1998 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 1998 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Labour 42
• Liberal Democrats 10
• Conservative 2 ^[2]

Election result

Both the Labour and Liberal Democrat group leaders said that they were pleased with the election results. ^[3] Labour held control of the council after winning 13 of the 19 seats contested, leaving the party with 42 councillors. ^[1] However the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Newton East from Labour to have 10 seats and there was a vote swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats. ^{[1] [3]} Meanwhile, the Conservatives gained 1 seat, after taking Rainford, to have 2 councillors. ^{[1] [3]}

St Helens local election result 1998 ^{[1] [3]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	13	0	2	-2	68.4	53.3	15,856
	Liberal Democrats	5	1	0	+1	26.3	31.7	9,430
	Conservative	1	1	0	+1	5.3	14.4	4,297
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	182

Ward results

Billinge and Seneley Green ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bessie Griffin	1,184	65.4
	Conservative	Joan Hall	335	18.5
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Ferry	291	16.1
Majority			849	46.9
Turnout			1,810
	Labour hold		Swing

Blackbrook ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Maloney	658	71.0
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Broughton	187	20.2
	Conservative	Margaret Harvey	82	8.8
Majority			471	50.8
Turnout			927
	Labour hold		Swing

Broad Oak ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Pinder	914	71.5
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Partington	275	21.5
	Conservative	Edna Ashby	50	3.9
	Socialist Labour	Ronald Waugh	40	3.1
Majority			639	50.0
Turnout			1,279
	Labour hold		Swing

Eccleston ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Teresa Sims	1,544	64.9
	Conservative	John Goodacre	418	17.6
	Labour	Stephen Glover	416	17.5
Majority			1,126	47.4
Turnout			2,378
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Grange Park ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terence Hanley	667	59.3
	Liberal Democrats	David Evans	271	24.1
	Conservative	Catherine Lindon	187	16.6
Majority			396	35.2
Turnout			1,125
	Labour hold		Swing

Haydock ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Swift	1,178	71.7
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Worthington	205	12.5
	Conservative	Judith Collins	169	10.3
	Socialist Labour	Andrew Rimaitis	90	5.5
Majority			973	59.3
Turnout			1,642
	Labour hold		Swing

Marshalls Cross ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	1,127	71.2
	Labour	Ronald Cooke	415	26.2
	Conservative	Jill Jones	40	2.5
Majority			712	45.0
Turnout			1,582
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Moss Bank ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Kavanagh	1,329	54.4
	Labour	Michael McGough	1,025	42.0
	Conservative	William Highcock	88	3.6
Majority			304	12.4
Turnout			2,442
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Newton East ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Taylor	928	49.2
	Labour	Thomas Chisnall	799	42.4
	Conservative	Brian Honey	158	8.4
Majority			129	6.8
Turnout			1,885
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Newton West ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Deakin	1,028	66.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Crowther	403	25.9
	Conservative	Stephen Holt	123	7.9
Majority			625	40.2
Turnout			1,554
	Labour hold		Swing

Parr and Hardshaw ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Arnold	743	79.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Ellis	133	14.3
	Conservative	Thomas Brooke	54	5.8
Majority			610	65.6
Turnout			930
	Labour hold		Swing

Queens Park ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patricia Ireland	782	65.2
	Liberal Democrats	Vivienne Lavery	306	25.5
	Conservative	Margaret Bolton	112	9.3
Majority			476	39.7
Turnout			1,200
	Labour hold		Swing

Rainford ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Brown	1,293	54.1
	Labour	John Appleton	933	39.1
	Liberal Democrats	Sharon Birch	162	6.8
Majority			360	15.1
Turnout			2,388
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Rainhill ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phillip Speakman	1,054	63.8
	Conservative	Richard Seddon	376	22.8
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Knowles	222	13.4
Majority			678	41.0
Turnout			1,652
	Labour hold		Swing

Sutton and Bold ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Spencer	1,353	58.4
	Labour	Derek Maylor	912	39.4
	Conservative	Herbert Williams	51	2.2
Majority			441	19.0
Turnout			2,316
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Thatto Heath (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patricia Robinson	862
	Labour	Sheila Hudson	722
	Liberal Democrats	Carol Pearl	156
	Liberal Democrats	John Brown	130
	Conservative	Albert Pearson	108
	Socialist Labour	Michael Perry	52
Turnout			2,030
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

West Sutton ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Robinson	671	73.3
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Makin	185	20.2
	Conservative	Charmian Pyke	60	6.6
Majority			486	53.1
Turnout			916
	Labour hold		Swing

Windle ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graham Whiteside	893	52.3
	Conservative	Anthony Rigby	593	34.7
	Liberal Democrats	Audrey Ashall	223	13.0
Majority			300	17.6
Turnout			1,709
	Labour hold		Swing

By-elections between 1998 and 1999

Marshalls Cross

Marshalls Cross by-election 21 January 1999 ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats		848	69.0	-2.2
	Labour		352	28.6	+2.4
	Conservative		16	1.3	-1.2
	Socialist Labour		13	1.1	+1.1
Majority			496	40.4	-4.6
Turnout			1,229	19.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Newton West

A by-election took place in Newton West on 21 January 1999 to replace Labour councillor Martin Schofield. ^[5] The seat was gained for the Liberal Democrats by Virginia Taylor with a majority of 145 votes over Labour's Thomas Chisnall after a 25% swing. ^[5]

Newton West by-election 21 January 1999 ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Virginia Taylor	842	53.2	+27.3
	Labour	Thomas Chisnall	697	44.0	-22.2
	Conservative	Brian Honey	44	2.8	-5.1
Majority			145	9.2
Turnout			1,583	19.6
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Thatto Heath

Thatto Heath by-election 21 January 1999 ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour		493	76.1	+3.3
	Liberal Democrats		61	9.4	-3.8
	Conservative		47	7.3	-1.9
	Socialist Unity		47	7.3	+2.4
Majority			432	66.7
Turnout			648	9
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Local Elections results". The Times . NewsBank. 9 May 1998. p. 46.
2. "Local government election results". The Independent . NewsBank. 8 May 1998.
3. "Leaders salute poll results". Lancashire County Publications. NewsBank. 14 May 1998.
4. "Local Authority Byelection Results - January 1999". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
5. "Lib Dems oust Labour". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank. 29 January 1999.