2014 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2014 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

The 2014 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 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
• Conservative 3
• Liberal Democrats 3 ^[2]

Background

After the last election in 2012 Labour controlled the council with 40 seats, compared to 5 for the Liberal Democrats and 3 for the Conservatives. ^[3] Despite the large majority for Labour the leader of St Helens council, Marie Rimmer, was replaced by her deputy, Barrie Grunewald, in May 2013 after a 22 to 18 vote of the Labour group on the council. ^[4]

At the 2014 election the leader of the Conservative group on the council, David Monk, stood down as a councillor, along with a Liberal Democrat former mayor Neil Taylor and Labour councillor Carole Gill. ^[5] However the former Labour leader of the council, Marie Rimmer did defend her seat in West Park at the election, despite being selected as the Labour candidate for St Helens South and Whiston at the 2015 general election. ^[5]

16 seats were contested in 2014, with candidates from 7 political parties standing for election. ^[6] The candidates included the Liberal Democrat group leader Stephanie Topping in Sutton, while a former Liberal Democrat mayor John Beirne stood for the UK Independence Party in Town Centre ward. ^[7]

Election result

Labour gained 2 seats from the Liberal Democrats in Newton and Sutton to have 42 of the 48 councillors on St Helens council. ^[2] The Liberal Democrat group leader Stephanie Topping was defeated in Sutton, coming third behind the UK Independence Party in the ward, but the Liberal Democrats did hold Eccleston to have 3 councillors after the election. ^[2] Most of the 13 UK Independence Party candidates came second in the wards they stood in, but the party failed to win any seats on the council, with for instance John Beirne taking 667 votes for the party in Town Centre ward, compared to 1,470 for Labour candidate Lisa Preston. ^[2] Meanwhile, the Conservatives held the only seat the party had been defending in Rainford to remain with 3 councillors. ^[2]

St Helens local election result 2014 ^{[2] [8]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	14	2	0	+2	87.5	52.1	21,961	-10.0%
	Conservative	1	0	0	0	6.3	13.1	5,508	+0.2%
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	2	-2	6.3	10.1	4,234	-2.4%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	18.1	7,628	+18.1%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	5.7	2,418	-2.3%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	202	-0.4%
	TUSC	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	168	+0.4%

Ward results

Billinge and Seneley Green ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sue Murphy	1,443	47.6	-15.7
	UKIP	Peter Peers	873	28.8	+28.8
	Conservative	Wally Ashcroft	433	14.3	-4.5
	Green	Sue Rahman	157	5.2	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Frederick Barrett	64	2.1	+2.1
	BNP	Alan Brindle	64	2.1	+2.1
Majority			570	18.8	-25.6
Turnout			3,034	34.3	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Blackbrook ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul McQuade	1,562	62.2	-15.4
	UKIP	Jean Denny	626	24.9	+24.9
	Conservative	Judith Collins	179	7.1	-2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Bonney	145	5.8	+5.8
Majority			936	37.3	-27.9
Turnout			2,512	30.4	-0.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Bold ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gareth Cross	1,224	56.7	-17.6
	UKIP	Nicholas Bartlett	497	23.0	+23.0
	Conservative	Barbara Woodcock	179	8.3	+1.4
	Green	Dave Parr	139	6.4	-2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Marise Roberts	119	5.5	-5.0
Majority			727	33.7	-30.1
Turnout			2,158	28.7	+1.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Earlestown ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dave Banks	1,559	69.0	-3.1
	Conservative	Elizabeth Black	264	11.7	+2.3
	Green	Elizabeth Ward	253	11.2	+2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Astbury	183	8.1	-2.2
Majority			1,295	57.3	-4.5
Turnout			2,259	27.5	-0.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Eccleston ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Geoff Pearl	1,630	47.4	-4.6
	Labour	Paul Roberts	762	22.2	-7.6
	UKIP	Laurence Allen	520	15.1	+15.1
	Conservative	Robert Reynolds	340	9.9	+0.2
	Green	Andrew Brownlow	186	5.4	-3.2
Majority			868	25.2	+3.0
Turnout			3,438	37.1	-3.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Haydock ^{[6] [8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Anderton	1,542	60.0	-18.6
	UKIP	Philip Wrigley	592	23.0	+23.0
	Conservative	Mark Collins	259	10.1	-1.3
	Green	Paul Finnigan	128	5.0	-5.0
	TUSC	Sean Marsh	51	2.0	+2.0
Majority			950	36.9	-30.3
Turnout			2,572	28.6	-1.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Moss Bank ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jeffrey Fletcher	1,445	51.5	-2.4
	UKIP	Pat Shannon	680	24.2	+24.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Kent	263	9.4	+9.4
	Conservative	Margaret Harvey	234	8.3	+4.5
	Green	Brian Hart	184	6.6	+1.8
Majority			765	27.3	+11.0
Turnout			2,806	33.4	-1.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Newton ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jeanie Bell	1,237	44.9	-1.9
	Liberal Democrats	David Smith	978	35.5	-7.9
	Conservative	Brian Honey	322	11.7	+6.3
	Green	Ann Shacklady-Smith	216	7.8	+3.4
Majority			259	9.4	+6.1
Turnout			2,753	31.8	-4.3
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Parr ^{[8] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terry Shields	1,444	70.9	-13.3
	UKIP	Mark Hitchen	497	24.4	+24.4
	Conservative	Pat Wilcock	95	4.7	+0.7
Majority			947	46.5	-31.4
Turnout			2,036	23.8	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Rainford ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Linda Mussell	1,312	53.5	-0.2
	Labour	Keith Aspinall	836	34.1	-4.0
	Green	Ian Fraser	188	7.7	-0.5
	TUSC	Tracy Heaton	117	4.8	+4.8
Majority			476	19.4	+3.8
Turnout			2,453	37.5	-1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Rainhill ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Glover	1,612	52.3	-14.8
	Conservative	Katie Smith	700	22.7	+0.7
	UKIP	Daniel Guest	560	18.2	+18.2
	Green	Ian Donnelly	211	6.8	-4.2
Majority			912	29.6	-15.5
Turnout			3,083	34.4	-0.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Sutton ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pat Jackson	1,418	50.8	-8.9
	UKIP	John Fairhurst	607	21.7	+21.7
	Liberal Democrats	Steph Topping	545	19.5	-11.0
	Conservative	Daniel Whitehouse	145	5.2	+3.1
	Green	Alexander Brodie	78	2.8	-0.8
Majority			811	29.0	-0.2
Turnout			2,793	31.6	-0.9
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Thatto Heath ^{[8] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard McCauley	1,510	61.3	-13.5
	UKIP	Alan Dutton	483	19.6	+19.6
	Conservative	Anthony Rigby	194	7.9	+0.7
	Green	Karen Atherton	140	5.7	-1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Carol Pearl	85	3.5	-1.5
	BNP	Paul Telford	51	2.1	-3.4
Majority			1,027	41.7	-25.6
Turnout			2,463	25.8	+0.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Town Centre ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lisa Preston	1,470	59.7	-10.6
	UKIP	John Beirne	667	27.1	+27.1
	Conservative	Nancy Ashcroft	131	5.3	+0.5
	Green	Freda Brodie	107	4.3	-0.2
	BNP	Peter Clayton	87	3.5	-2.6
Majority			803	32.6	-26.5
Turnout			2,462	31.3	+5.4
	Labour hold		Swing

West Park ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Marie Rimmer	1,693	61.7	-11.8
	UKIP	Paul Bosworth	528	19.2	+19.2
	Conservative	Henry Spriggs	220	8.0	-1.1
	Green	Alison Donnelly	192	7.0	-3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ruth Watmough	113	4.1	-2.7
Majority			1,165	42.4	-20.5
Turnout			2,746	31.9	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Windle ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lynn Glover	1,204	47.2	-9.7
	Conservative	John Cunliffe	501	19.6	-8.0
	UKIP	Maria Parr	498	19.5	+19.5
	Green	Francis Williams	239	9.4	-6.1
	Liberal Democrats	Noreen Knowles	109	4.3	+4.3
Majority			703	27.6	-1.7
Turnout			2,551	31.8	+1.0
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "St Helens". BBC News Online . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
2. Hughes, Lorna (24 May 2014). "Labour increases majority as UKIP fails to make major inroads - St Helens". Liverpool Echo . NewsBank.
3. "Vote 2012". BBC News Online. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
4. Kilmurray, Andrew (8 May 2013). "Marie Rimmer ousted as St Helens Council leader and replaced by Barrie Grunewald". St Helens Star . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
5. "St Helens Conservative leader to step down ahead of election". St Helens Star . NewsBank. 22 April 2014.
6. "Candidates published for local election 2014". St Helens Star . NewsBank. 29 April 2014.
7. "It's decision day for voters". St Helens Star . NewsBank. 22 May 2014.
8. "Election results by wards". St Helens Council. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
9. "Election results 2014". St Helens Council. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
10. Mather, Stephen (23 May 2014). "Live: Election results". St Helens Star . NewsBank.