Thursday is approaching fast and the final lap is here at last.
Our Election coverage has become the most popular part of the Rothpol blog, those who have yet to let us have their election materials for display are missing a trick. None more so than the Labour Party.
We are happy to publish all official election materials from all candidates involved in this years local elections! Please send .jpgs to Rothpol, thanks.
Anston and Woodsetts
Boston Castle
Brinsworth and Catcliffe
Dinnington
Hellaby
Holderness
Hoober
Keppel
Maltby
Rawmarsh
Rother Vale
Rotherham East
Rotherham West
Silverwood
Sitwell
Swinton
Valley
Wales
Wath
Wickersley
Wingfield
Rothpol blog will not tell visitors who to vote for, but we are dedicated to making information available to assist voters to make up their own minds.
In Rotherham that is a revolutionary concept.
Rotherham Politics 
I do wonder how some of the sitting Councillors expect the electorate to vote for them when they only turn out to do any work in the month proceeding the election and then do nothing for the next three years and eleven months. Although the Tories are the worst culprits the labour councillors are not much better. I don’t think Stone or Gilding have ever delivered a leaflet and they are two of the highest paid councillors.
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The Labour councillors in Anston do not walk the streets trying to engage with the community, they hold surgeries and turn up at tenants meetings until the next election is due then they are like horse muck; all over the place. You will also have noticed they spend a lot of time and energy arranging photo shoots. Meanwhile the grass verges are overgrown and the pavements and roads surfaces are allowed to fall into disrepair (despite RMBC being handed £30 million+ prior to 2010 for roads maintenance).
Yep, it’s definitely election time.
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colin , no money to cut the grass… thats what rmbc keep telling rotherham people , do you belive them ??
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On the subject of electioneering;
This is some of the garbage being tweeted by Sarah Champion: ‘Farage has just said empty shops don’t pay business rates, not true!’
She really ought to pay attention in the HoC instead of lining up photo-ops.
You don’t have to pay business rates on empty buildings for 3 months. After this time, most businesses must pay full business rates.
Some properties can get extended empty property relief:
industrial premises (eg warehouses) are exempt for a further 3 months
listed buildings – until they are reoccupied
buildings with a rateable value under £2,600 – until they are reoccupied
properties owned by charities (only if the property’s next use will be mostly for charitable purposes)
community amateur sports clubs buildings (only if the next use will be mostly as a sports club)
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/exempted-buildings-and-empty-buildings-relief
Champion’s distortion of the facts is in inverse proportion to the nearness of an election. Like her Labour colleagues: why let the truth get in the way of publicity?
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Colin,
On Newsnight last night, and in response to a question on the costs of reducing business rates, Farage said “our high streets now are full of empty shops that aren’t paying business rates, … ”
And then went on to say that there was some evidence that reducing business rates could increase occupancy.
The Gov.UK pages you link to could be best summarised as saying in respect of shops, that subject to certain exceptions (small business rate relief, rateable value<£2,6000, first 3 months of non-occupancy) business rates are payable on empty shops.
On that basis, I would think that Champion was closer to the truth than Farage.
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@rr
My point was Champion jumped off the deep end into the sticky brown stuff before researching the facts which are as I posted. Empty shops do not pay business rates for the first 3 months. She did not qualify her silly statement but decided to try and score a political point. This was another epic fail for her.
You have to wonder why a Labour wannabe is concentrating her fire on UKIP instead of on the Tories who should be the focus of her attention, according to her (ineffectual) leader the Tories are destroying everything the Labour party holds dear so why is she harping on about UKIP?
We know the answer to that boys and girls don’t we?
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Jo Burton is going to find out what it is like for her constituents who couldn’t find work due to mass immigration. Sarah Champion is Jo Burton at the MP level.
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Well the results for these elections are going to be interesting.
Will the coordinated attack on UKIP ensure the safe return of the sitting Labour Cllrs or has the almost minute by minute attacks by all three of the main parties have backfired on them with the electorate fed up with broken promises and snouts in the trough junketing decide for themselves, only one day to go and by Monday we should know.
The disloyalty from the Deputy Leader with his open support for a blog that attacked his political colleagues even took the Labour Group by surprise; will Cllr Ellis find herself kicked out by UKIP thanks to the Deputy?
Will the Tiser headline read, Sue Ellis, former Cllr for Wickersley now plans to spend more time with her family?
Thank you Deputy Leader for supporting the new blog.
The blog has carried out the dirty work for the Deputy Leader with its attacks on Respect and UKIP, the problem with Respect for Labour is that the two highly credible candidates are respected within their local area.
Hypocrisy from Labour with their focus on ex-Tory members moving to UKIP, contrast this with their comments regarding Darren Hughes.
Compare this, Labour are quick of the mark to highlight any past indiscretions by UKIP candidates, however Labour sweeps the violent past of the Deputy Leader under the carpet
One interesting point that emerged during the run up to the election was that at least two Labour Cllr`s, Ali and Akhtar are private landlords, just how many of their rented properties have migrants as tenants needs to be answered, any suggestion that their support for mass immigration is linked to their property portfolio results in faux cries of racism.
On a separate note the Unity Centre supported by Labour Cllrs, provides a range of advice services including accessing housing benefits, so get this, Labour supports the Unity Centre, Labour Cllrs buy cheap housing stock, Labour Cllrs support mass migration to the town, private landlord Labour Cllr`s rent properties to new arrivals.
The white underclass was a phrase on a poster used by Akhtar to attack UKIP, remember that phrase as you go to vote, Labour may refer to us at the underclass, but we do have the vote!
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Very interesting report on Newsnight last night. Last item was about the effects UKIP has on the so called Labour solid votes in Rotherham. The Labour party has alienated most of their traditional Labour supporters if you listen to the people who normally vote for the Labour candidate.
Even more interesting was watching Hilary Benn squirm as Paxo questioned him about Labour’s failure to retain their core votes, Benn and Miliband ought to open a Waffle factory, they’re good at it.
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Akhtar had stooped that low that his using his one year old grandson to point to a labour cardboard.
Desperate to win are we?
Please voters feel sorry for me am that desperate to win and no one will help me deliver leaflets that am using my grandson to deliver them.
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