Fact Service May 2010

Issue 19

Labour Party has good night in local elections

It may have been a bad night at the polls for the Labour Party in the general election, but they had a good night in the local elections held across 164 councils in England on 6 May.

Labour won control at 17 councils, including Liverpool back from the Liberal Democrats.

There were gains from the Conservatives in three London boroughs: Ealing, Enfield and Harrow.

Thirteen councils moved from no overall control (NOC) into Labour hands: Brent, Camden, Coventry Doncaster, Hartlepool, Hastings, Hounslow, Islington, Lewisham, Oxford, Southwark, St Helens and Waltham Forest.

The Conservatives lost seven councils to NOC: Bury, Hyndburn, Lincoln, Mole Valley, North Tyneside, Nuneaton and Bedworth, and Solihull.

They managed a few gains — Richmond, London from the Liberal Democrats — and three from NOC — Craven, Gosport and Hart.

For the Liberal Democrats it was a case of win two , lose two. They won Winchester from the Conservatives and Cheltenham from NOC.

However, they lost Rochdale and Sheffield both to NOC.

As for the BNP they were wiped off the council in Barking and Dagenham, losing the 12 seats they held. Overall, the far right party showed a net loss of 19 seats in the election.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/council/html/region_99999.stm