It’s time to think city, not party after election

So, after a year like no other, we have seen an election like no other in recent times. Not the results locally – we are now accustomed to Portsmouth City Council having no overall control, to Havant and Fareham being firmly Tory and Gosport Tory-run – but the nature of the ballot and the counts.

Take your own pen to the polling station, and no overnight counting on Thursday. Not for this year the sight of candidates turning up to the Guildhall at 11.30pm after pub closing time, and then subsisting on energy drinks and jelly babies to stay awake until the dawn. No, instead we had the comparatively sedate and socially distanced Saturday sessions.

But as mentioned – and just in previous years – we will now see a few days in which tentative deals may be explored on the city council. The numbers are tight: the Tories have 16, and in independent Linda Symes a former Tory who is likely vote with them. The Lib Dems have 15, with the Labour group’s seven seats meaning it can act as the kingmaker if it so chooses.

There are cogent arguments on both sides of the Lib DemTory divide. The Tories, as the biggest party, will feel they have the right to govern. The Lib Dems, as the incumbents, will argue that continuity is preferable and will point to respectable results on Saturday giving them a mandate.

What we need, though, as a city, is to make sure we do not end up in stasis. We can’t afford a deadlocked council with no chance of pushing through legislation. That would be bad at the best of times; heading out of the pandemic that would be a failure of politics.

The News is not advocating any particular arrangement, nor any political make-up of the next administration. What we will say, though, is that all eyes will be on the conduct of the leaders. Now, more than ever, the interests of the city, not the party, must be paramount.