Leader cites election fatigue as Tories eat into district majority

THE COUNCIL’S Labour leader Peter Box said the district’s Ukip voters had moved over to the Conservatives as he reflected on the loss of several seats for his party.

In a fairly predictable night of results in the Wakefield Council election, the Conservatives made gains by winning seats in Horbury and South Ossett ward, Ossett, Wakefield Rural and Wrenthorpe and Outwood West. Tory councillor Nick Farmer, who was previously a Ukip and Independent councillor, held his seat in Ossett.

And in the Horbury South Ossett Ward, Conservative Gillian Cruise took the seat which had previously belonged to Labour.

Ukip’s last remaining candidate in Wakefield, David Dews, lost his Wrenthorpe and Outwood West seat to the Conservatives. Tory candidate Nic Stansby beat Labour to the seat by just 161 votes, in one of the night’s narrowest victories. Ms Stansby said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. I think it’s been a really, really good night for us (Conservatives). Wakefield’s been a Labour-run council for a very long time and we’ve made some inroads tonight.” One of the Conservatives’ target seats before polling day was Wakefield Rural, which was duly taken by candidate Samantha Harvey. She defeated the current mayor of Wakefield, Labour’s Kevin Barker. Coun Box, inset, said: “It’s clear that the Ukip vote has gone to the Conservatives. “I’ve been in this job a long time and I’ve never seen such a negative campaign from our opponents. I regret that. I think it’s clear that national politics, as always with local elections, has played a huge part. There’s no doubt Brexit is still affecting how people vote. “The turnout is very, very disappointing, I have to say. I think people have got election fatigue and I think also there is a slight disfranchisement with politicians generally.”