Telford & Wrekin Council election: Big win for Labour as party increases control
Labour earned a resounding local election victory, cementing control of Telford & Wrekin Council, as the Conservatives were left to count the cost of a bruising night.
A series of gains for Labour saw them add eight seats to their tally, taking the party to a total of 36 councillors on the authority, some way past the majority of 28.
It was a considerable victory for the party, which had controlled the council before the election, but only with the required majority of 28.
The Conservatives had held 20 seats prior to the election but saw that number reduced to just 13.
The Liberal Democrats emerged with four seats, leaving them in the same position as prior to the election. One independent, Peter Scott, was also re-elected. The overall turnout was 33.1 per cent.
Final result:
Labour - 36
Conservatives - 13
Lib Dem - 4
Independents - 1
Labour leader Shaun Davies, who was re-elected to represent Malinslee and Dawley Bank said he was thrilled at securing an improved majority, and would now look to implementing the party's manifesto.
He said: "I am delighted and it is a testament to the hard work of all the candidates, our supporters and our Labour team who put forward a positive vision, about protecting and caring for the borough."
Councillor Davies said he believed the public had responded to his party's record and plans for the future of Telford & Wrekin.
He said: "What today has shown is people want to have positive ideas for Telford & Wrekin. We have won seats off the Conservatives with those ideas, seats off the Liberal Democrats and the independents.
"We have won seats in every section of the council, in every part of the borough. What is interesting is in parts we have never contended we have done really well such as Ercall and Priorslee."
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The Labour leader said the priority would now be trying to fight Future Fit plans that would see Princess Royal Hospital lose its A&E and consultant led women & children's unit, as well as carrying out the 100 pledges listed in the party's manifesto.
He said: "We want to get on and deliver our manifesto. We want to work cross party, with other members of the council, as we have done in the last eight years."
He added: "The hospital is without doubt a priority and I think this result sends a strong message to the government that if they continue with this threat to our A&E and women & children's unit, the Conservative party will suffer through the ballot box. I hope the Conservative party stops dithering and reverses the decision to lose our A&E."
The borough's Conservative MPs both reacted on Twitter to the results.
Telford MP Lucy Allan said: "We lost brilliant hardworking local councillors in @telforwrekin who did great work for our community and who helped me enormously as the MP. I pay tribute to their bravery in taking on the Labour establishment, to #servetelford. They can hold their heads up high this morning."
Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said: "Telford & Wrekin Council has lost some very dedicated & hard working Councillors - as well as losing out on new Cllrs who would have contributed so much. Brexit +, Conservative supporters staying at home, & protest voting, all conspired against them. They deserve huge credit."
Conservative leader Andrew Eade, who was re-elected to his Church Aston and Lilleshall seat, said his party had paid locally for the government's handling of Brexit.
He said: "It is quite disappointing to lose seats and quite clearly we have suffered a backlash on Brexit. It has certainly come up on the doorstep. Turn-out seems to be very low, and it is quite apparent that Conservative voters did not turn out to support us.
"I think it is a great shame because we have campaigned on local issues. But you can understand their anger with Government, and history tells us that Governments that are split and divided will not gain support from the electorate – and quite rightly so.
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"I think there is quite a clear message around this on the way the government has conducted itself.
"Clearly the party needs to change tack on this issue. They need to unite and pull themselves together. And as a party of Government they should be governing the country and clearly they haven't and at the moment they seem to be in some disarray."
Former Telford MP David Wright was elected in the St Georges ward for Labour, taking the place of John Minor, who stood down.
He said: "I have grown up in St Georges and always felt like it was home turf for me. I have enjoyed the campaign and it is great to represent the community on the council.
"I wanted to come back into the council, I like public service, I believe in public service, being a councillor enables me to fulfil that role and we made it very clear during our campaign – we will serve everyone in our community whether they voted for us or not."
Councillor Wright also hailed the party's overall gains on the council.
He said: "We have had a really good set of results. We have made significant gains and that is down to us focussing on the issues that are really important to local people, like the downgrading of our local hospital."
Conservative Nicola Lowery lost her Ironbridge Gorge seat to Labour's Carolyn Healy in a result that set the tone for the night, and she said Brexit had hit the Tory party's efforts.
She said: "Telford particularly is a very leave leaning constituency and I think local candidates who have worked hard have paid the price for the government's failure to deliver on Brexit."
Councillor Healy said her win had come down to solid campaigning and work as a parish councillor.
She said: "I think there was a lot of work on the campaign. I have a good group of local people who have been out every week for over a year, we have knocked every single door in the ward, quite a few more than once.
"We have spoken to hundreds of residents to understand what the issues are. I have been on the parish council for five years so I have a good record of supporting people and getting involved in things, being active in the community and that is what people voted for."
Nicola Lowery tweeted this morning: "Today hard working Cllrs across Telford & Wrekin paid the ultimate price for the national picture and the Government’s failure to deliver on the EU referendum. A deeply sad day for democracy in Telford and I’ve been overwhelmed with the messages of support and utter disbelief."
Returning Officer Richard Partington said: “With borough and town and parish council votes all taking place on the same day, this election has been a complex one.
“I would like to thank the hard work of all those staff who supported the event and ensured that it ran smoothly. Our thanks also go to Telford College for hosting the count.
“I look forward to working with the new councillors."
Counting for town and parish council seats that were contested on Thursday was taking place today.
