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A lot of very angry people protesting at having to pay for parking at our beauty spots. Wonder if this will have a big affect on the voting on Thursday?

Where the Government has manipulated the situation so that the Government takes the money but the Council takes the blame.

Wirral has lost something like £450 per household due to Government manipulation.

Our Council isn't brilliant (during both Labour and Conservative terms) but our main battles at the moment are above that level (The EU and Our Government). Voting on local issues will not change much, voting on national issues could.

I know a lot of people are thinking of voting Green Party instead of Labour but that will only split the vote and empower the Conservative Government even more. We need to have this Government get yet another clear message that they cannot carry on taking money off the majority of the population and give it to the few.

Local councils and cities have been fleecing motorists for years, long before any "austerity".

I recall back in the 90s when Manchester city got rid of the rule where you could park on a single yellow line on Sundays. Instead you had to park in marked pay and display bays. However, many were free on Sunday. But then they started introducing Sunday charging.....

If Wirral council was so cash strapped, why are they loaning their reserves to other councils?

If the charges are necessary for income then why did they drop plans for the £4 flat parking rate?

Don't blame the government for bad local management. Remind me again how much has been spent on the Hoylake golf resort? Or the council newspaper nobody sees?

Agreed and also what amount are WMBC now contributing to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority ? You can't join a club for free these days and do WMBC just stand at the bar and survey, or do they reap any rewards for becoming a member ! ?

Conversely, don't let poor local government obfuscate the snide, robbing, lying national Government we have!

Can't find the figures now, though I saw them last night somewhere; I think the local turnout was just above 30% which is pretty miserable, considering how many people seem to be discontented about various things at the moment.Don't know how that compares to other areas. What hope have we for real, truly representative democracy if two thirds of people in Wirral won't even vote? Especially women, in this 100th anniversary of the first step towards Votes for Women. I've always voted, even if it's been a case of voting for the least worst option. I regard it as a hard-won privilege; I wish more people did so.

Edti: Just found the info on the Council website. Turnout across Wirral averaged out at just over 36%, varying from 24% to 45%. Come on Wirral, we can do better than that!

I have always voted, as a matter of conscience and promoted the same for others. Women died for us to have the vote, and if we don't vote, we can't complain . Maybe yesterday was a 'new message' from 'women' who can carry a lot of power for change, not the activists who go out to disrupt with their banners !

Yesterday, for the first time, I didn't vote ! We have nothing to vote for. There has not been one piece of literature through the door, not one candidate knocking on the door, and we pay for these morons who feel unable to even realise that they should be serving us, the community, and not the other way around. That means ALL of US within the community and fairly.

We have our Council blaming everything on the Tories we've been hearing the excuses since 2010,and it has worn thin now. The Tories seem to be letting them get on with it. UKIP are finished anyway, and Lib Dems seem to have left the country.

I've always voted, my mum always said women like her grandmother fought for the right for women's votes. We only had a couple of leaflets off the Labour party. My youngest son didn't vote as he didn't know who to vote for or any of the issues, I keep telling my kids if people don't vote it will be taken off us.I noticed some areas were trialling voters needing to take I'D and were being turned away if they didn't have any

If a local Councillor ever knocked on my door I'd probably have a heart attack from shock so they would lose a vote . Could it be that they don't call as there's no parking allowed outside & they don't like walking.Whatever I still voted just don't know the person I'm trusting to sort out the Councils mess !

Surely the onus is one you ... who YOU want to represent you. I can't believe the number of people you have the attitude that "they haven't knocked on my door so I'm not voting for them. Their door knocking skills is totally irrelevant to the skills you want to be representing you.

There is no way a Councillor can visit all the houses in their constituency and I'm sure their time can be better spent doing council work than cuddling babies etc.

Generally their is not much canvassing in safe constituencies, they help out the constituencies that are borderline.

If one does appear on your doorstep, ask them if they would turn down a greater than inflation rise in their allowances. These are voluntary roles and they have gradually shifted them into an occupation with crazy increases in allowances.

Not a case of 'they haven't knocked on my door, so I won't be voting for them '. It's a case of not even being informed of who any of the candidates are, absolutely nothing ! I still don't know who was standing. I would llike to know the reasons why we should be voting for them, what to expect if we do vote for them and basically, what their CV is, and anything else important enough .

I have no intentions to vote for anyone that I know nothing about. Would you ? There hasn't even been one voting placard that I have seen in and around the area , not one ! So I wouldn't know who is likely to represent me, and don't always vote for the same party either, unlike the hard core who never change due to tradition.

" My mum voted X , and me dad, and me gran and me granddad, so I'll do the same for eternity and our Susie will do the same and so will her ten kids because we'll make 'em, it's our tradition ! "

Maybe that is why the turn out is so low, lack of canvasing in safe areas.

If I was interested enough I could have gone online and looked, can't argue with that, but there are still many without internet, there are still many young people who will have carried on their lives without even realising.

As D.D pointed out Canvassers are thin on the ground. No point knocking on doors where political parties have 'evidence' that the householder will (they assume) vote for them ie being a party member, for example. Equally, the opposition party will not, generally target you either because they 'know' where your loyalties lie.

The 'targets' are the unknown/ the un-decided.

I struggle with this post. On one hand it seems we have your support for the historical successes of the Suffragettes. 'Women died for us to have the vote'. These women broke the law numerous times- they smashed windows, they blew up post boxes...all manner of direct actions intending to raise the profile of their Cause.Yet, you seem more offended by 'banner waving activists'?

Of course, I appreciate that you may think that that is all modern activists do, but Marches/ Rallies etc are a tiny part of political actions.

As for this- " My mum voted X , and me dad, and me gran and me granddad, so I'll do the same for eternity and our Susie will do the same and so will her ten kids because we'll make 'em, it's our tradition ! " I would take Cools advice.

This: 'Elephant in the Room'

It's a shame the media are so biased - here are the actual results:

* Labour take 600 more seats than the Tories
* Labour hold twice as many councils
* Labour make gains, Tories hoover up UKIP vote and STILL make losses
* Labour had a huge swing to take Plymouth Council in the true blue South West
* Labour took Kirklees, a council we haven't held since 1999
* Labour has the best result in London since 1971
* In Westminister and Wandsworth, Labour has more seats than at any time since 1986
* Labour hold a record number of seats in Croydon, Ealing, Redbridge and Waltham Forest
* Labour failed to take Barnet - yet Labour have NEVER won Barnet under any leader
* Labour are the largest party in Trafford, meaning the Tories now hold no councils at all in Greater Manchester.

This is a step forward and yet more progress on our General Election performance - so much so that if this was repeated at the next GE then Jeremy would be our Prime Minister.

As usual don't believe all you hear and read in our main-stream media.

Spread the word, get the facts out there. Because sadly the media can no longer be relied on to do so.

As I said the onus is on you, if you want to be represented. They are volunteering their services as Councillors, they aren't selling you something. You have the internet, you have libraries, there are newspapers, they have party offices, you can find out the information.

imagine if every new Scout Leader had to go round to each house of (at least) the scouts, it doesn't work that way, you go and see them.

Any campaign funds they get are donations, do you expect others to donate when you don't in order to fund pamphlet's to you?

I'm sure you buy a lot of things that haven't been advertised to you which you don't question but then you question volunteers for not advertising?