A hiding they deserved

FF and the PDs have got the hiding they have long deserved.

They got it for a whole host of reasons including health, stealth taxes, Iraq, the state of many schools, the lack of affordable accommodation and recreational facilities for young people, decentralisation, privatisation, transport and failure to protect the environment.

Hope for the future lies in the steady rise in the vote for independents and small parties like the Socialist Party, which gained seats, and the Workers Party and Socialist Workers Party, which almost secured a foothold in a number of local councils.