Talk:Uxbridge and South Ruislip (UK Parliament constituency)

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Candidates for Unannounced Elections

While I appreciate there is nothing to stop individuals or parties claiming that they will register as candidates in a given constituency ahead of a by-election or general election, in fact unless they have 10 signatures from (living) registered electors in the constituency in which they intend to stand on the last day before the poll was notified, nobody can be considered to be a candidate. Along with other nomination papers - including consent to stand, in which the candidate-to-be declares their intent and that, to the best of their knowledge, they are not disqualified from standing for any reason - these can only be submitted between 10am and 4pm from the day after the publication of notice of election, and no later than 4pm on the 19th day prior to the poll itself. This applies equally to the sitting MP of a constituency as it does to potential challengers.

There are numerous reasons (good and bad) why an individual might find themselves unable to register as a candidate by the time a poll is actually announced, and it is factually incorrect to call them 'candidates' prior to their registration, which cannot happen until and unless a poll is notified. These reasons are covered in brief in advice for those intending to stand by the Electoral Commission, representing a write-up of several complex pieces of electoral law.

It is misleading in the extreme therefore to place a section on any Wikipedia page - this is simply the one I happened to note it on - which claims that any person is a candidate in an election which has yet to be called. Indeed, the next general election is not due for another three years, and short of Boris Johnson huffing off following a defeat or inglorious win after the Conservative Party leadership election is concluded, it would still take a parliamentary majority to call a fresh general election, unless Mssrs Johnson or Hunt are unable to form a would-be government capable of passing a vote of confidence and no other party or grouping of parties is able to form one either.

Intention to stand can be noted but, of course, should only be noted as intention until and unless a would-be candidate has legally and formally registered their intention to stand, submitting the relevant nomination papers and paying the relevant deposit. They are simply not a candidate until that time, and cannot become one unless a date is set for a poll by publication of notice of an election.

I don't expect anybody's going to give a hoot but if you can't waffle over Boris Johnson when can you? 95.150.170.182 (talk) 20:37, 27 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Count Binface

Why does this redirect to Lord Buckethead when Buckethead is also standing? Or is there a dual candidacy by one humorist? Harfarhs (talk) 00:31, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

See here. Ralbegen (talk) 00:56, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

'No description'

Hello. At the upcoming election, there are a number of candidates standing with no official description in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. After reading this [[1]], I was wondering how best to list these candidates. As you will see on the page just now, I have kept the blank box added by OrkneyLad1996, but added an explanatory note next to each of these candidates. Does this work better, or is it worse? Cheers, PinkPanda272 (talk) 16:07, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I feel that it may be best to avoid explanatory notes in this case and leave the candidates party description blank. There is cases that explanatory notes are used and this is for when the candidates party has withdrawn the parties support in that candidate.OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 16:17, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

My preference has always been the use of 'no description' although if consensus rests on a blank box, that's fine with me doktorb _words^deeds 16:30, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, that's fair enough. PinkPanda272 (talk) 16:30, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Just to contribute, I think that No description is the clearest way to write it. I think there's some differences in whether local authorities write No description or leave the party box blank in SOPNs, but I think the former is clearer (and, as far as I can tell, the more common practice?). Ralbegen (talk) 16:37, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Somebody that has no idea about wikipedia editing and that will look at Wikipedia for information on candidates might assume that 'no description is a political party and might get confused. At least if it is blank, it would cause less confusion. OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 16:42, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that No description is confusing. It's entirely self-explanatory... Ralbegen (talk) 19:49, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Do we know what it would say on the Ballot Paper? Whether it will be left blank for their political affiliation or will they be listed as an independent candidate? OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 22:27, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The ballot paper will have a blank space. doktorb _words^deeds 11:11, 29 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Since the ballot paper will have a blank space, it makes sense to have a blank space on Wikipedia. OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 11:27, 29 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think that leaving it blank is the simplest solution, but No description seems like a sensible alternative. — Bilorv (talk) 13:03, 29 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Brian R Hunter: and anyone above. My reason for adding "Independent" to the blank candidates was due to the BBC listing them as such here, Sky news here, and even some beautiful local news here. I'm not sure whether this all contradicts the blank space in the description and the above discussion, because they are Independent candidates, even if they didn't specify being an "Independent". Just want people's opinions on it :) PotentPotables (talk) 00:08, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I feel that the statement of persons nominated takes precedent over the other sources that a list of candidates could be sourced from. If they are listed as having no political description on the statement of persons nominated then it probably makes sense for that to be the case on Wikipedia. OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 00:20, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@PotentPotables and OrkneyLad1996: I too added "independent" as the blank box misled me into thinking they might be Labour (the candidate above) and checked with the BBC (who has them as independent). BUT, I accept that the "statement" trumps "BBC". BUT "independent" is not a party it is a description... so I think the current situation where I have added a footnote to explain to visitors why the box is blank is the best alternative. It links to "independent" which is what these candidates are while respectig the missing information on the "statement. -- Brian R Hunter (talk) 09:24, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The solution in the message above seems like the most suitable solution. OrkneyLad1996 (talk) 11:42, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 Election NPOV issue with Tobin

If it's okay to document Mr Tobin's political objective in standing for election, why aren't all the other candidates' objectives documented too? If it's not okay for them, why is it okay for him? This smacks of political bias. 82.46.176.246 (talk) 11:07, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

If you can find citations from verified sources for other candidates, you can add campaign details to the article. It's not bias, it's the availability of sourced details. From my personal perspective, I wonder if the details won't be deleted anyway under WP:RECENTISM. doktorb _words^deeds 11:32, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

They should definitely not be removed later on—moving to a section in the body (such as "History") may be appropriate in the future though. And yes, it's the availability of secondary sources that warrants mention of Tobin in the lead, but I think the "objective" of every other candidate is to be elected, which makes Tobin's objective of receiving 0 votes rather unique. — Bilorv (talk) 13:47, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Formatting of percentage changes

@Mattythewhite: as expressed in my edit summary, I believe the use of rather than + and rather than - is more easily accessible to readers, as it is quicker to parse and more visually demonstrative. The 2019 table is quite lengthy and the statistics are hard to follow so I believe that particularly for less mathematically literate users, the symbolic representations are more helpful. I understand an IP editor agrees that the visual symbols are preferable and I do not understand what reason you have for reverting the change. You argued "There is no benefit to our readers by replacing text with symbols when it conveys the information perfectly well" but this is a lack of engagement in the reasoning I have given. — Bilorv (talk) 18:34, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any consensus, or any general agreement or tendency, to use these symbols? I still don't see that they're significantly more accessible for general readers, and indeed the majority of publications, resources etc that list election results use simple text. It feels to me like we're trying to fix something that isn't broken. Mattythewhite (talk) 18:42, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

But why should your +/- system be considered the default when both are used frequently? Why isn't it your revert of

/

that is trying to fix something that is not broken? I understand that different publications have different styles, but most of the styles I've seen are very different to our concise table format with a dense set of stats, which leads itself better to a more visual element for improved readability. I see

/

more frequently on pages which receive higher editor attention (e.g. 2019 United Kingdom general election - see the infobox and Full results) but I'm not aware of a general consensus; I have considered starting an RfC to gain consensus on which to use and would welcome one. If you start one then please ping me and I'll offer my full thoughts. Nonetheless, the situation at the moment is that you reverted a presumably new editor with a rather curt edit summary and I am not convinced you had good reason for doing so, so I ask that you consider self-reverting. — Bilorv (talk) 23:16, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Mattythewhite:@Bilorv: I can see both sides but I do prefer the icons

as being visually better. Unless there are more comments in favour of +/- I propose changing to the icons. -- Brian R Hunter (talk) 15:33, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Sitting prime minister

The second paragraph states: “Johnson's 2017 majority in Uxbridge and South Ruislip of 5,034 votes was the smallest of any sitting prime minister since 1924.”

Boris Johnson was not the sitting PM at the time of the 2017 election? Jmcaoat (talk) 17:49, 3 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It became the smallest majority of a sitting prime minister in 2019, when Johnson became PM, but before the 2019 election. I'm not sure if some iteration of the wording made this clearer but I'm sure it could be. The fact meant the seat received considerable attention during the 2019 election campaign; had Labour not collapsed, it may have even been plausible to get a Tory majority but have Johnson lose his seat (though Johnson would likely have pre-emptively been parachuted out had this been plausible). — Bilorv (talk) 18:03, 3 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

YouGov poll for Remain preference in lead of article

I removed a description of YouGov poll in the third paragraph of an article. This read as "...The Observer reported in August 2018 that 51.4% of voters supported Remain." I find it peculiar that one poll could be treated with parity to the House of Commons Library estimate for the actual referendum result. Furthermore, the poll is mentioned (and accurately described) in the constituency profile section. · | (t - c) 22:04, 12 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the comment, Interpuncts. The idea from my perspective is that the House of Commons estimate and YouGov/Observer estimate are both crude approximations of public opinion on Leave/Remain in the constituency. Since the actual referendum result was not broken down by constituency, nor was any vote weighted/counted differently based on constituency, the main reason it would matter is to give background as to attitudes of the electorate towards different parties/local candidates in the 2015/17/19 elections.

The difference of 57% and 51% is quite major when thinking about the narrow range from the most to least Leave areas of the country, but in my opinion is well within the margin of error of both estimates. Providing two pieces of data rather than one establishes in prose that there is uncertainty. Neither is an actual vote result. Looking at it again, I think I should've given data to the nearest integer rather than 1 decimal place as this is false precision. — Bilorv (talk) 18:18, 17 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]