Politicians, not pussycats!

So, Miss Andrea Jenkyns is once again the county councillor for Boston North West after a brief period in the wilderness following a technical knock-out.
The result of last Thursday's by-election was:
Andrea JENKYNS, Conservative - 597
David OWENS, British National Party - 581
Pamela KENNY, Labour - 204
Michael SHERIDAN-SHINN, Liberal Democrat - 160
The electorate was 7255, and the turnout of 1543 was a poor 21.3%.
Compare this with the result last time:
Andrea Jenkyns, Conservative - 463
Colin Westcott, British National Party -374
Alison Austin, Boston Bypass Independents, 283
Richard Leggott, Independent - 279
Pam Kenny, Labour - 205
Paul Appleby, Liberal Democrat - 130
Andrew Bakewell, Independent - 82
The electorate was 6746 and the turnout, at 1816 was the lowest of the seven county council Boston seats up for grabs at 27%.
The difference between the two front runners was just 16 - enough for a recount.
So what do we learn about the state of Boston politics from all of this?
First and foremost is the surge in people registering to vote.
Councillor Owens, in one of his blogs in the run up to the campaign, wrote: "Call me a cynic, but it looks like someone’s been busy signing up our Eastern European guests, as there are an additional 185 newly added in the last few weeks!"
In fact the difference in the electorate between 4th June and 15th October was 509, which seems a dramatic increase in such a short time.
We doubt that this is due to a sudden upsurge of interest in local politics, so presumablly someone, somewhere has been cracking the whip.
The other thing that we think should prove to be a lesson to our local politicians was the decision by some of them not to contest the seat for a second time.
Councillors Alison Austin of the Boston Bypass Independents, and Independent Richard Leggot have both been publicly thanked for deciding not to stand this time round. So has Councillor Anne Dorrian, but as she didn't fight the seat in June, we set little store by that.
The editors at Boston Eye decided not to contest the seat either ... but no-one bothered to thank us for that!
We assume that the decision of previous candidates not to stand was taken because they believed that this would pave the way for a Conservative shoo-in, and wanted to be seen to be nice.
How wrong can you be?
Among last Thursday's winners and losers, Councillor Jenkyns gained 134 votes compared with 4th June whilst Councillor Owens gained 206. Labour's Pam Kenny lost one vote between the campaigns (no, don't titter, titter ye not!) while the Lib Dems gained just 30.
When Councillor Owens was elected to Boston Borough Council almost a year ago, the leader Richard "Papa Dick" Austin was gobsmacked.
All he would say was: "I think this will have serious implications for Boston and I want to reflect on the implications on this result."
We wonder what old stone face would have said (or not said) if the inaction of his party and others had contributed to the election of one that clearly leaves him lost for words!
Besides, these people are supposed to be politicians, and an election is an election.
Afterwards, Councillor Jenkyns was reported to have said that she was relieved to have been returned to office. She said she understood the area had problems with anti-social behaviour.
"I know we have certain issues in Boston and that is why the BNP had come up through the ranks. But a lot of their issues are national issues which we can't do much about at a local level - but I am so relieved."
Councillor Owens was reported as saying that the closeness of the vote should send out a message to the mainstream parties.
"People need to start listening. We got 581 votes, that is 581 people who are not happy with the status quo and very nearly tipped the balance of it."
Helped by the so-called "politicians" who stepped aside when they should have been campaigning.

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