Labour victory 'must be worrying for party' says Tory leader
LABOUR held onto the old Warwickshire County Council seat of MP Matt Western in Thursday's by-election - but only by 25 votes.
The ballot was triggered in Leamington Willes County Electoral Division by Mr Western's resignation a few months after his surprise election as MP for Warwick and Leamington last June.
Helen Adkins polled 1,164 votes for Labour, the Green Party's Martin Luckhurst was 1,139, the Conservative candidate, Stacey Calder, won 286 votes while Christopher Begg, for the Liberal Democrats, polled just 36 votes.
The turnout was just 32 per cent.
The election result was the same as in 2017 when Mr Western held the seat for Labour, but only the Greens increasing its number of votes.
Labour were down around 60 votes, the Conservatives' numbers of votes fell by over a third from 2017, while the Lib Dems lost two thirds compared to last year.
The result, however, has no bearing on the balance of power at Shire Hall with the Conservatives holding 36 of the council’s 57 seats.
Labour has ten seats, the Liberal Democrats seven, the Green Party two, and there are two Independents.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, the leader Warwickshire's Conservative group, said: "The battle was always going to be between Labour and the Green Party in the by-election for the county council, I don't believe we have ever held this division.
"The interesting result was that the Green Party came to within 25 votes of upsetting Labour's election success. This must have been very worrying for Labour so soon after last year's General Election result."
Cllr Richard Chattaway, leader of the Labour group on the county council, said: "The leader of the council should be more worried than we are.
"The Conservative vote collapsed in Leamington because of the cuts they are making to local services and people have no faith in them to deliver the services they want, they are paying a lot of council tax for these services."
He added: "Congratulations to Helen and her team, they fought off a major challenge from the Green Party. They put all their resources across the county into it.
Elsewhere in Warwickshire, Labour lost overall control of Nuneaton and Bedworth.
The Conservatives won nine of the 17 seats available on Thursday.
Labour now has 17 seats with the Conservatives on 16 and the Green Party one.
Fourteen seats were up for election in Rugby, with the Conservatives and the Lib Dems gaining a seat each.
The new make up of the council is: Conservative 24 councillors, Labour nine, Liberal Democrats nine.
Cllr Seccombe added: "It was an excellent result in Nuneaton and Bedworth and it exceeded our expectations. We are now hopeful that Nuneaton will be able to move forward with more of the Conservative Party influencing decision making.
"The result in Rugby has increased the Conservative majority which is a very pleasing result also."
Other party leaders have been contacted for comment.
