2007 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election

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Map of the results of the 2007 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and Conservatives in blue. St Helens UK local election 2006 map.svg
Map of the results of the 2007 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and Conservatives in blue.

The 2007 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. [1]

Contents

After the election, the composition of the council was

Background

After the last election in 2006, Labour were the largest party with 23 councillors, compared to 19 for the Liberal Democrats and 6 for the Conservatives. [3] However following the election the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives reached an agreement to run the council together. [4] In June 2006 2 Labour councillors, Bessie Griffin and Pat Robinson, left the party to sit as independent councillors, [5] with Pat Robinson going on to join the Liberal Democrats early in 2007. [6] This meant that before the 2007 election Labour had 21 seats, the Liberal Democrats had 19, the Conservatives 6, there was 1 independent and 1 seat was vacant, [4] after the retirement of Liberal Democrat councillor Julie Jones. [7]

17 seats were contested at the election, including 2 seats in Sutton, [7] with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats defending 7, the Conservatives defended 2 seats, and 1 former Liberal Democrat seat was vacant. [4] Key seats were expected before the election to be in Bold, Haydock, Town Centre and West Park wards. [4] Candidates at the election included four from the British National Party, [8] up from one in 2006, while a former Labour leader of the council in the 1980s, Brian Green, stood for the Community Action Party in Bold. [6]

Election result

The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties both gained 2 seats from each other to leave the party balance on the council unchanged. [9] Labour gained seats from the Liberal Democrats in Thatto Heath and West Park to leave Labour on 21 seats, with the winner in West Park, Marlene Quinn, being the sister of the Labour group leader Marie Rimmer. [9] However the Liberal Democrats took seats in Haydock and Town Centre from Labour to leave them just one seat behind Labour with 20 councillors. [9] Meanwhile, the Conservatives held the 2 seats they had been defending to remain with 6 seats and the only independent councillor was not defending their seat in 2007. [2]

Following the election the independent councillor Bessie Griffin joined the Liberal Democrats, which meant both the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups had 21 seats. [10] The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives continued to run the council, after agreeing to renew their pact. [10]

St Helens local election result 2007 [11]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Liberal Democrats 822047.141.419,781+1.8%
  Labour 722041.237.718,030-2.7%
  Conservative 200011.817.08,146-0.3%
  BNP 000001.8879+1.1%
  Community Action 000001.2561-0.7%
 Community Performance First000000.7313+0.7%
  Green 000000.2110+0.2%

Ward results

Billinge and Seneley Green [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Joe Pearson1,32142.5−5.3
Conservative Michael Hodgson92229.7−1.1
Liberal Democrats Charles Gadsden55117.7−3.7
Community Performance FirstVinny Kay31310.1+10.1
Majority39912.8−4.2
Turnout 3,10734.0−0.8
Labour hold Swing
Blackbrook [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Linda Maloney1,26663.7+15.0
Liberal Democrats Ruth Smith29915.0−12.6
Conservative Judith Collins25913.0+4.4
Community Action Janet Smee1648.2−4.5
Majority96748.6+27.5
Turnout 1,98828.9−1.4
Labour hold Swing
Bold [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Stephen Topping93343.9−4.8
Labour Charlie Preston91142.9−2.0
Conservative Charmian Pyke1657.8+1.4
Community Action Brian Green1175.5+5.5
Majority221.0−2.8
Turnout 2,12628.7−2.2
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Earlestown [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Keith Deakin1,09044.8−3.8
Liberal Democrats David Smith1,00041.1+0.9
Conservative Brian Honey2349.6−1.6
Green Andie Pennington1104.5+4.5
Majority903.7−4.7
Turnout 2,43430.2+0.5
Labour hold Swing
Eccleston [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Shirley Evans2,69669.8+2.5
Conservative Kathleen Barton58715.2−2.2
Labour Lynn Glover57714.9−0.4
Majority2,10954.6+4.8
Turnout 3,86041.4−1.4
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Haydock [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Janet Sheldon1,82059.6+4.5
Labour Ken Cleary1,02233.5−5.6
Conservative Anthony Rigby2116.9+1.1
Majority79826.1+10.1
Turnout 3,05333.6−2.9
Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Swing
Moss Bank [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Anne Heyes1,70754.2+1.9
Labour Roy Litherland1,18937.7−2.5
Conservative William Highcock2548.1+0.6
Majority51816.4+4.3
Turnout 3,15035.8−0.3
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Newton [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Peter Astbury2,00369.7+5.6
Labour Louise Hazelby61321.3−5.8
Conservative Margaret Harvey2578.9+0.1
Majority1,39048.4+11.4
Turnout 2,87334.9+0.3
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Parr [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Keith Roberts1,37969.2+3.2
Liberal Democrats Gary Pulfer46623.4−5.0
Conservative Madeleine Wilcock1487.4+1.8
Majority91345.8+8.2
Turnout 1,99323.2−2.4
Labour hold Swing
Rainford [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative David Grice2,09971.7+11.8
Labour David Wood63421.7−5.8
Liberal Democrats Frederick Barret1946.6−6.1
Majority1,46550.1+17.7
Turnout 2,92742.9+0.2
Conservative hold Swing
Rainhill [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Joseph De Asha1,50845.9−0.2
Conservative Henry Spriggs87226.5−3.8
Liberal Democrats Christina Duncan62919.1−4.5
BNP Frances Chesney2788.5+8.5
Majority63619.3+3.5
Turnout 3,28735.8+1.1
Labour hold Swing
Sutton (2 seats) [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Kenneth Knowles2,198
Liberal Democrats Stephanie Topping1,797
Labour Mike Glover817
Labour Derek Maylor747
Conservative Barbara Johnson225
Turnout 5,78430.3+4.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Thatto Heath [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patricia Martinez-Williams1,27448.3−7.6
Liberal Democrats Patricia Robinson79430.1+10.7
Conservative Barbara Woodcock2017.6−1.7
BNP Damian Smith1877.1+7.1
Community Action Michael Perry1806.8−8.7
Majority48018.2−18.3
Turnout 2,63629.2+2.5
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Town Centre [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Janet Hennessy1,09945.2+4.2
Labour Martin Bond95939.4+0.2
BNP Kevin Devine1948.0−4.0
Conservative Jill Jones1295.3+0.9
Community Action Leslie Teeling502.1−1.4
Majority1405.8+4.0
Turnout 2,43129.5−1.8
Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Swing
West Park [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Marlene Quinn1,74152.2+0.4
Liberal Democrats David Evans1,15034.5−4.8
BNP Eric Swindells2206.6+6.6
Conservative Richard Barton1745.2−0.5
Community Action Tracy Lavelle501.5−1.7
Majority59117.7+5.2
Turnout 3,33537.1−4.5
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Windle [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Nancy Ashcroft1,40949.7+0.8
Labour Geoffrey Almond98234.6+0.6
Liberal Democrats Noreen Knowles44515.7−1.3
Majority42715.1+0.2
Turnout 2,83635.2−1.3
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. "St Helens". BBC News. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Results - Election 2007". The Times. London. 5 May 2007. p. 83 via NewsBank.
  3. "Local elections: St Helens". BBC News. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Traynor, Luke (27 April 2007). "Battle for power and for your vote". Liverpool Echo via NewsBank.
  5. Kilmurray, Andrew (15 June 2006). "Two quit Labour". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications via NewsBank.
  6. 1 2 "Can Labour stage comeback or will the Lib Dem/Tory alliance prosper?". St Helens Star . 28 April 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Election results in full". St Helens Reporter . 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. Lister, Sam (5 April 2007). "BNP plans poll push". Liverpool Daily Post via NewsBank.
  9. 1 2 3 "Labour aims for 2008". Liverpool Echo . 4 May 2007 via NewsBank.
  10. 1 2 "St Helens leadership unchanged". Liverpool Daily Post . 17 May 2007 via NewsBank.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). St. Helens Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2015.