Green and blue provide surprises as Labour grip weakened by two seats
FIRST TORY COUNCILLOR FOR 32 YEARS WINS SEAT IN CITY’S SUBURB
A FRANTIC election night in Newcastle saw the city elect its first Conservative councillor in three decades, as well as its first ever Greens.
In a night of high drama and emotion at Northumbria University’s Sport Central, Tory candidate Doc Anand defeated the Lib Dems in Gosforth to claim his party’s first success in Newcastle since 1992.
Meanwhile, Khaled Musharraf and Nick Hartley were overjoyed to become the city’s first two Green councillors, taking seats off Labour in Elswick and Byker respectively.
Labour retains the majority that it has held on the council since 2011, now holding 45 of its 78 seats – a net loss of two on the night.
The ruling party also lost seats to the Lib Dems in North Jesmond and West Fenham, but made gains against them in Castle and from the Newcastle Independents in Lemington.
Mr Anand told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that his win “feels like history”. The former
GP, who this week was criticised for joking that he could use his position as a councillor to overturn a
parking fine, added: “It is all about hard work and pounding the pavements of Gosforth.” After the historic
double triumph for the Greens, newly-elected Mr Hartley said he believed their long-awaited victory in Newcastle would be “the start of something special”.
Summing up a hectic night, Labour council leader Nick Kemp said: “Mixed and in some cases, entirely surprising. A Conservative popping up in Gosforth was certainly a surprise – probably for the Conservatives as much as anyone else.
“I think we have seen a surge in the Green vote, which seems to have been mixed with the independents.”
Coun Kemp alleged that there had been “very disconcerting and worrying campaigns” run in this year’s local elections, some of which he claimed had even resulted in safety concerns for candidates, but declined to elaborate further on that.
The Byker ward councillor, who has led the council for the last two years, is set to face a leadership challenge next week from Denton and Westerhope backbencher Dan Greenhough.
Asked if he believed that he retained the backing of a majority of his colleagues within the Labour group, Coun Kemp replied: “It is a private party matter. I stand for election as a leader and I think I have a
proud record to stand for. We will see what the group thinks.”
For the city’s Lib Dem opposition, there were highs and lows.
The loss in Gosforth was added to
by another in the Castle ward, another long-term Lib Dem stronghold, but they did make two gains on Labour in North Jesmond and West Fenham. Opposition leader Colin Ferguson suggested that the impact of the North East mayoral election had affected the party’s vote share.
He said: “It has been a really odd night. A couple of results that didn’t go our way that we hoped would and a couple that did go really strongly our way, which we are really pleased with.
“I think what is going on is the
mayoral election changing the pattern of how people normally vote.”
The Newcastle Independents party lost the Lemington seat of its late founder Jason Smith, who died last year, but new leader Tracey Mitchell retained her spot in Denton and Westerhope. The overall balance of the council is now: Labour 45 (-2), Lib Dem 23 (-), Independent 4 (-), Newcastle Independents 3 (-1), Green 2 (+2), Conservative 1 (+1).
Turnout was 27.6%.
It is all about hard work and pounding the pavements of Gosforth New Tory councillor Doc Anand