‘Excellent result’ as Labour hold on to seats in hotly contested election
LABOUR group leader Tim Swift was delighted his councillors held all 11 seats they were defending in this year’s Calderdale Council elections.
The party was defending 11 seats out of the 18 being contested and retaining them all means Labour keep an overall majority of five seats over all other parties.
“It was an excellent result, it is what we were hoping for,” said Clr Swift (Lab, Town).
Improved results in other seats, including Conservative group leader Steven Leigh’s Ryburn, contributed to what he said was “a very good result from our point of view.”
“After last year the Conservatives were saying they were on a roll and taking things back but it looks like the wheels have come off that - in many ways they have been weakened,” said Clr Swift, referring also to the Green Party’s victory in Northowram and Shelf, where senior Conservative Stephen Baines was unseated and the Liberal Democrats retaking Greetland and Stainland.
“We very much recognise the way politics has changed in Calderdale - we wouldn’t have thought five years ago that Skircoat would be a safe Labour seat whereas in our more traditional seats in Halifax we have had a hard fight but come out on top.
“We listened to what people were saying that concerned them and will make sure we address some of these in the coming year,” he said.
Clr Swift said on the doorstep it was a mix of local and national issues raised.
He believed some Conservative voters were staying at home because they were unhappy with Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and stories which had been coming out - but some voters were also switching to Labour because of these.