Main parties share spoils from close fought battle
THERE were Conservative beams at the conclusion of a topsy-turvy election afternoon at Accrington Town Hall which saw Labour left as the largest party but without an overall majority of seats on Hyndburn council.
It was six of one and half a dozen of the other as the main two parties shared the 12 seats on offer, although the result saw a net gain by the Tories from the 2018 result of two seats, with blue gains in Clayton-le-Moors, Huncoat and St Oswald’s, offset by a single red gain in Rishton.
As Labour fell tantalisingly one seat short of the magic 18 seats required to form a majority - due in no small part to blood-letting within the local party which has seen several councillors including long-time leader Miles Parkinson quit - and with uncertainty surrounding the extent of any backlash against Boris Johnson’s embattled national government, the final mood among the Conservatives was buoyant, with Labour’s interim leader left feeling “disappointed”.
Nevertheless, in reality, this was a closely fought, nip and tuck, election with Labour’s vote share standing at 45.3pc compared to 44.8pc for the Conservatives.
In addition, with the prospect of a by-election looming in Overton ward following the resignation of Labour’s Michael Hindley, the largest party could yet
retake overall control of the council in a matter of weeks.
There were also accusations from all sides of the political spectrum about it being one of the “dirtiest” election campaigns in memory; one that has seen police complaints, allegations of dirty tricks and standards investigations.
Conservative leader Coun Marlene Haworth - who was elected for another four years in St Oswald’s along with her ward and party colleague Zak Khan in a double-seat election - said she was “dead pleased” with the overall results. “I’m thrilled,” she said.
“We have worked so hard, we have pulled together as a team and a done a brilliant job. It’s sad that we had to lose a seat [Rishton] but I’m delighted. I’m absolutely so proud of my whole team. Labour have been in total disarray and have played some
nasty politics. We will continue to get on with the job.”
With the Prime Minister staring at difficult results up and down the country, Coun Haworth said it showed the north-south divide.
“It’s sad about down south,” she said, “but it’s a bit of a different ball game down south. We are not in control of what Westminster does.”
Interim Labour group leader Paul Cox admitted the results were not as good as they had hoped, and said they now need to show “the right vision” for the borough.
He said: “If you look at the national picture I can see places where people have voted historically one way or another and were looking for a bit of a change. We have got to help to change with it. I feel for all our [losing] ward candidates; they all worked hard.
Clearly we’re disappointed. However it’s what you do with that disappointment.”
Peter Edwards took Clayton-le-Moors for the Conservatives at the age of 83, one more than his margin of victory in unseating Labour’s own veteran Tim O’Kane. There was another new Conservative councillor in Huncoat, where Danny Cassidy beat Labour’s Samina Mahmood by a margin of 199 votes in a seat vacated by retiring Labour stalwart Dave Parkins.
Veteran former Peel councillor Bernard Dawson was the main bright spot for Labour, returning to the party’s ranks to unseat Tory Michael Miller by a narrow 38 votes in a closely-fought contest in Rishton.
The ward also saw a very strong showing from independent Andrew Harris, in third place, who fell just 96 votes short of the winner, as well as a potentially pivotal 81 votes accrued by Reform UK’s Paul Hacker.
New Labour councillors Kimberley Whitehead, Jodi Clements and Scott Brerton held on to Spring Hill, Netherton and Overton wards respectively in seats taken for the party in 2018 by Diane Fielding, Bernadette Parkinson, and
Jenny Molineux - all of whom left the party prior to this election to complete their terms as independents.
Overall, turnout was at around 34.5pc - allowing for the St Oswald’s ward where two votes could be cast. The highest turnout was in Spring Hill with 38.8pc, while fewer than one in four voted in Peel (24.8pc).
There were no elections this year in five of the borough’s wards - Altham, Barnfield, Baxenden, Central and Church - due to the annual rotation.