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We're moving.

Just when you were getting used to finding Politics from the East here - everything's changing...

The Ö÷²¥´óÐã is giving its correspondents new homes on the web, with a brand new look to match. So I hope it won't be too much trouble to pick us up here.

Thanks for following this blog. We do our best to keep you up to date with all the political comings and goings in the region and we will endeavour to carry on doing the same. We will simply continue in a new place that is easy to find.

So it's not goodbye, just bon voyage and we hope you will join us on the new site.

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The Green Party's Adrian Ramsay

, a lynchpin of Green support in the region is standing down as a councillor in Norwich. It ends eight years on the council he was elected to at the tender age of 21.

He has now risen to the dizzying heights of Deputy Leader of the .

"I need to concentrate on my national role but I will still be campaigning in Norwich," he says.

is once again hoping that this will be the election when they make the big breakthrough.

"I don't think we've reached a glass ceiling. We're growing around the region and particularly in Norwich. I think there are seats we can gain there - seats we contested strongly last time."

They are already in opposition in the city with 14 councillors to 16 and the party is hopeful of taking votes from disaffected who are unhappy at the coalition.

Mr Ramsay argues: "We've picked up lots of support in the last 13 years from people who felt let down by the Labour Government when they wanted a new type of politics and didn't get it. Similarly a lot of them voted Lib Dem.

"A lot of them voted Lib Dem tactically at the general election and feel let down in all sorts of ways on lots of issues and we have already started to see lots more people joining the Green Party who used to be in the Lib Dems. And in the local elections in Norwich in September we made another gain from the Lib Dems.

"We've got 38 councillors across the East of England, that's more than any other region in the country. It really is the Green Party that's strong in terms of organisation and picking up support from people who feel let down by the other parties."

Now firmly established in Norwich, the Greens are hoping for further success.

With the Lib Dems in Government they are competing to take over as the party of the protest vote.

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On the election trail - Nigel Farage

"Election night wasn't great for me", says the leader of the , who survived an air crash that day.

"I was doing other things. We have these elections and the next set of European elections to get through but yes I will stand again in the general election."

has been on the campaign trail in North Norfolk and he tells us, yesterday in London, today in Aylesbury and tomorrow, Leicester. No one can doubt his enthusiasm but is that matched by the enthusiasm of the voters?

do well on the European front here in the East, where they have two MEP's but can they win at a local level?

"It all depends on how it translates at a local level. We are the party of small government. We are the party that believes you should have a say. The UKIP message is simple. Vote for us to give you power back. We think people at a local level should have the right to hold binding referenda on issues that really affect their lives."

UKIP is increasingly seen as a threat in Conservative circles, which may explain why the Prime Minister decided to make his controversial speech on immigration this week.

"I think the timing was all about the local elections," says Mr Farage.

"Most Conservative voters feel let down - like a cheap pair of braces. This is a man that promised a referendum and turned his back on it. This is the man who is now taking off into yet another foreign war with very unclear aims. Tory voters feel badly let down and in the eastern counties we will certainly tear into that Conservative vote".

As I said, no one can doubt the enthusiasm but with only three councillors across the whole of the East, there's a long way to go.

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Suffolk Coastl MP Therese Coffey says the cuts in arts funding could have been worse

"It could have been worse," she tells me. "There have been cuts, there's no doubt, but this has demonstrated that the Arts Council have to support the arts strategically, with the emphasis on quality."

The east's arts organisations now know where the axe is falling on their grants.

The regional Arts Council helped some local arts projects but others had their grants reduced and a few lost them completely.

Overall, there's been a fall of 15% in the sum the Arts Council can handout. Across the eastern region 30 arts organisations are sharing just over £40m over the next three years. Nineteen of them are in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. Three have lost their funding entirely.

In Suffolk there was widespread relief that many of the county's organisations will be receiving some grant, even though others lost out. Dance East's grant increased by 27% to £2.5m over three years. The Wolsey Theatre received the same amount, while the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds faces a cut. Halesworth's Poetry Trust, which runs the Aldeburgh poetry festival, lost its grant completely.

"It is a shame that they missed out," says the Suffolk Coastal MP. "The work they do is
very valuable and it would be a great pity to lose their contribution. I hope a way can be found to continue their work."

The Norfolk and Norwich Festival was a winner with a substantial increase in its grant. The grant to Norfolk's Writers Centre went up by 62% and the Norwich Art's Centre is also getting more funding.

And in Essex the Colchester based Mercury Theatre retained £2.4m but lost £400,000. Dance Digital lost £100,000 but the Arts Centre in Colchester got £600,000 and Firstsite Visual Arts Centre was another big winner, getting £2.5m.

"We simply can't support everything. It would be lovely but we do want to make sure quality is targeted," says the Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal.

Many arts organisations are also funded by our local authorities and they are facing a double whammy for the forseeable future.

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has told friends that he fears the Government is "heading for a car crash" over the .

"The row over tuition fees will be nothing compared to this one if we get it wrong," he's told them.

"The public won't forgive us if we get it wrong."

As chief political advisor to Nick Clegg and a party whip, Norman Lamb is normally the soul of discretion. Indeed it is his job (as we have reported before) to work quietly behind the scenes ironing out any problems between the Conservative and Liberal Democrats before they make it onto the front pages.

Norman Lamb - health reform concerns

So something has clearly gone wrong behind the scenes when himself is on the front pages threatening to resign unless the Government reforms its plans for the NHS.

It seems as if Mr Lamb has just become very frustrated. Health is something he knows a lot about - he was a highly regarded shadow health spokesman and he knows a lot of the key players very well. We understand that ever since Mr Lansley first produced his reforms, Norman Lamb has had reservations and has been quietly fighting behind the scenes for changes.

Having failed he's decided to speak out.

It's not the principle of giving more powers to GPs that worries him, it's the process. He fears that it is all happening too fast and that many in the health profession are not yet won over.

He is instead advocating a policy similar to that in Education over Academies - why not wait for GPs to come to the Government and ask to opt out rather than make them all do it by 2013?

He doesn't want to be seen as rebel, he will still passionately defend the rise in VAT, council cuts and the rise in tuition fees. But on this issue he felt he had to speak out, even though he accepts it may scupper any future Ministerial ambitions.

There is, of course, a large element of politics in this.

We are weeks away from local elections where the Lib Dems expect to do very badly. Mr Lamb's intervention on this issue is a chance for the party to claim on the doorsteps that it's standing up to those "nasty Tories".

Nick Clegg knew what Mr Lamb was going to say on yesterday's Politics Show, he knew he was going to write today's article in the . We now understand that he's told Mr Lamb to be quiet and lie low.

For every politician there comes a time when you feel you have to put principle before party. This has been a defining 24 hours in Mr Lamb's political career.

If the Government makes substantial changes during its new "listening process", he will be able to claim a lot of the credit. If it doesn't, he could find himself heading for the back benches.

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On 5 May the British public will vote on how we elect our MPs to parliament.

Just so you know, the question to be put to a referendum will be: Do you want the United Kingdom to adopt the "alternative vote" system instead of the current "first past the post" system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons?

The UK uses the "first past the post" system to elect its MPs - the one with the most votes wins even if it's only a majority of one.

Now we will be asked whether the Alternative Vote system should be adopted instead.

Of course you all know that this system allows voters to rank the candidates in order of preference.

So, under the Alternative Vote system instead of casting a single vote you can rank the candidates in order -1, 2, 3, 4, 5... and so on.

The first preference votes are counted but in order to win, you need to get 50% of the vote.

If that hasn't happened, the candidate with fewest votes gets knocked out and those ballot papers are redistributed according to their second-choice candidates.

That's repeated until someone achieves the 50%.

Simple! Geddit? Of course YOU do...

And I raise a glass to the hapless individuals who kindly agreed to demonstrate the system for us.

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Brian Binley MP

, the Conservative MP for Northampton South, is another MP who hopes the local elections are actually fought on local issues.

The overriding issue in is still town centre development and that's bound up with the future of the town's sports clubs. Plans suggested by both the Saints and the Cobblers for Sixfields and Franklins Gardens are a key election issue, as is the long term development of the town centre to deliver more shops and better access for pedestrians and cyclists.

"It would be fantastic to get that sorted out and moving," said Mr Binley.

"We really need 10,000 new jobs in the town centre. That's something worth fighting for."

Councillor Brian Hoare, the leader of the Lib Dem group says: "I'm surprised at the Conservatives saying they would scrap the Town Centre First policy-because they voted for it in the Council Chamber.

"And it's not been bad for the town - it's a sensible policy that follows national planning guidelines. It's led to the regeneration of the town centre. And whilst it says Town Centre First, it does not stop or prohibit retail development anywhere in our town."

Labour is also fighting on the issue of Northampton's regeneration.

Councillor Lee Mason says: "Of course the town centre's important to the whole of Northampton and we're just as frustrated as anyone else as how long it's taken for progress to be made with the Grosvenor Centre. We want to see it happening soon but it's not either/or - we can have progress in the centre and we also support development for our sporting venues - both the Saints and the Cobblers."

Meanwhile Mr Binley is bemused at Labour's showing on the party lists. "There are only 31 candidates for 45 seats. And that's in a town where there used to be two Labour MPs."

He's right. All the Borough Council seats are contested this year, they don't elect in thirds as many other councils do.

In January Parliament approved a change in the town's Borough Ward boundaries, so the map has completely changed, and many people will have to vote at different polling stations. The town has moved from 47 Councillors in 23 Wards to 45 Councillors in 33 wards, but in 14 of them you can't vote for a Labour candidate.

Labour's leader maintains: "We're the listening party and we want to do more for the people and consult with them more as to what they want to happen."

She thinks there are numbers of disillusioned Lib Dem voters: "I've certainly had on the doorstep remarks about 'Well, we made a mistake voting the way we did last time - yes, I'll certainly be voting Labour this time'. I've had quite a few people saying that to me."

But Councillor Hoare for the Lib Dems thinks this is a particularly important polling day for the Lib Dems.

He said: "There's very good reason for coming out at this election because you can change the voting system for the future to an alternative vote system that makes your vote count even more in the future. So I'd encourage people to vote AV in a positive way.

"I'd also encourage them to vote in the local elections because Northampton is at a crossroads. I hope it does mean that that they can make the decision which returns a Liberal Democrat administration which will continue the improvements we've demonstrated we can deliver for Northampton."

"In Northampton I am hopeful rather than confident," Mr Binley says guardedly.

That may say more about the high water mark the Conservatives hit last time these seats were fought in 2007 than the state of the coalition partners today. Who knows, maybe even local issues may play a part...

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The Communications Minister Ed Vaizey says the Ö÷²¥´óÐã should think "very carefully" about any plans to reduce the daytime output of Ö÷²¥´óÐã local radio.

There is talk at the moment of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã perhaps reducing local radio output to just breakfast and drivetime with a sustaining service - perhaps Radio 5 Live - during the rest of the day.

The Ö÷²¥´óÐã insists that no decision has been made and that it's looking at a wide range of options in order to save money.

This afternoon Mr Vaizey visited Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Norfolk and met staff who produce and present the daytime output.

"We had a debate on this issue in Parliament yesterday," he later told us, "and a lot of MPs expressed their strong views about the quality of Ö÷²¥´óÐã local radio.

"I think the Ö÷²¥´óÐã will want to think very carefully about this because the case that's been to made to me, which is very convincing is that, yes, figures dip during the day because people go out to work but you've got to see the whole thing as a whole, you can't go local, go national, go local. It's got to be coherent."

It was Therese Coffey, the Conservatives' Suffolk Coastal MP, who secured that debate about the future of Ö÷²¥´óÐã local radio.

She praised the service saying:"They support community moments, where local radio truly excels, such as the Proms at the Albert Hall being taken to the local celebration party, or the royal wedding coming up on 29 April."

She is keen to stop the recently floated idea to centralise local radio. "Leiston FC probably would not get commentary on Radio 5 Live, even though they are about to win their championship and get promoted into the Ryman League premier division, but somehow I think that matters to the people of Suffolk."

So far Ms Coffey has the support of 66 MPs from across the political spectrum for her Early Day Motion to save Ö÷²¥´óÐã local radio.

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Here is a sign of how seriously the Labour Party is taking this year's local elections in the East.

It is boasting today that it has a full slate of candidates in South Cambridgeshire and the most candidates ever standing in East Cambridgeshire - councils where in the past they've struggled to find voters, let alone people to stand for them.

They also have a full slate of candidates in Castle Point in Essex, while in North Norfolk where the party doesn't have a single councillor at the moment, they have 48 candidates standing - the largest number they say for at least 15 years.

It is no surprise that Labour has a full slate of candidates in councils like Norwich, Waveney, Great Yarmouth and Southend.

It is particularly pleased that it can field the number of candidates it is managing to recruit in rural Suffolk. In Babergh, Labour is fielding the highest number of candidates ever. The party says the figure of 31 is treble the number who stood in the last set of local elections.

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May's elections will provide an indicator of public reaction to the recent spending cuts

It's a fascinating set of elections this May. It is the first time we have had a coalition government for 60 years and we have the largest budget deficit since the Second World War. It's a heady mix.

As central government cracks down hard on our councils, how will it play out at the ballot box? Whose fault will it be perceived to be? blame Labour for "getting us into this mess". blames the Lib Dems for 'supporting the cuts' and the Lib Dems believe they're taking the responsibility of government seriously.

Support for the Lib Dems has waned since their pre-general election high point last year.

Baroness Ros Scott

Latest polls are showing them at a 16% share of the vote, after a little bounce recently, but it's still way down from the 22% share they actually won last year.

I asked the whether they are going to be the whipping boys of this set of council elections. She hopes that candidates will be judged on their local record.

"I hope it's fought on how good a candidate is and how good the job is at a local level. I also hope we can get the message across that we took responsibility when we could have walked away from government.

"We are making a difference in government on all sorts of issues like the raising of the income tax threshold, EMA concessions and we'll hear next week about pensions," the former President of the party told me.

She also believes that the and parties are distinct enough at a local level, even though they are in coalition:

"We are in coalition but part of that is that our starting position is different. We have no ideological drive towards smaller government like the Conservatives but we do believe very strongly that we have got to tackle the deficit."

The Suffolk peer is surprisingly confident that support will hold up and they won't be punished for their U-turn on tuition fees or the splits in their ranks over the cuts at a local level.

"It is possible some people might sit on their hands but it's also possible that others who didn't think we were a serious offer before will take us seriously as a party now. And that could be especially true of Conservative voters."

"This is one of those elections where anything could happen," - a sentiment with which I can only concur.

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In many of our town halls they're calling 5 May 'Super Thursday'.

Not only will every council be holding elections for district or borough councillors, there will also be the AV referendum and many places will also have parish elections. As if that's not enough, in there's also a new mayor to elect.

No surprise then that many returning officers expect to be counting into the weekend.

With all our councils having just cut jobs and services, these elections are being seen as a chance for people to either express their anger or to give their backing to the coalition's policy of bringing down the deficit fast by making large scale cuts.

Labour is talking about these elections marking the start of a revival in the East. The Greens and UKIP are excitedly talking about becoming the parties for disaffected Liberal Democrat and Conservative voters. The Lib Dems are telling us that they could gain votes from the Conservatives. The Conservatives admit they were at a high threshold last time, which will be difficult to sustain.

In the East most of our councils are run by the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats control Bedford, Cambridge, Northampton and North Norfolk. Labour have Corby, Luton and Stevenage, while Babergh, Colchester, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Norwich and Tendring are in No Overall Control.

A handful of councils may change hands. But what could be more interesting in these elections is the number of seats which each party wins or loses.

At the moment - across all 45 councils in the East - the Conservatives have 1,224 councillors, the Liberal Democrats 396, Labour 250, the Greens 21 and UKIP 3. There are also 131 Independent councillors.

How different these figures are after 'Super Thursday' will be a useful barometer about political opinion in the East.

It will also give us some idea of what the public really thinks about the cuts and savings which our councils have had to make.. and will have to continue to make.

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