Tories make headway to keep county hall control
THE Conservatives also made inroads in the Lancashire County Council elections by making two gains from Labour, including one in the intriguing Great Harwood, Rishton & Claytonle-Moors division.
This poll saw 10 candidates vying for two places on the authority, but instead of following narrow party lines, Conservative Carole Haythornthwaite and Labour’s Noordad Aziz emerged as the two winners ahead of their respective party colleagues (exLabour) councillor Gareth Molineux and Kate Walsh.
The contest, which had seen Labour’s Hyndburn leader Miles Parkinson not selected to stand, was notable for the presence of experienced local candidates, including Independent Pat McGinley, who garnered a 5.4pc vote share, and the whopping 68.9 per cent turnout. The second Tory gain was in Accrington South, where Terry Hurn overturned a thin Labour majority of 90 to unseat veteran Bernard Dawson with a 200-plus vote majority.
Overall, across the county the Conservatives increased their seat tally from four years ago by two to 48 to strengthen their grip on the authority, with Labour also up two to 32, and the Greens up one to 2. The Liberal Democrats lost half of their four seats, while the Independents lost both of the seats they held as at 2017.
The elections were also noteworthy for the presence of Green candidates in all divisions - generally regarded to pose more of a threat to Labour votes - and the party received almost 1,400 ballots overall across the borough.
Lancashire County Council has a new leaderelect after the ruling Conservative group chose children and schools cabinet member Phillippa Williamson to take on the top job.
She was elevated to the role of county Tory leader on Sunday afternoon, just 24 hours after the party comfortably retained control of the authority in the local elections.
The position in charge of the Conservative group - and hence also the county council itself, in the wake of the election result - was vacant after Geoff Driver, who has led the authority for the past four years, stood down at last week’s poll.