Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2019

Main article: United Kingdom local elections, 2019

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2019

←  2018 2 May 2019 (2019-05-02) 2020 →
22 of 66 seats (One Third) to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council 34 seats needed for a majority
Leader Phil Davies (Outgoing) [1] Ian Lewis Party Labour Conservative Leader since 29 March 2012 (2012-03-29) [2] 8 May 2017 (2017-05-08) [3] Leader's seat Birkenhead and Tranmere Wallasey Last election 12 seats, 45.5% 8 seats, 35.3% Current seats 37 21 Seats needed 13   Leader Phil Gilchrist Pat Cleary [n 1] Party Liberal Democrat Green Leader since 16 May 2013 (2013-05-16) [4] 22 May 2014 (2014-05-22) [5] Leader's seat Eastham Birkenhead and Tranmere Last election 2 seats, 10.2% 1 seat, 8.6% Current seats 5 1 Seats needed 29 [n 2] 33 [n 2]
Incumbent Leader of the Council Phil Davies Labour

The 2019 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election is due to take place on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in England. ^[6] This will be on the same day as other local elections.

Council composition

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

↓

37	21	5	1	2
Lab	Con	LD	G	I

Contesting politicial parties

Party		Leader	Leader since	Leader's seat	Up for re-election?	Last election		This election
						% of votes	Wards	Defending	Current Composition
	Labour	Phil Davies (Outgoing) [1]	29 March 2012	Birkenhead and Tranmere	Y [n 3]	45.5%	12	14	37 / 66
	Conservative	Ian Lewis	8 May 2017	Wallasey	N	31.8%	7	7	21 / 66
	Liberal Democrat	Phil Gilchrist	16 May 2013	Eastham	N	10.2%	2	1	5 / 66
	Green	Pat Cleary [n 1]	22 May 2014	Birkenhead and Tranmere	N	8.6%	1	0	1 / 66
	Independent	N/A				0.1%	0	0	2 / 66

At the last regular election (2018), The Conservatives, Greens and Labour all ran a full slate of candidates with the Liberal Democrats contesting all but one of the seats available with other parties only putting forward a handful of candidates between them.

Retiring councillors

Council Ward	Departing Councillor	Party		Ref
Leasowe and Moreton East	Ron Abbey [7]		Labour	[8]
Birkenhead and Tranmere	Phil Davies [9]		Labour	[1]
Oxton	Paul Doughty [10]		Labour	[11]
Rock Ferry	Chris Meaden [12]		Labour	[13]

Candidates

Candidates so far declared

Bebington

Labour

• Jerry Williams (Incumbent)^{[ citation needed ]}

Bidston and St James

Labour

• Brian Kenny (Incumbent) ^[14]

Birkenhead and Tranmere

Green

• Steve Hayes ^[15]

Labour

• Bill McGenity ^[16]

Bromborough

Liberal Democrat

• Vicky Downie ^[17]

Conservative

• Des Drury ^[18]

Labour

• Joe Walsh (Incumbent) ^[19]

Clatterbridge

Labour

• Kieran Morgan ^[20]

Conservative

• Adam Sykes (Incumbent) ^[21]

Claughton

Labour

• Stephen Foulkes (Incumbent) ^[22]

Eastham

Liberal Democrat

• Dave Mitchell (Incumbent) ^[23]

Labour

• Ruth Molyneux ^[24]

Greasby, Frankby and Irby

Conservative

• David Burgess-Joyce (Incumbent) ^[25]

Hoylake and Meols

Incumbent councillor of 20 years Gerry Ellis has been deselected by the Conservative Party. ^[26] Ellis is appealing the process claiming he had been "unlawfully" discriminated against because of his age.

Leasowe and Moreton East

Conservative

• Debbie Caplin ^[27]

Labour

• Karl Greaney ^[8]

Liscard

Labour

• Bernie Mooney (Incumbent) ^[28]

Moreton West and Saughall Massie

Conservative

• Steve Williams (Incumbent) ^[27]

New Brighton

Conservative

• Patrick Hackett (Incumbent) ^[29]

Conservative

• William Raybould ^[30]

Oxton

Liberal Democrat

• Andy Corkhill ^[31]

Labour

• Jeff Davies ^[32]

Pensby and Thingwall

Labour

• Phillip Brightmore (Incumbent) ^[33]

Conservative

• Michael Collins ^[34]

Prenton

Green

• Chris Cooke ^[15]

Labour

• Angela Davies (Incumbent) ^[35]

Rock Ferry

Labour

• Yvonne Nolan ^[13]

Wallasey

Conservative

• Paul Hayes (Incumbent) ^[27]

Notes

1. As the only Green on the council prior to the election, Pat Cleary is their de facto group leader.
2. Only 22 (or one third) of seats are scheduled for election. Party will be unable to gain majority without several concurrent by-elections or an all out election.
3. Not seeking re-election ^[1]

References

1. Hamilton, Claire. "Wirral Council leader quits after Labour 'extremists' claims". BBC News . Retrieved 16 October 2018.
2. "Wirral council Labour group leader Steve Foulkes steps down". BBC News . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
3. Marles, Leigh. "Wirral Council Conservative group has a new leader - Jeff Green ousted after 15-year reign". Wirral Globe. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
4. Cureton, Stephanie. "New leader for Wirral Liberal Democrats". Wirral Globe. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
5. Murphy, Liam. "Green party enjoy shock Birkenhead success in Wirral elections". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
6. "Elections". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
7. "Councillor Ron Abbey". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council . Retrieved 4 November 2018.
8. Houghton, Tom. "Labour chief whip furious after being ousted by the 'loony left'". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 2 November 2018.
9. "Councillor Phil Davies". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council . Retrieved 4 November 2018.
10. "Councillor Paul Doughty". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council . Retrieved 4 November 2018.
11. "Go South Young Man! – The Leaving of Cllr Matthew Patrick". Wirral Leaks. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
12. "Councillor Chris Meaden". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council . Retrieved 4 November 2018.
13. Houghton, Tom. "'Ex-Militant links' council leader selected for Wirral seat after Skyping meeting 'from cruise ship on the Med'". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 25 October 2018.
14. Bidston and St James Labour Party. "Congratulations to Councillor Brian Kenny who was selected to represent our ward again for Labour in May 2019…". Facebook . Retrieved 18 November 2018.
15. Clough, Lily. "Wirral Green Party campaigners Steve Hayes & Chris Cooke…". Twitter . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
16. Birkenhead and Tranmere Labour Party. "Birkenhead and Tranmere Labour Party are proud to announce their new candidate for Councillor 2018 is Bill McGenity". Twitter . Retrieved 10 November 2018.
17. Teggin, Chris. "Vicky Downie - Liberal Democrats". Facebook . Retrieved 18 November 2018.
18. "Des Drury (Bromborough, New Ferry, Port Sunlight, Bromborough Pool and Spital)". Wirral Conservatives. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
19. New Ferry and Bromborough Labour Party. "We are pleased to announce that Cllr Joe Walsh has been reselected as Labour's Candidate for Bromborough, Port Sunlight & New Ferry for the May 2019 council elections 🌹". Twitter . Retrieved 18 November 2018.
20. Morgan, Kieran. "Labour Candidate for Clatterbridge". Facebook . Retrieved 13 November 2018.
21. "Adam Sykes (Clatterbridge, Spital and Thornton Hough)". Wirral Conservatives. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
22. Claughton & Noctorum Labour Party. "Congratulations to Claughton and Noctorum siting Councillor Stephen Foulkes, , who was reelected tonight by our branch to represent us in local government elections next year…". Facebook . Retrieved 26 October 2018.
23. Eastham Liberal Democrats, FOCUS Update Late Nov 2018, Phil Gilchrist
24. Eastham & South Bromborough Labour. "We are delighted to announce that Ruth molyneux has been selected as our candidate for next year's local elections…". Twitter . Retrieved 10 November 2018.
25. "David Burgess-Joyce (Greasby, Frankby & Irby)". Wirral Conservatives. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
26. Houghton, Tom. "Tory councillor thinks he has been sacked because he is 'too old'". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 20 September 2018.
27. Lewis, Ian. "Congratulations to @PaulAlanHayes2 @CaplinDebbie and @cllr_s_williams…". Twitter . Retrieved 3 August 2018.
28. "Mooney News and New Ferry Blues". Wirral Leaks. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
29. "Wirral Leaks Scoops the Mooney Scoop". Wirral Leaks. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
30. "Keith Raybould". Wirral Conservatives. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
31. Corkhill, Andy. "Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Wirral West & Oxton Focus Team. Brexit Fighter". Twitter . Retrieved 15 November 2018.
32. Oxton Labour Party. "We are happy to announce that Oxton branch members have selected Jeff Davies to be our candidate for local council for the May election!…". Facebook . Retrieved 11 November 2018.
33. Houghton, Tom. "Heartbreaking moment young couple realised they would never grow old together". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 30 October 2018.
34. Clements, Wendy. "Fab morning chatting to electors in Thingwall #torycanvass with @Mike4Pensby…". Twitter . Retrieved 2 October 2018.
35. Gilligan, Andrew. "Ghost of Militant barges through Birkenhead". The Times . Retrieved 10 September 2018.