Labour still has much to do to convince people it is worth supporting
IF you only saw the headlines on the day after polling day, you probably heard that Labour had ‘taken control’ of Rossendale Council.
Strictly speaking, they had.
After a shaky set of results for the Red Rose Party in 2021, the council officially went into ‘no overall control’ - but in the real world, little changed - Labour continued to run Rossendale.
Labour have now been in charge of Rossendale Council for over a decade - so what do we learn from the latest set of election results?
Well, Labour took two seats - Whitewell and Irwell - the latter won by just six votes.
The Tories also managed to lose Greensclough to former Tory councillor Jimmy Eaton, who the party foolishly turned their back on in the county council elections last year.
So while it was a good day for Labour in terms of strengthening their grip on the council, a closer look at the data suggests the party still has a lot to do to convince the area it has a plan worth supporting.
In 2018, when the set of seats we voted for last week were previously up for grabs, 16,255 people voted. This year, 15,533 voted - and in most wards, the percentage of people who voted reduced.
The number of people who voted Tory fell from 8,000 to 5,921, while the number of people who voted for Labour fell from 8,002 to 6,604.
So while the Tories lost more votes - Cllr Eaton’s success alone responsible for a third of the loss - Labour saw its vote tally fall in four areas - and then of course, it didn’t even bother to stand in two wards at all.
Voters in both Healey and Whitworth and Greensclough didn’t have the option to vote for Labour because they didn’t stand any candidates.
Both were won by independents.
Politically, it perhaps makes sense to focus efforts on the seats you need to win to remain in charge at the council.
But what message does it send to voters in those wards that the party which wants to run the council and presumably serve all parts of the borough, can’t make the effort to stand a candidate in your area?
Equally, there are wards which saw no communication at all from Labour activists.
Again, this might be about lack of resource after all, local politics is a volunteer activity - but how can any party wanting to run the council really claim to be serving us all if they don’t even put leaflets in every part of the borough?
Over the last 10 years or so that Rossendale Council has been run by Labour, the council has been accused of not listening to people who disagree with council policy.
A few years ago, council leader Alyson Barnes responded to a disappointing set of election results by promising that Labour would spend more time listening.
Is it possible to say that is still the case when Labour didn’t even stand in two wards? I mean, even the Green Party managed to stand in more seats.
Labour may have officially taken back control of Rossendale Council but, after a decade in charge, the results are a lukewarm endorsement of
Labour’s achievements so far and opting to avoid certain wards won’t help the sense in parts of the borough that the council prioritises some towns over others.