Date published: 2011/05/06
The Cambridge News says:
Labour made sweeping gains on Cambridge City Council, halving the ruling Liberal Democrats' majority, as voters punished the coalition Government.
The opposition group gained four seats and claimed the scalps of two members of the authority's executive - Clare Blair in East Chesterton and Mike Pitt in King's Hedges.
Labour also won a county council division from the Liberal Democrats.
...
The new make-up of the city council is Lib Dem 25 seats, Labour 14 seats, Green two seats, Independent one seat.
What is most interesting about the result is that the Greens picked up no seats, and so evidently many Lib Dem voters drifted towards Labour rather than the Greens. All in all the result is good because a large Lib Dem (or any party) majority is not healthy for democracy if it continues forever.
It is telling that the Lib Dems did best in the academic middle class (i.e. rich) wards like Newnham, Castle and West Chesterton, and fared badly in the wards like Arbury, King's Hedges and East Chesterton where more ordinary people live. But the Lib Dems (and the Greens) are the party of the Cambridge academic middle class ruling elite.
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