Great Results for Labour on May 5th

May 5th was a turning point in the politics of Swindon, with Labour achieving excellent results across the borough.

Whilst we didn’t take the council, we came really close.
 

May 5th was a turning point in the politics of Swindon, with Labour achieving excellent results across the borough. 

Whilst we didn’t take the council, we came really close.

In South Swindon, Labour won all three seats in the following wards:

Central – Junab Ali, and Bob Wright will continue their fantastic work in the ward, and we welcome Julie Wright to the council.
 

Liden, Eldene & Park South – Fay Howard and Derique Montaut, both existing councillors, were duly elected – as was Neil Heavens, an active Labour campaigner.

Mannington & Western – A ward we share with North Swindon, Steve Wakefield and Kevin Small were re-elected.  A new councilor, Jim Robbins, will join them in the council chamber.
 

Walcot, Park North – Mark Dempsey and Steve Allsopp, both councillors with many experience, will be joined by Abdul Amin – a local businessman.

We also made breakthroughs in:

Covingham & Dorcan – Julian Price will join our group in the council chamber.
 

Lydiard & Freshbrook – Retired social worker Cindy Matthews fought really hard for her seat, and it paid off!

Old Town – Nadine Watts adds her name to our list of councillors, and will fight for the people of Old Town – she beat Tory Peter Mallinson (who oversaw the dismantlement of the Swindon Homecare team) by 8 votes!  Interestingly, Old Town is where Rod Bluh ran to – the boundary changes meant he’d lose his seat if he stayed where he was!
 
In North Swindon, we took all three seats in:
 

Gorsehill & Pinehurst, Rodbourne & Cheney and Penhill & Upper Stratton.

 

This takes the total number of Labour councillors in Swindon to 24.  The Lib Dems have 4 seats – so the Tories, with 29 seats, saw their majority slashed to 1 thanks to the fantastic efforts of the team.  The Lib Dems, however, have already shown their true colours by voting with the Tories on a number of issues, propping up Rod Bluh’s tired administration.  Hardly surprising given the actions of Nick Clegg, and does reflect their national policy!