Why your vote WILL count here

MY column last week mentioned in passing the fact it was an unusual state of affairs for losing candidates in the county council elections to increase their number of votes but still lose their seats.

As several people pointed out on Facebook, focusing on the results like that ignores perhaps a more important fact – the size of the swing which had to have happened for previous winners to lose.

That, of course, made the county council elections a great result for the Conservatives in Rossendale. Looking at the results, it feels as though the election was much more a straight head-to-head between the Tories and Labour than in previous years, with the Lib Dems and UKIP less prolific on the ballot papers.

Does that make the general election a foregone conclusion here? The data crunchers would have believe that yes, that would be the case. The gap between the Tories and Labour is huge in the polls, and that would point to the Tories strengthening their vote here in Rossendale and Darwen.

But the local Labour party strengthened its hand at Rossendale Council in 2016 against the flow of national opinion polls, and there is evidence to suggest that as more people become familiar with Labour policy promises, the Labour vote grows.

It’s worth remembering that 60 per cent of local people who could have voted in the county council elections didn’t – and that’s a huge reminder that the general election is very much an open race here in Rossendale.

Who knows what the 60 pc think?

We do know that they didn’t find the time to vote, or perhaps couldn’t find the time to vote.

If ever there were an example of making your vote count, it’s here in Rossendale.