LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS
Atkins retains seat for Labour – rest of Moorlands stays blue
TORY hopes of completing a clean sweep in the Staffordshire Moorlands failed as former MP Charlotte Atkins easily held onto the seat she has held since 2013.
Seven Staffordshire County Council seats were up for grabs in the district, with the Conservatives holding onto their six, with Ms Atkins’ seat in Leek South being Labour’s only success.
Ms Atkins, pictured left, dropped just 72 votes on her 2017 performance, earning 2,132 this time around. The Conservative result was similar too, with candidate Jo Cox dropping just 52 on the party’s previous run at the seat.
Last time, around four candidates ran in the seat. But this time, the Green Party did not put up a runner and Liberal Democrat Roy Gregg pulled in 172 votes, 10 less than his predecessor. The Greens previously earned 155 votes in 2017.
Ms Atkins said: “It’s been an excellent result for me and suggestions from the Conservatives that it was neck and neck were clearly ill-judged.
“I certainly found that when I was going round on the doorstep – delivering leaflets not knocking on doors – we had a very warm response, and that is built on years of fighting for my community and delivering on the challenges I have faced.”
Conservative Keith Flunder, who won the Biddulph South and Endon seat, reacted to Ms Atkins’ victory after increasing his majority by 556 votes on 2017.
He said: “It was similar to last time, there wasn’t much change percentage-wise or anything like that. But it was hard fought.
“We give Jo as much credit as we can.
“We all helped a bit here and there.
“We’ll see what happens next time around, but obviously Charlotte has got a lot of history and is well represented.
“But the other six results have done well and I have increased my vote by around 500 votes, so that’s rather quite good.
“I’m not sure [if we will win Leek South next time]. A lot of it depends on what will happen between then and now.
“In two years’ time it’s going to be an interesting set of local elections - we’ll know more then.
“It’s hard to predict what might happen here, but things haven’t changed that much at all.”
Elsewhere, Tory Gill Heath’s majority in Leek Rural shrank slightly by around 150 votes, as the Green and independent votes grew and the Labour vote shrank by more than 100.
Mrs Heath has served as a county councillor since 1997 and says this term will be her last.
The 75-year-old said: “I shall still do my best for everybody, but I think I shall be a bit old if I still am here in four years. I’ve still got a young mind and I’ve got grandchildren.
“They keep me going.”
Other standout results included Cheadle and Checkley, where former Ukip candidate Peter Wilkinson made gains of nearly 250 votes in standing as an independent, chipping away at incumbent Tory Mark Deaville’s majority by 41 votes.
No Liberal candidate stood in the seat this time around, Labour’s result was smaller by around 50 votes and the Green’s saw a big jump from 71 votes to 187.