Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Will NI votes end up counted ahead of English ones at the next General Election?

Just at the point when Northern Ireland’s Electoral Office has agreed to switch to counting the next General Election overnight (announced in June in the aftermath of the European elections), some English councils are considering switching back to daytime counting!

This weekend’s Sunday Times article on the subject has now been picked up by the Conservative Party who are running an online campaign on Facebook.

Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles has written to colleagues in Labour and the Liberal Democrats in a bid to build cross-party consensus on the issue.

Bolton and Newcastle-upon-Tyne constituencies have currently opted for daytime counting, with others looking to join them.

Less costly in terms of count staff, but potentially even less exciting to watch, and potentially stamping out the last flicker of public interest in politics at a time when its ebb is already very low.

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