voters go to the polls, what could be the issues at the top of their mind?
The cost of living
Whatever pet issues politicians may be focused on, the cost of living is at the forefront of voters’ minds. Poll after poll shows that economic issues are top of the agenda, with inflation still high and the economic consequences of the pandemic, Brexit, and war in Ukraine still hitting.
While many of the economic levers lie in Whitehall, what local councils do to alleviate or increase this pressure may well be noticed. Most councils have had to employ a mix of measures, alleviating pain through local pots of money, while many have also had to raise council tax to cover rising costs.
What councils have done, and how well their leaders can spin their achievements on the cost-of-living crisis could well influence how voters feel about their representatives, and how they cast their ballots on Thursday.
Getting into town
One of the biggest policy changes since the last set of elections was the introduction of clean air zones (CAZs) in cities like Sheffield and Bradford. These should be relatively uncontroversial, driven by a Conservative government and implemented by council administrations from across the political spectrum, while raising millions for cash-strapped councils, cutting air pollution, and excluding most cars from their charges.
Despite this, the CAZs have been met with public outcry from some local residents. While no political parties in Yorkshire are publicly campaigning on ending the CAZs, whether voters will either find alternative independent candidates or simply punish parties in administration in these cities, is yet to be seen.
Cars have become an issue in a very different way in York, where unrest has grown concerning anti-terror bollards installed in the city. Campaigners worry that the bollards will reduce access for wheelchair users in the city, particularly after blue-badge holders were prohibited from parking in the city to install the bollards. The campaign has seen support from many, including former York resident Dame Judi Dench.
Levelling up
Levelling up may have drifted off Westminster’s political agenda, but Yorkshire residents could well feel the lack of support which the government has provided in recent grant funds is a sore point.
New analysis shows that Yorkshire received the lowest share of the government’s latest levelling up funding, while Yorkshire councils spent £3.1mn on consultants to help write these bids. The fact that many of these bids were ‘doomed’, since the government had omitted to tell local authorities that those who had been successful in last year’s bid round were ineligible for this year’s funding, will sting even more to many voters.
Whether voters punish the Conservatives whose government implemented this policy, or Labour administrations in Bradford, Wakefield, and Kirklees, which spent the most on their largely unsuccessful bids, is yet to be seen.
Development
Finally, where surprising results come up on election night may well be down to locals opposing developments in their area. Far from wanting to share in the prosperity of more housing, jobs, or industry, many residents will instead cast their vote for whichever party promises to do the least to change their area.
Locals are currently riled up about a variety of developments, including new housing in York, a solar farm in Wakefield, and an Amazon warehouse in Kirklees. Each will have impassioned advocates both far and against, and telling the virtue of their arguments is often difficult to do.
But it is indisputable that voters care about them. Many a councillor has lost their job because of an unpopular development – whether any will suffer such a fate in Yorkshire is to be seen on Thursday night.
