Conservatives hold on to the county, and delight for Greens

In North Yorkshire as a whole the Conservatives narrowly maintained their control over local government as voters across England’s largest county backed a spectrum of other political parties.

By securing 47 seats of the 90 on the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council, the Conservatives have just one more than the minimum number of councillors required for a majority, losing more than 20 per cent of their share of the vote to that at the last election for North Yorkshire County Council five years ago.

Although not directly comparable, in 2017 the Tories won 76 per cent of the seats, with the Independents getting 14 per cent, Labour six per cent and the Liberal Democrats four per cent.

The election for the unitary authority last week saw Independent candidates secure 13 seats, Labour and the Liberal Democrats 12 each and the Green Party will be represented at the top tier of local government in the county for the first time with five seats.

Deputy leader of the Conservative group Gareth Dadd said he felt the result reflected “a usual mid-term reaction” to a government.

He said: “I’m delighted that we have secured an overall majority, but above anything else we can move forward with certainty and deliver the savings and, hopefully, devolution, that the sub-region deserves.”

The leader of the Independent group on the county council, Stuart Parsons, said he looked forward to working with all members of the new council, adding: “At least we are no longer in a one-party state.”

Labour group leader Eric Broadbent said: “We’re over the moon, we’ve trebled our number of councillors. We’re going to have a lot more influence and give our residents a lot more say in what’s happening in their communities.”

Bryn Griffiths, the Liberal Democrat group leader, said: “I think the electorate have seen the error of the Tories. It gives us a great opportunity to challenge them at the county council and get support for people who need support.”

Kevin Foster, who has become one of the new Green councillors after winning Hipswell and Colburn by just eight votes, said: “It gives us a greater chance to have our voice heard and we now have to be considered as we work to make a cleaner, greener, fairer place.”

Some 183,564 of the 478,539 electorate voted, representing a 38.4 per cent turnout.