Labour in the east gets cojones
Ed Balls, one of the big beasts of politics, is to lead the May local election campaign for Labour in the East of England, reports the party’s Southern Front website (hat tip to Ipswich Spy).
Labour desperately needs to get some red back on the map of the east. The Shadow Chancellor is know as an attack dog and should inject some life into local politics.
They are aiming to turn Ipswich, Norwich, Waveney and Great Yarmouth red. Conservatives are already anticipating substantial losses, partly because they are defending a lot of seats they won last time round.
This year’s local elections, for district and borough councils, should be more exciting than in the past because of the scale of cuts being made.
And the role of the Lib Dems will be fascinating: will they distance themselves from their parliamentary colleagues, or let themselves be branded as pseudo-Tories? Where they are the main opposition they will no doubt decide they are very anti-conservative.
County councils are not being contested until 2013.
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