2000 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2000 Oldham Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council in Greater Manchester, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats gained overall control of the council from the Labour Party. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Liberal Democrat 31
• Labour 25
• Conservative 2
• Green 2 ^[2]

Campaign

Before the election Labour ran the council with 32 seats compared to 25 for the Liberal Democrats who were the main opposition party on the council. ^[3] However the 1999 election had seen the Liberal Democrats win more votes than Labour, 42.5% compared to 38%, and they were confident of at least depriving Labour of a majority on the council in the election. ^[3]

Issues in the election included crime, education, employment, health and litter. ^[4] Unemployment was down at around 5%, but still above the national average and was much higher in some of the inner city areas. ^[4]

In the week before the election Labour suffered a blow when a councillor, Margaret Kelly, defected to the Green Party. ^[4] She had been a Labour member for 30 years, but said that the national Labour government was not what she had fought for in opposition. ^[4]

Election result

The results saw the Liberal Democrats gain control of the council from the Labour Party. ^[5] Labour, who had run the council for the previous 20 years, suffered a number of losses including the council leader John Battye in Failsworth East ward. ^[5] Battye, who had been leader of the council for the previous 15 years, was defeated by 1,605 votes by a 23-year-old Liberal Democrat candidate Charles Glover in the most high-profile contest in the election. ^[6]

The swing to the Liberal Democrats was over 8% since 1996, ^[4] enabling them to gain control of the council for the first time. ^[6] They now had an overall majority of 2, ^[7] after they gained seats in Coldhurst, Hollinwood, Royton North and Royton South in addition to Failsworth East. ^[6] The Liberal Democrats also regained a seat in Crompton, where the Independent Liberal Democrat councillor, Michael Hambley, stood down at the election. ^[6] Meanwhile, the Conservatives doubled the number of seats they held on the council to 2, after gaining a seat in Chadderton North from Labour. ^[6]

The national Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy described the results in Oldham as a "fantastic result, showing the inroads that Liberal Democrats were making into Labour's heartlands". ^[8] However the local Labour Member of Parliament Phil Woolas said that the election was down to local issues and had "nothing to do with the national political situation". ^[8]

Following the election there were allegations of vote rigging in the election. ^[9] After a police investigation, 11 people were convicted of election fraud in July 2001. ^[9] They were convicted after police found evidence of voters using dead people's names to vote and impersonating other voters. ^[9] The offences had taken place in the wards of the Coldhurst, St Mary's and Werneth and those convicted were both Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters. ^[9] Another defendant, Liberal Democrat councillor Mohib Uddin, who had been elected in Coldhurst, was acquitted. ^[9]

Oldham Local Election Result 2000 ^{[2] [6] [10]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	12	6	0	+6	60.0	50.6	27,077	+8.1
	Labour	7	0	6	-6	35.0	32.1	17,191	-5.9
	Conservative	1	1	0	+1	5.0	15.5	8,298	-2.8
	Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.8	433	+0.8
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	333	+0.6
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.4	229	+0.4
	Ind. Liberal Democrat	0	0	1	-1	0.0	0.0	0	N/A

Ward results

Alexandra ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Riaz Ahmad	1,171	52.6	-1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Angela Farrell	629	28.2	-4.1
	Independent	Robert Anderson	333	14.9	+14.9
	Green	Susannah Roney	95	4.3	+4.3
Majority			542	24.3	+2.7
Turnout			2,228	31.8	+1.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Chadderton Central ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Brownridge	906	41.9	-9.2
	Conservative	Edward Bennett	639	29.5	+3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Joyce Mercer	618	28.6	+5.9
Majority			267	12.3	-12.6
Turnout			2,163	25.9	-0.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Chadderton North ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Curran	1,087	42.3	+3.8
	Labour	Leonard Quinn	1,032	40.2	-5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Steven Farrimond	451	17.5	+1.3
Majority			55	2.1
Turnout			2,570	32.1	+0.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Chadderton South ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Heyes	761	46.0	-16.5
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Renold	450	27.2	+11.1
	Conservative	Marie Curran	444	26.8	+5.5
Majority			311	18.8	-22.4
Turnout			1,655	22.5	-2.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Coldhurst ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mohib Uddin	1,571	47.2	+38.7
	Labour	Kevin Leyden	1,337	40.2	-20.0
	Conservative	Keith Whitehead	421	12.6	-2.6
Majority			234	7.0
Turnout			3,329	42.7	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Crompton ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Philomena Dillon	1,589	61.9	+2.2
	Conservative	David Dunning	615	23.9	+2.8
	Labour	Joseph Fitzpatrick	365	14.2	-5.0
Majority			974	37.9	-0.7
Turnout			2,569	30.0	-1.9
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent		Swing

Failsworth East ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Glover	2,335	73.7	+39.4
	Labour	John Battye	730	23.1	-42.6
	Conservative	Graham Drinkwater	102	3.2	+3.2
Majority			1,605	50.7
Turnout			3,167	38.6	+16.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Failsworth West ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Johnson	1,034	62.1	-12.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Stanton	631	37.9	+12.8
Majority			403	24.2	-25.6
Turnout			1,665	22.5	-0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Hollinwood ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Barrow	1,367	58.0	+7.4
	Labour	Ian Thompson	704	29.9	-19.5
	BNP	William Lockett	229	9.7	+9.7
	Green	Kevin Moores	57	2.4	+2.4
Majority			663	28.1	+26.9
Turnout			2,357	36.0	-1.3
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Lees ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Valerie Sedgwick	1,346	54.7	+2.5
	Labour	Bernard Fletcher	837	34.0	-5.6
	Conservative	William Lee	278	11.3	+3.1
Majority			509	20.7	+8.1
Turnout			2,461	33.8	-2.2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Royton North ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Evans	2,226	66.6	+41.2
	Labour	Tony Larkin	760	22.7	-20.7
	Conservative	Barbara Jackson	358	10.7	-20.4
Majority			1,466	43.8
Turnout			3,344	40.2	+11.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Royton South ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Dolores Phelan	1,280	41.6	-5.8
	Labour	Philip Harrison	1,164	37.8	+10.6
	Conservative	Joseph Farquhar	634	20.6	-4.8
Majority			116	3.8	-16.3
Turnout			3,078	38.5	+3.1
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Saddleworth East ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Mather	2,759	64.3	+15.5
	Conservative	Richard Postle	944	22.0	-13.3
	Labour	Harold Neild	588	13.7	-2.2
Majority			1,815	42.3	+28.8
Turnout			4,291	41.4	-1.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Saddleworth West ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Wheeler	1,904	58.6	+12.9
	Conservative	Pam Byrne	742	22.8	-5.6
	Labour	Jack Schofield	602	18.5	-7.4
Majority			1,162	35.8	+18.5
Turnout			3,248	36.5	+1.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Shaw ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Rod Blyth	1,413	66.5	-4.6
	Conservative	David Bentley	388	18.3	+6.4
	Labour	Gertrude Hewitt	323	15.2	-1.7
Majority			1,025	48.3	-5.9
Turnout			2,124	26.6	-1.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St James ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Hindle	1,100	72.3	-7.4
	Labour	Norman Bennett	299	19.6	+4.2
	Conservative	Eileen Hulme	123	8.1	+3.3
Majority			801	52.6	-11.7
Turnout			1,522	24.5	-6.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St Mary's ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mohammed Masud	1,607	50.0	+13.3
	Liberal Democrats	Bronwyn Thackery	1,327	41.3	-10.2
	Conservative	David Atherton	279	8.7	-3.1
Majority			280	8.7
Turnout			3,213	44.2	-1.6
	Labour hold		Swing

St Paul's ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Crowther	881	34.1	-0.3
	Conservative	John Hudson	820	31.8	-6.0
	Liberal Democrats	John McCann	681	26.4	-1.3
	Green	John Roney	199	7.7	+7.7
Majority			61	2.4
Turnout			2,581	33.6	-2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Waterhead ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Kay Knox	2,015	74.7	+3.8
	Labour	Christopher Jones	472	17.5	-6.2
	Conservative	Kenneth Middleton	211	7.8	+2.3
Majority			1,543	57.2	+10.0
Turnout			2,698	29.2	-0.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Werneth ^{[6] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaob Akhtar	1,618	49.1	+7.1
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Stocks	1,385	42.0	-8.0
	Conservative	Raymond Walmsley	213	6.5	+2.5
	Green	Peter Robbie	82	2.5	+2.5
Majority			233	7.1
Turnout			3,298	44.8	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Oldham". BBC News Online . Retrieved 10 April 2010.
2. "Election results: local councils". The Times . 5 May 2000. p. 4.
3. Pike, Alan (27 April 2000). "Poll fears linger, despite Blair's pat on the back: Doubts over its heartland vote mean that Labour faces real concerns in next week's local elections". Financial Times . p. 6.
4. "Battlground Oldham: Disillusionment and defection may be deciders". Financial Times . 5 May 2000. p. 6.
5. Jenkins, Russell (5 May 2000). "Lib Dems jubilant at taking Oldham". The Times . p. 4.
6. Cheetham, Caroline (5 May 2000). "Council stunned as leader Battye is defeated: Time for a change after 20-year rule". Manchester Evening News . p. 29.
7. "Conservative revival beats expectations: Local elections results deliver 'substantial blow to Labour morale'". Financial Times . 5 May 2000. p. 6.
8. "Kennedy leadership boosted by strong results; Lib Dems:". Financial Times . 5 May 2000. p. 6.
9. Innes, John (31 July 2001). "Eleven guilty of rigging vote in Oldham election". The Scotsman . p. 4.
10. "Oldham Council 2000 Local Elections". Oldham Council. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2010.