So what are the headlines from these local elections? Is it that Labour has done surprisingly well in southern England and Wales. Or is it that the electorate has decisively voted against directly elected mayors? Or that the Lib Dems have been trounced? Or that the turnout is the lowest in 12 years? Or that :Labour is likely to lose what it should have expected to gain, namely the Mayor of London? Or that fringe parties and Respect have picked up votes but not the BNP?
All of these. But above all else the lack of voters' faith in politics to solve their problems anymore. After two years of cuts, rising unemployment and a squeeze on living standards, one would have confidently expected a voters' angry backlash against the government of the day, a wholesale slaughter of Tory and Lib Dem seats. It has happened to the Lib Dems but not the Tories. Labour has done well but half way through a government which has undergone a month of wobbles and bad management decisions on top of economic woes one would expect the opposition party to do well.
The electorate has expressed its discontent by abstaining. Some 70% of people did not bother to exercise their vote. The electorate appears to believe that however dire the economy it is beyond the power of politicians to make any impact. Ironically just as localism is being trumpeted as the next stage of involving people in decision-making the people have decided that decisions are being taken elsewhere globally over which they have little control.