The official turnout figure for Thanet is 15.1% with 14,671 people having voted.
the figures for the rest of Kent are pretty awful too.
The full turn-out figures for each district voting is as follows:
Tunbridge Wells - 18 per cent
Ashford - 17.3
Canterbury - 15.7
Dartford – 14.3
Dover – 18.4
Gravesham – 13.9
Maidstone – 16.6
Medway – 15.7
Sevenoaks – 16
Shepway – 20.3
Swale – 14.8
Thanet – 15.1
Tonbridge & Malling – 16.3
The average turn-out across the county was 16.3 per cent
The total number of votes cast was 208,762
Total number of people eligible to vote in the county is 1,281,968
As you see it isn't much of a mandate for anything really.
Plenty of info from other sources on the web, I putting the information here mainly so we can find it in the future.
complete and utter wate of time and money.
ReplyDelete15% turnout! The government should scrap them.
ReplyDeleteSorry, 12:59, but you cannot simply scrap elections because people cannot be bothered to turn out and vote. Local elections are often not much better, but people still reserve their right to whinge about the councils that result.
DeleteThe real answer is start drumming into children at school from an early age that people suffered to get them a vote and freedom to use it. Make them aware it is a privilege denied other people in many parts of the world. If they still do not get the message, then make it compulsory like in Australia.
Tom talking to some of my customers in the shop today, I think the number of people who spoilt their ballot papers may be a revealing figure in these elections.
DeleteYes Michael, but why go to the trouble of traipsing to the polling station in order to spoil your ballot paper? This seem a vacuous exercise bearing in mind that it's a secret ballot and no one knows who you are. I suspect that the chief cause of spoilt papers was the inability of some to grasp the concept of a second choice.
DeleteYou do not have to vote if you do not what to. But do not start whining when things do not go your way with the council, government, et al.
I don’t really know John, but I would hazard a guess that some people in government will comprehend the meaning of people going to the trouble of, going to the polling station, and spoiling their ballot papers.
DeleteThe vacuums activity would I think perhaps be not going to the polling station at all, wouldn’t it?
Whether or not you agree with the position of Police Commissioner or these elections, it is surely important that people search out and consider the information available and vote accordingly. Too much whinging has gone on about this in my opinion, and that is not going to change anything at this stage. Get the best Police Commissioner that you can and THEN lobby your MP if you don't agree with the position or process.
ReplyDeleteLow turnout and spoilt papers are essentially a vote for "none of the above" - better manifestos and FOI required and below say 30% the election declared null and void.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the answer lies here.
ReplyDeleteSir Robert Peel’s Principles of policing
1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
5. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.
7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it
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ReplyDeleteFantastic aren't they? Here's how the Home Office would mark them up for editing, think Yes Minister.
ReplyDeleteDear Home Secretary,
I took a look at these 'principals' that you've suggested we use as part of this "return to common sense policing" release and I really don't think we can align ourselves to this Peel chap.
Principle 1: The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
> delete, this is not a measurable outcome
Principle 2: The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
> delete, this gives the impression that the police are directly responsive to the community they serve, where as we define their role. After all we pay the stubborn so and so's, they'll be asking for the right to strike next! Stick in something about Citizen Focus, this will cover it off.
Principle 3: Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
> How will this impact sanctioned detections? Sounds like an excuse to the application of this so call 'discretion' they keep banging on about. Come up with a form of words that tells them that they're a tool of the state and not the people!
Principle 4: The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
> delete, how does this sit with us softening up the public for universal taser? Looks like a conflict...
Principle 5: Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
> delete, conflicts with citizen panels & citizen focus programmes... will impact on government priorities, haven't you got an election coming up? So we'll need some good stats to show how all your badly written and poorly thought out legislation has reduced crime. We'll need to focus all their attention on a narrow set of crimes that we can report on whilst ignoring everything else.
Principle 6: Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.
ReplyDelete> delete, sounds far too liberal... Didn't the Prime Minister say that you were the party of law and order. This will only encourage the public to complain more.
Principle 7: Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence."
> delete, tradition, tradition -- it's hardly cool Britannia.
Principle 8: Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
> delete, how did mention of the judiciary get in here? How is this going to work with our programme to manage public perception of the prison population.
Principle 9: The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
> I thought we'd already covered this. You can’t measure an absence of crime, ridiculous concept... if we don't have the scary monster of crime and disorder hanging around how are you going to scare the daily mail reading fools in to voting for you.
All in all, Home Secretary I can see little merit in any of this clap trap from some old f**t. I'll draft something for you that's more in keeping with our 'programme' to get these people under closer government control, this is all far too loose and conceptual. What about elected Police and Crime Commissioners? The net result will be the same but it will avoid the debate, you know how simple minded the public is.
Is it any coincidence that the person that won was the first name on the ballot paper. Looks to me that the people that did bother to vote just picked the first name they saw!
ReplyDeleteI voted for her because she's the best looking!
Delete