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By Jason Moore

ALL week I have been moaning and groaning about local civil servants. I am not backing down, I do believe that the local government should be considerably downsized. However, I do believe that local civil servants deserve praise for their hard and effective work on election nights. They manage to count thousands of votes in a matter of minutes and the election result is known shortly after the polls close. In Britain it takes civil servants almost 24 hours to do the same job! Incredible. Many councils do not e ven start counting the votes until the next day. Incredible . So you vote one day and get the result the next! Surely English and Welsh councils can find a faster method. The fact that local elections are held midweek in Britain could also explain the low voter turnout. In Spain they always take place on a Sunday which ensures a higher turnout. Also, it means that schools and other public offices can work as normal. The low voter turnout at the local elections in Britain is a disgrace. Overall it was a victory for the Labour Party but the champagne should remain on ice because of the low turnout. Labour leader Ed Miliband should be bouyed by the results but I remember one Labour official saying at the local elections when Gordon Brown was still in power that local elections results count for little when you take into account the big picture. However, no-one in the Labour Party was saying that yesterday!