How one vote for Eileen Wyatt changed politics in Norwich

We had a friend round for dinner tonight and after a little discussion about the local election results it soon became clear that she may well have swung the whole poll in Norwich - and altered political history too.

You see, she did live in Thorpe Hamlet but very recently moved to Town Close. On the last day that it was legally possible to do so, she changed the electoral roll and did so in order to vote for Conservative candidate Eileen Wyatt, whom she had met and liked, despite normally being a Green Party voter.

Eileen came third and polled 620 votes - a historic high for the Tories in Town Close but a little away from winning. However, in Thorpe Hamlet the Greens lost by one vote and thus failed to become the country's first Green opposition party and thus Ramsay failed to become the first Green Leader of the Opposition.

When this dawned upon us both tonight it really made us think about the importance of a single vote in our democracy. Such tiny and insignificant acts have a huge part to play in shaping our democracy.

So as Cllr Ramsay settles back into the job of not being Leader of the Opposition, he might well curse Eileen Wyatt - a Tory candidate in another ward - who robbed him of the job he wanted!

(*** ps. I know everyone can find a case like this when it goes to a single vote - the EDP recently carried the story of a voter who was planning to vote Green but switched to the LibDems after being bombarded with Green leaflets which he thought was wasteful. But it's still good fun!)

(*** pps. My favourite random vote of the year goes to a lady whom I met when she was on Initial Teacher Training. She spent just a few hours in my company about three years ago - and rewarded the Conservative Party (in this case, Eve Collishaw) with her vote because I was kind to her.)

LibDem faux outrage at UEA votes issue

I think that it is crazy that the UEA has nowhere on campus for the voters of that polling district to vote on 3rd May. However, given the reaction of the LibDems you might believe that this was the greatest attack on democracy for a generation.

Hardly.

We should encourage people to vote but we cannot hold their hand whilst they do it. It must be easy to vote but people must also want to do it.

I live around 6 minutes walk from my polling station.

When I lived in Mardle Street, Bowthorpe, I lived a good 15 minutes walk from my polling station.

In Norwich, as in Norfolk and around the country, you have to make an effort to vote.

If students want to vote they will walk, cycle or even drive to the schoiol next to UEA to do it. If they care about voting they will make the effort and give up the few extra minutes to cast their votes. Maybe they will be so angry by this decision turnout may even rise?

If they say that they won't vote because there isn't a polling station under their noses then that is in itself contempt for democracy and on that principle vast swathes of the country, and the City, would never vote.

And, of course, there is still time for a postal vote to be arranged.

So how do we explain the LibDem outrage? Pure politics. They believe their only hope of not being totally humiliated in this ward is the student vote. They care about their campaign, not about democracy.

However, given the fact that the UEA LibDems have almost ceased to function and that the Conservatives are now by far the biggest party on campus, I wouldn't be too sure that student votes will save them.

So be assured, LibDems. Democracy carries on. At least University Tory candidate Niall Baxter (pictured) has remained calm throughout this "crisis".