Back to the Future council election candidates confirmed

Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are going head-to-head for control of a new unitary authority covering south and east Cumbria, including a large swathe of the Lake District. They are the only two parties contesting all 65 seats on Westmorland and Furness Council, which stretches from Walney Island in the South-West to Pennines town Alston in the North-East. The two ends are 72 miles apart, and a two-hours’ drive on a good day. The new council, which takes over from April 1, 2023, will provide services to those in the current areas of Barrow borough and Eden and South Lakeland district councils, as well as those provided by Cumbria County Council. The rest of Cumbria will be represented by Cumberland Council - covering the current area of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland. It will have 46 councillors. Elections will be held on Thursday 5 May for five-year term. The two new councils will be shadow authorities for the first year, then run the new areas for four more years, before the next elections in 2027. In total 213 candidates will be standing in 33 new wards for Westmorland and Furness Council. Apart from the Lib Dems and Tories, there are 31 Labour candidates, 30 Greens, 18 Independents and four Trades Union and Socialist Coalition candidates. The latter are standing for wards in Kendal, not the traditional Labour stronghold of Barrow. The shipbuilding town has been Labour run for at least twelve years, although it has a Conservative MP, Simon Fell. He was elected mainly due to fears that Labour nationally was run by Jeremy Corbyn who was seen as anti-nuclear and likely to scrap the submarine programme which keeps the dockyards in work. Current South Lakeland, based on Kendal, is staunchly Liberal Democrat, with Tim Farron the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale. His Conservative opponent, James Airey, came close in the last general election and the Tories are dominant in Eden centred on Penrith, which has had a Tory MP forever. With such a diverse area, it is difficult to predict the result of the council election. But taking all the seats on the current district and county councils would show a split of 59 Lib Dems, 53 Conservatives, 37 Labour and four Green seats. As always, national politics will have an influence, so it may be that Boris Johnson will be the deciding factor on whether Conservatives or Liberal Democrats win out. Either Labour or Greens could hold the balance of power, so there is likely to be some coalition negotiated. The two main reasons for the local government shake-up are reducing costs and confusion. Currently ratepayers aren’t sure whether it is county or district which collects the bins, repairs the potholes or keep the streetlights working. It is hoped having one unitary authority will make things simpler. As for costs, the new authority will only have one chief executive and one set of officers instead of four. There is likely to be a bloody carve-up of jobs. And then there is the estate, with grand town halls in Penrith, Kendal and Barrow. These are more likely to be used as local offices than be sold or demolished. Commentators can’t help pointing out that the new set up is almost back to the future. It was the Conservative government of Ted Heath back in 1974 which created Cumbria County and its six districts from the old unitary authorities of Cumberland and Westmorland, as well as Lancashire North of the Sands and even bits of West Yorkshire, in Dent and Sedbergh. Going back to that system was deemed a non-starter. Now it is a Conservative Government that is carving up Cumbria again, although some Cumbria-wide institutions like Police and Fire are likely to survive. How much the public cares will be reflected in the turn-out on May 5. The result will be declared in Barrow Town Hall at around 2 p.m. on Friday, May 6.