2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election

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Map of the results of the 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow. St Helens UK local election 2011 map.svg
Map of the results of the 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

The 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 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]

Contents

At the end of the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

Before the start of the election, Labour ran the council with 35 seats, while the Liberal Democrats had 9 seats and the Conservatives had 4 seats. [3] 16 seats were contested in 2012, with Labour defending 9, Liberal Democrats 5 and the Conservatives 2. [3]

Five councillors stood down at the election, two Conservatives, Betty Lowe and the former leader of the Conservative group Wally Ashcroft, two Labour members Leon McGuire and Eric Smith, and one Liberal Democrat, John Beirne. [3] Meanwhile, a former Liberal Democrat cabinet member, Carole Kavanagh, resigned her membership of the party over the policies of the national coalition government and defended her seat as an independent candidate. [3]

While the Conservative, Labour and the Green parties contested every seat, the Liberal Democrats only put up candidates in 9 of the 16 wards. [3] [4]

Election result

Labour gained 5 seats at the election to have 40 of the 48 councillors on St Helens council. [5] The Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats to Labour to be reduced to 5 councillors, while the Conservatives lost 1 seat to have 3 councillors. [5]

The Labour gains included defeating both the Liberal Democrat group leader and councillor for 27 years, [6] Brian Spencer, in Sutton and the Liberal Democrat deputy leader Suzanne Knight in Newton. [5] The Liberal Democrats held only one seat at the 2012 election in Eccleston, while the Conservatives held one seat in Rainford. [7] Meanwhile, after contesting every seat at the election, the Greens failed to win any seats, but did come second in Blackbrook, Thatto Heath and West Park wards. [8]

Brian Spencer, the former Liberal Democrat leader of St Helens council, was involved in an altercation with an Labour candidate, Mark Johnson, at the election count and would later in 2012 be convicted and fined for assault over the incident. [5] [9]

St Helens local election result 2012 [2] [10]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 1450+587.562.126,580+2.0
  Conservative 101-16.312.95,532-4.2
  Liberal Democrats 104-46.312.55,338-5.0
  Green 00000.08.03,421+6.0
  Independent 00000.03.51,506+1.8
  BNP 00000.00.9391-0.1
  Socialist Equality 00000.00.268+0.2

Ward results

Billinge and Seneley Green [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Alison Bacon1,80263.3+10.4
Conservative Michael Hodgson53618.8−8.1
Independent Peter Peers37113.0−2.5
Green Susan Rahman1404.9+4.9
Majority 1,26644.4+18.4
Turnout 2,84931.8−8.3
Labour hold Swing
Blackbrook [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Alan Cunliffe2,00577.6+0.6
Green Ellen Finney32112.4+12.4
Conservative Judith Collins25810.0−1.4
Majority 1,68465.2−0.3
Turnout 2,58430.8−5.6
Labour hold Swing
Bold [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Thomas Hargreaves1,56074.3+4.0
Liberal Democrats Marise Roberts22010.5−4.5
Green David Hughes1778.4+8.4
Conservative Barbara Woodcock1446.9−1.4
Majority 1,34063.8+8.5
Turnout 2,10127.0−9.5
Labour hold Swing
Earlestown [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Charles Preston1,67672.1+2.8
Liberal Democrats David Smith23910.3−5.6
Conservative David Skeech2189.4−5.4
Green Brian Banawich1928.3+8.3
Majority 1,43761.8+8.3
Turnout 2,32528.2−4.7
Labour hold Swing
Eccleston [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Teresa Sims1,96152.0+15.2
Labour Mark Johnson1,12229.8−3.7
Conservative Kathleen Barton3659.7−11.9
Green Francis Williams3238.6+0.6
Majority 83922.2+18.9
Turnout 3,77140.6−4.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Haydock [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Anthony Burns2,13278.6+16.6
Conservative Anthony Rigby31011.4+4.6
Green Andrew Brownlow27010.0+10.0
Majority 1,82267.2+28.8
Turnout 2,71230.0−5.6
Labour hold Swing
Moss Bank [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Paul Lynch1,62853.9−0.1
Independent Carole Kavanagh1,13537.6+28.4
Green Ian Donnelly1444.8+4.8
Conservative Margaret Harvey1153.8−1.1
Majority 49316.3−5.8
Turnout 3,02235.0−8.9
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Newton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Severiano Gomez-Aspron1,45346.8+0.8
Liberal Democrats Suzanne Knight1,34943.4+1.3
Conservative Brian Honey1685.4−6.5
Green Ann Shacklady-Smith1384.4+4.4
Majority 1043.3−0.6
Turnout 3,10836.1−0.5
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Parr [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Andrew Bowden1,60184.2+0.3
Liberal Democrats Paul Brown1206.3−2.9
Green Carys Claffey1045.5+5.5
Conservative Madeleine Wilcock764.0−3.0
Majority 1,48177.9+3.2
Turnout 1,90121.0−6.9
Labour hold Swing
Rainford [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Rupert Nichols1,38153.7−0.1
Labour Keith Aspinall98038.1+2.6
Green William Fitzpatrick2108.2+0.5
Majority 40115.6−2.6
Turnout 2,57138.5−11.4
Conservative hold Swing
Rainhill [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Barrie Grunewald2,08867.1+2.4
Conservative Robert Reynolds68522.0+0.5
Green Sandra Banawich34111.0+11.0
Majority 1,40345.1+1.9
Turnout 3,11435.0−9.3
Labour hold Swing
Sutton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Donald Jackson1,76559.7−3.8
Liberal Democrats Brian Spencer90130.5+5.8
BNP Peter Clayton1244.2−1.2
Green David Parr1063.6+3.6
Conservative Charmian Pyke612.1−4.3
Majority 86429.2−9.6
Turnout 2,95732.5−4.8
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Thatto Heath [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Sheila Seddon1,85774.8−3.3
Green Karen Atherton1877.5+7.5
Conservative Henry Spriggs1787.2−5.6
BNP Paul Telford1365.5+5.5
Liberal Democrats Carol Pearl1245.0−4.1
Majority 1,67067.3+2.0
Turnout 2,48225.7−7.0
Labour hold Swing
Town Centre [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Jo-Ann Willmitt1,50270.3−2.7
Liberal Democrats Julie Ollerhead23911.2−9.7
BNP Leila Bentham1316.1+6.1
Conservative Richard Barton1024.8−1.3
Green Winifred Brodie964.5+4.5
Socialist Equality Danny Dickinson683.2+3.2
Majority 1,26359.1+7.0
Turnout 2,13825.9−6.8
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
West Park [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Ayres1,99273.5+4.2
Green Alison Donnelly28610.5+3.7
Conservative David Foster2489.1−2.6
Liberal Democrats Mandy Stanley1856.8−0.6
Majority 1,70662.9+5.3
Turnout 2,71130.6−6.5
Labour hold Swing
Windle [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Sophie Robinson1,41756.9+6.1
Conservative John Cunliffe68727.6−10.5
Green Andrew Donnelly38615.5+8.0
Majority 73029.3+16.6
Turnout 2,49030.8−9.8
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

By-elections between 2012 and 2014

Windle

A by-election was held in Windle on 2 May 2013 after the death of Labour councillor Pat Martinez-Williams. [11] The seat was held for Labour by David Baines with a majority of 717 votes over Conservative Robert Reynolds. [11]

Windle by-election 2 May 2013 [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour David Baines1,32958.1+1.2
Conservative Robert Reynolds61226.8−0.8
Green Francis Williams34515.1−0.4
Majority 71731.4+2.1
Turnout 2,28628.2−2.6
Labour hold Swing

Billinge and Seneley Green

A by-election was held in Billinge and Seneley Green on 28 November 2013 after the resignation of Labour councillor Alison Bacon. [13] [14] The seat was held for Labour by Dennis McDonnell with a majority of 494 votes over UK Independence Party candidate Laurence Allen. [14]

Billinge and Seneley Green by-election 28 November 2013 [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Dennis McDonnell93650.7−12.6
UKIP Laurence Allen44224.0+24.0
Conservative John Cunliffe24813.4−5.4
Green Sue Rahman945.1+0.2
BNP Alan Brindle734.0+4.0
Liberal Democrats Noreen Knowles522.8+2.8
Majority 49426.8−17.6
Turnout 1,84519.8−12.0
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "Vote 2012". BBC News. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Election results 2012: Metro". The Guardian. 5 May 2012 – via NewsBank.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "St Helens Council set for injection of fresh blood". St Helens Star . 12 April 2012 – via NewsBank.
  4. ↑ "Lib Dems in fight for future". Liverpool Echo . 30 April 2012 – via NewsBank.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Scuffles as Lib Dems suffer in St Helens". Liverpool Echo . 4 May 2012 – via NewsBank.
  6. ↑ "Labour confident as the counts under way". Liverpool Echo . 4 May 2012 – via NewsBank.
  7. ↑ "Election latest: Lib Dem leader led away by police after alleged election night scuffle". St Helens Star . 4 May 2012 – via NewsBank.
  8. ↑ "Greens grows in stature". St Helens Star . 18 May 2012 – via NewsBank.
  9. ↑ "Ex-St Helens council leader fined after election assault". BBC News. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  10. 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 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Labour holds Windle ward following by-election". St Helens Star . 3 May 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). St Helens Council. Retrieved 7 March 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Vacancy for councillor in Billinge ward". St Helens Council. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 "Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). St Helens Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
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