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POLITICAL BRIEF


The political brief

Welsh elections

The 5th May saw the biggest electoral test yet for the Coalition Government, with Welsh Assembly elections as well as elections to the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly and local elections taking place across Northern Ireland and most of England, and of course the AV referendum.

Welsh Assembly Elections

In advance of these elections there was little doubt that Labour would be the largest party and the major player in the next administration. Rather the question was whether they would secure an overall majority.

Labour’s gains came from across the political spectrum:

Blaenau Gwent from Independent
Cardiff North from Conservatives
Cardiff Central from Liberal Democrats
Llanelli from Plaid Cymru

A major casualty of the elections was Nick Bourne the Conservative Leader who lost his Mid and West Wales regional seat as a consequence of the Conservatives winning the Montgomeryshire seat from the Liberal Democrats.

The Labour Leader, Carwyn Jones, has since the election announced that Labour will seek to govern alone.

Leighton Andrews has retained his position as Minister for Education and Skills. While this represents a welcome dose of stability for teachers and schools, the NASUWT has been concerned by the increasingly negative tone Mr Andrews has adopted towards the profession. His reappointment means he is likely to push on with the plans he announced earlier this year to introduce tough new assessment and monitoring systems for schools and reform teaching training. The NASUWT will be seeking continued discussions with Mr Andrews on these issues to urge support for teachers and to press for action to close the pupil funding gap with England.

Elsewhere in the UK

Local Government Elections in England

The main theme to these elections was the collapse in Liberal Democrat support across the country. Across England the Liberal Democrats lost almost half of the seats they were defending.

Northern Ireland Assembly Elections

While the changes were less significant than those seen in other areas of the UK, these results clearly represent a strengthening of the position of the DUP and Sinn Fein at the expense of the UUP and SDLP.

Northern Ireland Local Government Elections

With all 582 seats declared in the elections to Northern Ireland's 26 councils, there were losses for the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP and gains for the DUP, Sinn Fein and Alliance.

Scottish Parliament Elections

One big story of the 2011 elections is undoubtedly the success of the SNP in Scotland. The SNP now has a clear majority of four in the 129-seat Scottish Parliament. This is despite the electoral system for the Scottish Parliament being designed specifically to make it extremely unlikely that any one party could have an overall majority and raises the likelihood of a referendum on independence.

AV Referendum

More than two thirds of those who took part in the poll opposed replacing the current first-past-the-post method with the alternative vote system. Out of 440 voting areas across the country, the Yes votes supporting change made up the majority in only 10 areas.

The NASUWT will be seeking early meetings with the new administrations, both locally and across the UK, to press the importance of protecting state education and public services.



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