Labour take control of South Ayrshire

Sandra Osborne has warmly welcomed the outcome of the Statutory Council Meeting, giving Labour continued control of South Ayrshire after a cut of the cards to break the deadlock.

She said,

“A Tory victory would have threatened vital local public services and dealt a blow to the ordinary working people of South Ayrshire. With this outcome we can continue to build on the progress of the past few years. People gain from having Labour in charge, working in partnership at UK, Scotland and South Ayrshire levels. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Council Leader Andy Hill and congratulate Gordon McKenzie on becoming the first Provost of South Ayrshire to represent a Troon seat.

The Leader of the Tories in South Ayrshire complains that they won a majority of the popular vote but were defeated by ‘this stupid system' (a cut of the cards) He looks forward to the introduction of PR ‘which will relegate things like this to history'.

However, when people vote they know they are electing a local councillor not taking part in a Council referendum. In the ward where I stay for example, if 26 voters had switched from Tory to Labour, we would have won the seat and formed the administration outright. No-one would have even thought of counting up the popular vote across South Ayrshire.

As for the STV system of PR, with three member wards, a quick calculation based on the May 1st voting shows that South Ayrshire would probably still have been very closely divided between Labour and Tory with one SNP. A modest swing in the vote would only mean a difference of one or two seats either way under PR. Who would form the administration in these circumstances? Now that would be a lottery!”