2012 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council election

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Map of the results of the 2012 Sefton council election. Labour in red, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Conservatives in blue. Sefton UK local election 2012 map.svg
Map of the results of the 2012 Sefton council election. Labour in red, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Conservatives in blue.

The 2012 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council election took on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in England, as part of the 2012 United Kingdom local elections. [1] 22 seats, representing one third of the total Council membership, were up for election in single-member wards. Ten - nearly half - of the members elected were newcomers to the Council; five of these defeated sitting Councillors seeking re-election, whilst in the other five wards, the incumbent retired. Two incumbents stood under different labels to those they were elected under in 2008; both were defeated in their wards.

The election resulted in a landslide for the Labour Party, which won 48% of the popular vote and 15 of the seats up for election - more than double the seven it went into the election with. Labour won a clean sweep in the southern constituencies of Sefton Central and Bootle. This brought the total number of seats controlled by Labour on the Council up to 36 giving the party an overall majority of six. As a result, the Sefton Labour Group formed a majority administration for the first time since the Council's creation in 1973. [2] Although the party failed to make a breakthrough in the northern town of Southport, it did win more than 20% of the popular vote there, a feat it has not achieved at a general election since 1966. The party also out-polled Conservative Party in three of Southport's seven wards and out-polled a sitting Councillor (in Duke's Ward) for the first time in years.

The election representing a serious defeat for the other three parties defending seats. All incumbent Conservatives seeking re-election were defeated, including group leader Paula Parry who lost her Blundellsands ward to Labour on a swing of nearly 22%. Only one Conservative was elected; newcomer Ted Hartill successfully defended outgoing deputy leader Brenda Porter's seat of Ainsdale, though the Conservative margin of victory was cut from 45 in 2008 to just 15 points. They lost a third of the support they had attained in the 2011 borough election, falling into third place in terms of votes and being left with just eight seats on the Council. Their 17% share of the vote was well below the national party's 31%.

For the Liberal Democrats, the result was slightly better but still represented a crushing defeat for a party that only two years previously had been the largest on Sefton Council. They gained two seats in Southport from the Conservatives (including one Independent Conservative) and retained all the seats they were defending there but lost all five they were defending in the south of the borough to Labour, reducing their overall strength from 23 to 20. Their share of the vote was only 19% across all of Sefton however, scarcely more than the party's national average of 16% and leaving them nearly thirty points behind Labour. In roughly a third of the seats up for election the Lib Dems won less than 100 votes.

Additionally, the United Kingdom Independence Party lost its sole seat on the Council. Former Conservative Councillor and mayor Alf Doran, who had crossed the floor to join UKIP in 2011, [3] was defeated in his bid to be re-elected. He finished a close third, just 77 votes behind the Conservatives and 85 behind the victorious Labour Party. No other party was able to return members to the Council; only the local issues Southport Party came remotely close in Norwood, where its candidate finished a distant third behind Labour and the Lib Dems. The only independent, a former Conservative Councillor seeking re-election, was defeated.

Ward results

Asterisk (*) denotes an incumbent seeking re-election.

Ainsdale
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ted Hartill1,44638
Liberal Democrats Lynne Thompson86923
Labour Stephen Jowett65317
UKIP Jim Doyle62417
Green Barbara Dutton1805
Majority577
Turnout 3,77239
Conservative hold Swing 3% Con to Lib Dem
Birkdale
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Richard Hands*1,22539
UKIP Terry Durrance70722
Labour Ged Wright68822
Conservative Nigel Ball55517
Majority518
Turnout 3,17533
Liberal Democrats hold Swing 6.5% Con to Lib Dem
Blundellsands
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Veronica Bennett2,11753
Conservative Paula Parry*1,44836
UKIP Tony Ledgerton1795
Green Laurence Rankin1383
Liberal Democrats Kris Brown872
Majority669
Turnout 3,96945
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
Cambridge
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Pat Keith*1,45942
Conservative Cath Regan73421
UKIP Gordon Ferguson72021
Labour Muriel Langley56616
Majority725
Turnout 3,47937
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing 11.5% Con to Lib Dem
Church
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Paul Cummins*1,93073
UKIP Joseph Hedgecock26510
Conservative Helen Barber1877
Green Julia Thorne1857
Liberal Democrats Sylvia Mainey753
Majority1,665
Turnout 2,64230
Labour hold Swing
Derby
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Carol Gustafson*1,80981
UKIP John Rice30214
Conservative Alex McIvor643
Liberal Democrats Jennifer Robertson563
Majority1,507
Turnout 2,23125
Labour hold Swing
Dukes
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Tony Dawson99630
Conservative Bob Ayres82725
Labour Peter Gaffney47314
UKIP John Lyon-Taylor39012
Southport PartyHarry Forster35911
Independent David Pearson* [4] 2889
Majority169
Turnout 2,387
Liberal Democrats gain from Independent Swing 6.5% Con to Lib Dem
Ford
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Paulette Lappin1,87281
UKIP Philip Wordley30713
Conservative Veronica Murphy844
Liberal Democrats Winifred Maher542
Majority1,565
Turnout 2,31726
Labour hold Swing
Harington
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Nina Killen1,14631
Conservative Simon Jamieson1,13831
UKIP Alf Doran* [5] 1,06129
Liberal Democrats Dru Haydon3219
Majority8
Turnout 3,66638
Labour gain from UKIP Swing
Kew
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Maureen Fearn*1,02837
Labour Janet Harrison80029
UKIP Michael Lewtas57821
Conservative Chris Cross39014
Majority228
Turnout 2,79630
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Linacre
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Doreen Kerrigan*1,68292
Liberal Democrats James Murray744
Conservative Marika Jenkins734
Majority1,608
Turnout 1,82923
Labour hold Swing
Litherland
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Patricia Hardy*1,70580
UKIP Sheila Grace1748
Conservative Jessamine Hounslea1597
Liberal Democrats Daniel Lewis954
Majority1,531
Turnout 2,13326
Labour hold Swing
Manor
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Kelly1,90859
Conservative Sharon Hutchinson74923
UKIP Craig Hughes36211
Liberal Democrats Carol Tonkiss2357
Majority1,159
Turnout 3,25433
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Meols
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats John Dodd*1,32740
Conservative Sarah Jackson60018
Labour Maureen Stoker56017
Southport PartyMargaret Brown48915
UKIP Patricia Shanks37211
Majority727
Turnout 3,34835
Liberal Democrats hold Swing 10% Con to Lib Dem
Molyneux
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Paula Murphy1,88859
Liberal Democrats Peter Gill65920
UKIP Peter Harper40513
Conservative Nigel Barber2016
Green Tony Christian692
Majority1,229
Turnout 3,22233
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Netherton & Orrell
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Brennan*1,80474
UKIP Pat Gaskell24110
TUSC Peter Glover2279
Conservative Viv Becker1084
Liberal Democrats Carol Hill592
Majority1,503
Turnout 2,43928
Labour hold Swing
Norwood
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Ronnie Fearn*1,21539
Labour Lesley Delves82027
Southport PartyJacqueline Barlow55518
Conservative Graham Campbell34311
Green Neville Grundy1475
Majority395
Turnout 3,08031
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Park
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Stephen Kermode2,02753
Liberal Democrats Robbie Fenton*1,14530
UKIP Peter Gannon3048
Conservative Martyn Barber2958
Green Roy Greason812
Majority882
Turnout 3,85240
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Ravenmeols
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Peter Maguire2,16354
Conservative Barry Griffiths1,26032
UKIP Nicola Ledgerton38010
Green Richard Willis1724
Majority903
Turnout 3,97543
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
St. Oswald
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Mahon*2,03591
Conservative Michael Dandy1125
Liberal Democrats James Ludley794
Majority1,923
Turnout 2,22627
Labour hold Swing
Sudell
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Lynn Gatherer2,12459
Liberal Democrats Clifford Mainey*82023
UKIP Gordon Kinread2868
Conservative Wendy Moore2858
Green Andrew Rossall862
Majority1,304
Turnout 3,60136
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Victoria
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Michael Roche2,11459
Liberal Democrats Jack Colbert88925
Conservative Paul Barber3299
UKIP Mike Kelly2677
Majority1,225
Turnout 3,59936
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing

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References

  1. ↑ "Local elections 2012". BBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Labour takes control of Sefton Council in the 2012 local elections". Southport Visiter. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Another Tory Jumps Ship to UKIP". UKIP Website. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Originally elected as the Conservative Party candidate, Pearson was one of four Conservatives who resigned the party whip to sit as "Conservative Independent Members". Having last been elected in 2008, he was the incumbent defending his seat in 2012, but as he was elected as the official Conservative candidate, Duke's ward was a notional gain from the Conservative Party.
  5. ↑ Alf Doran was elected a Conservative Party candidate in 2008 but subsequently defected to UKIP. As in the case above, his seat was thus a notional Labour gain from the Conservatives rather than UKIP.
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