Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2009
Local government politics, particularly in urban areas, is now dominated by the major national parties though the process and causes of the take-over are not well documented. These notes, based on research in Doncaster, relate the process of the take-over of the anti-Labour position by the Conservative party and draw some possible conclusions.
1 In a recent article, Grant, W. P.,’ “Local” parties in British Local Polities’, Political Studies, XIX (1971). 201–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar, notes an improvement in their holding of seats in such areas, though the increase is from 0.5 per cent in 1960 to 2 per cent in 1969.
2 Doncaster Evening Post, 17 January 1963.
3 Doncaster Gazette, 17 January 1963.
4 Doncaster Gazette, 17 January 1963.
5 This would provide a difficult case for Grant's, W. P. definition of a ‘genuine’ local party as being one that would fight an election against a Conservative candidate. Grant, ‘"Local” Parties in British Local Polities’, p. 203.Google Scholar
6 Doncaster Gazette, 30 April 1964.
7 Doncaster Gazette, 14 April 1959 and 19 May 1960.
8 Doncaster Evening Post. 18 January 1962.
9 Jones, G. W., Borough Politics (London: Macmillan, 1967), p. 66.Google Scholar