Labour takes control of Telford & Wrekin Council
Labour is back in power in Telford & Wrekin after a night of high drama saw a huge swing at the polls. Labour is back in power in Telford & Wrekin after a night of high drama saw a huge swing at the polls. Party members cheered with delight as one ward after the other turned red on the way to Labour gaining a massive 17 seats to hold 33 of the 54. Their joy was in stark contrast to the Conservatives who bowed out of power after four years, losing 10 seats amid claims national coalition cuts had swayed voters. The swing in Telford was reflected elsewhere across England as Labour gained hundreds of council seats, mainly at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Labour was set to govern in Wales - possibly with an overall majority - but suffered a drubbing at the hands of the Scottish National Party north of the border. [24link]
Labour is back in power in Telford & Wrekin after a night of high drama saw a huge swing at the polls.
Party members cheered with delight as one ward after the other turned red on the way to Labour gaining a massive 17 seats to hold 33 of the 54.
Their joy was in stark contrast to the Conservatives who bowed out of power after four years, losing 10 seats amid claims national coalition cuts had swayed voters.
The swing in Telford was reflected elsewhere across England as Labour gained hundreds of council seats, mainly at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Labour was set to govern in Wales - possibly with an overall majority - but suffered a drubbing at the hands of the Scottish National Party north of the border.
In Telford, Labour jumped from 16 seats to 33 to gain an overall majority, with the Conservatives dropping from 27 to 17.
The other big losers on the night were the Telford And Wrekin Peoples' Association (Tawpa), which lost all four of its seats on the authority to Labour. Liberal Democrat councillors retained all three of their seats. One Independent was elected.
No single party won control in 2007 and the council was ruled by a minority Conservative administration. Telford & Wrekin had been dominated by Labour before 2007.
Telford MP David Wright said it was an "amazing" night for Labour as the new council leader Keith Austin announced an immediate budget review after the election.
And Councillor Austin said plans to build multi-million pound civic offices at the heart of the £250 million Southwater development would be scrapped immediately.
He said council staff could be relocated to existing council buildings in the town centre, including Darby House, to save cash.
"We won't be building new offices in Southwater Square, which will save millions of pounds that would have had to be borrowed to fund it," he said.
"We remain supportive of the Southwater project as a whole, and we will also be supporting public sector jobs at places like Capgemini and defence jobs at Donnington. We plan to lobby government to ensure these jobs remain in the borough.
"We have worked hard and we are absolutely delighted with tonight's response."
Labour candidate Mike Ion was celebrating taking a seat in the College Ward just a year after he failed to oust Tory MP Mark Pritchard at the General Election.
Outgoing council leader Andrew Eade, who retained his seat in the Church Aston & Lilleshall ward, said he was disappointed with the results but believed the Conservatives had put the "building blocks" in place for a secure future for Telford.
"We oversaw record levels of investment and the lowest ever council tax rises, so I am disappointed we are not going to be able to see through our plans for the borough," he said. Labour leader Ed Miliband was upbeat about his party's performance in the polls in England and Wales but conceded the party had lessons to learn from the results in Scotland.
Mr Miliband said: "I think the results we've seen in English local government up and down this country are sending a clear message to this Government and the Liberal Democrats. I hope that the Government takes heed of that."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg admitted today the Liberal Democrats had taken a "real knock" after heavy losses.
With the party also facing defeat in the referendum on voting reform, Mr Clegg admitted they had lessons to learn.
But he insisted that the results would not affect the Lib Dems' support for the coalition Government with their Conservative partners. "In politics, as in life, sometimes you get these big ups and downs and we have taken a real knock last night," he said.
"We need to learn the lessons from what we heard on the doorstep. But we need to get up, dust ourselves down and move on, because we have a really big job to do."
The Liberal Democrats suffered a major blow in the Welsh Assembly election after they lost Montgomeryshire to the Conservatives. Tory Russell George won by a majority of more than 2,300 votes to take the seat, which had been held by the Liberal Democrats since 1999.
The seat had been held by Mick Bates but last year he announced he would not be standing at this year's election.
He was later expelled from the Liberal Democrat party after he was convicted of a drunken attack on two paramedics and a staff nurse in Cardiff.
Mr George said: "I'm overwhelmed with the result and I'm incredibly pleased to have been elected the Welsh Assembly member for Montgomeryshire."
By Wayne Beese