13 May 2005
England's local government elections came and went with hardly a whimper, let alone a bang, but many previously hung councils have now taken on a particular political hue – and in 23 it's blue
It was always going to be tough. Local government elections rarely raise much national interest, let alone when they are competing with a much-anticipated general election that most commentators agreed was almost impossible to read.
While the publication of Lord Goldsmith's Iraq advice, Lynton Crosby's dog whistle policies and even the birth of wee Donald Kennedy gave political pundits more than enough material to chew over, the question of who governs Suffolk or who should be the next mayor of Stoke generated considerably fewer column inches.
But now the ballot boxes have been packed away, some striking parallels with the general election are apparent. All three main parties performed well in their different ways, and more counties took on a distinct political identity as the number of 'hung' councils fell from ten to two.
As predicted, the Conservatives emerged from the local elections as the big winners. They took control of six more counties and are now in power in 23 of England's 34 counties.
Margaret Eaton, leader of the Local Government Association's Conservative Group, applauded the results. 'We took control of Gloucestershire, the Isle of Wight, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Suffolk and Worcestershire, as well as significantly increasing our numbers of councillors on other authorities,' she said. 'I am delighted that the Conservatives have increased their position at the LGA and we shall continue to go from strength to strength.'
Preliminary figures indicate that the party has increased its lead over Labour to 4% – up three percentage points on last year's figures.
But, as in the general election, the significant gains came in the South and the West Country. The Tories did not make the inroads they had expected in northern England. Northumberland was a top target and the Tories had hoped to push it into no overall control, but they lost four seats and the council remained in Labour hands. In Lancashire, the Tories fared slightly better, picking up five extra seats, but not enough to remove Labour's majority.
Labour did not suffer the meltdown many in the party had feared and held on to six of the seven councils it controlled. Nottinghamshire, where it has performed badly in recent district council elections, returned two more Labour councillors.
While nationally it was Labour that suffered the shock defeat of some prominent MPs, locally it was the Liberal Democrats who lost their figureheads. One casualty was Chris Clarke, former leader of the LibDem group at the LGA, who failed to win a seat on Gloucestershire County Council.
Elsewhere, though, the LibDems exceeded their own expectations, taking control of three councils in the Southwest: Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
Richard Kemp, acting LibDem leader at the LGA following Clarke's defeat, told Public Finance the overall result was better than the party had hoped for. 'We've
re-established a solid orange block in the Southwest,' he said. 'Just as we proved in the general election, Liberal Democrat councillors have won in different corners of the country. There are no “no-go” areas for us.'
But, as the party's national 'decapitation' strategy failed, so did its expected surge in Tory strongholds such as Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire, where it made only marginal advances.
The four mayoral elections delivered some heartening results for Labour, who are keen to return to the idea of directly elected mayors as a means of reigniting interest in local government.
Of the four contests, Labour won three. John Harrison narrowly beat the Conservative mayor Linda Arkley in North Tyneside, while in Stoke-on-Trent, Labour's Mark Meredith trounced the independent incumbent Mike Wolfe, who came third behind the Conservative candidate. Doncaster's Labour mayor, Martin Winter, was returned for a second term, more than 8,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival.
Hartlepool's one-time 'monkey mayor', Stuart Drummond, again provided the headline result. The independent, former football team mascot was returned to office with a thumping majority. He polled 16,912 votes, more than 10,000 ahead of Labour's candidate.
A spokesman for the New Local Government Network said Labour's success in the mayoral contests was unsurprising given that each was taking place in a Labour stronghold.
'The fact that Labour has done so well probably makes it a little bit easier for the government to push the mayoral agenda in Labour authorities,' he told PF.
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