As Peter says, one more vote and the Conservatives would have regained control of the council. New Labour took two seats from the Lib Dems, BUT they took nothing from the Conservatives who removed one New Labour councillor out of Silverhill. Good riddance! And, according to the council website, there was a swing from New Labour to the Conservatives in almost every ward, some by a massive amount. Of course New Labour will focus on the two seats they took from the Lib Dems, but given the battering they are taking in almost all the other wards, you can rest assured they are going to face utter humiliation next time when we finally get rid of Foster, Birch and co.

FOSTER OUT!!!!!

If you take off your blinkers and actually look at the results, you will see that Labour increased its share of the vote in 9 seats and in the town overall compared with 2006. I don't know how HBC calculated the swings but the actual swings were from LibDems to either Labour or Conservatives. As the Editor says, it was a comparatively good night for Labour especially when you compare it to the rest of the country. Yet again the voters of Hastings have remained much more loyal to Labour than elsewhere which goes to show that your obsessive hatred of Birch, Foster & Co. is not widely shared here.

King Harold,

You clearly have a one-eyed NEW Labour view of the world, coloured as it is by your "socialist" smoke and mirrors. My feelings for Birch, Foster and co which you seem to think are not shared by others are clearly reflected in the fact that the Conservatives have MORE councillors and more supporters and voters than NEW Labour do. I am sorry you are so obsessed with NEW Labour that you feel compelled to deny the FACTS quoted on the council website, which states quite clearly that there are huge swings in almost every ward from NEW Labour to the Conservatives. For brevity, I quote one example: Wishing Tree ward. Foster's own back yard. Previously a NEW Labour stronghold. Not any more.

NEW Labour votes 2004: 712
Conservative votes 2004: 378

NEW Labour votes 2006: 563
Conservative votes 2006: 337

NEW Labour votes 2008: 614
Conservative votes 2008: 498

Whichever period of time you look at 2004-2008 or 2006-2008 it is clear to anyone other than a NEW Labour denier that there is a huge swing towards the Conservatives in this ward, where their vote is higher than ever and Cllr Scott's NEW Labour support has fallen masively since he was elected. As I say, I have tried to be kind to you, by picking Foster's own ward which you clearly would think is hard-fought by NEW Labour. I don't quote figures for other wards suchas Silverhill, as it obvious folks in that ward have seen the light big time and booted out your beloved ex-councillor Dowling. Yes, I do despise NEW Labour - just like most of the nation do. Don't you read newspapers or watch tv? I guess you feel it's all just lies?? Worst battering for NEW Labour in 40 years!!
Rejoice!! NEW Labour are finished!
Thanks for taking the time to read the facts.

FOSTER OUT!!

King Harold is right. Had Labour done as badly in Hastings as they did elsewhere, and had the tories done as well, Hastings would now definitely have a tory controlled council, and not one where they controlled it only on the major's casting vote. That did not happen because there's a strong bedrock of support for labour in Hastings. The lib-dems have paid the price of supporting a tory administration - something it is clear their supporters did not like.
Yes, if there were an election tomorrow it's likely that we'd once again have a tory MP (am I the only person who can remember the last two awful tories who've represented Hastings in the past?!), but the truth is that there will NOT be an election tomorrow; it's at least two years away and won't come a week after tax hikes. A lot can and will change over the next two years, and I think (and hope) that M/s Rudd has a lot to do if she's to stand any chance..
The BNP's performance was unsurprising but a relief - the last thing Hastings needs at present is a reputation for supporting fascists and racists.

Anti Fascist,

Strange title for a NEW Labour supporter!! Presumably you haven't heard of this lot's record on civil liberties?! For your information, you are wrong about former Lib Dem voters punishing that Party for backing the Conservatives. Why do NEW Labour insist on lies and spin? In Old Hastings, the Lib Dem leader nearly lost his seat for backing NEW Labour! The voters swung behind the Conservatives, who would now control the council if they had got just one more vote! Don't you people read the newspapers? You are aslo wrong to say the Conservatives now control the council on the casting vote of the mayor. They have 15 councillors out of a total of 32. Do the maths, my friend! Use a calculator if it helps! Amber Rudd is clearly the future for Hastings. Most people no longer support Michael Foster - even his own ward are turning against him - because whatever he says he thinks in Hastings he then does exactly the opposite in Westminster. He is finished. And most of this town can hardly wait for the day! You are right on one thing. Plenty will change over the next two years. And it's all bad news for NEW Labour!

FOSTER OUT!!! NEW LABOUR OUT!!

FACT: NEW Labour vote in Hastings has gone down since 2006.
FACT: Conservative vote has gone up since 2006 (by almost exactly the same number that NEW Labour has decreased).
Swing to NEW Labour?? Yeah, right!! If this is Foster's idea of victory that's fine by me! We'll look forward to the General Election, then!!!
It's all gone quiet over there!!

FOSTER OUT!!!

Clearly the word FACT has a different meaning to you than to the rest of us. In 2006 Labour won 7673 votes 33.57%); in 2008 they won 7786 (34.68%) votes. This is an increase in Labour's vote and I don't need a calculator to see that. Why do you assume that anybody who points out your errors is a supporter of what you like to call "NEW Labour"? Maybe some of us just aren't taken in by your hysterical spin.

To quote;
*So there we have it. Let's hope for more direction from Peter Pragnell and co in the coming months - this town needs it."

The problem is Peter not the solution, the Tories ran Hastings into the ground and every sign they intend to do it again. reading these boards should be a warning to anyone other than the fanatical tory supporters.

I personally thought Labour did reasonablly well in Hastings, a reflection that many voters will continue to support Labour, perhaps a sign of thanks?

If this was to be the low point, then they could improve their showing next time.


T

Interesting article in the Independent newspaper today.
Boris Johnson officially takes over as Mayor of London.
Also in the house of Lords, representatives are still talking about how the postal voting system can be open to abuse. Particularly when in some areas, the results
'Buck' the national trends'.

Foster Out;
First off, why do you say that I am a Labour supporter? Is it because I happen to dispute your interpretation of the election results and dare to disagree with your anti-labour ranting. I am not; I am a floating voter, and adopted the ant-fascist name only because my first postings on this site were to criticise the BNP and I can't now change it. I do, though, look at things like this from an impartial viewpoint.
You also need to learn to read what people say properly before you go off on one! I did NOT say that the Conservatives now control the council with the casting vote of the mayor. I actually said; "had the tories done as well (as they had nationally), Hastings would now definitely have a tory controlled council, and not one where they controlled it only on the mayor's casting vote." That means they'd have controlled on the casting vote if they'd got the one extra vote in the Old Town (as Peter Lindsay said), but with the national mood as it is they should have done a whole lot better than that.

It must be terribly inconvenient for someone who seems determined to 'prove' the death of labour in Hastings when the facts do not support that position, but they simply do not. You can't just pick individual wards - I could show you others where there was actually a small swing TOWARDS Labour but that, too, is misleading. It's necesaary to look at the whole picture and yes, there was a swing against Labour overall. But in Hastings it was far less than the national average, and Labour in Hastings finished the night with one MORE councillor than they started it, and the only seat they lost was a previously safe tory seat won in a by-election just one year earlier. They also polled more votes. Hardly the results of a party that's dead in the water!!
If this is the best the tories can do in Hastings when there's such massive momentum in their favour elsewhere, Amber Rudd doesn't, from where I'm sitting, stand a chance in two years time unless things