Labour has held onto two seats up for grabs on Liverpool Council in contrasting performances in two by-elections.
The incumbent party comfortably retained its seat in Everton ward but only narrowly clung onto its position in the Warbreck area of the city. The votes were were prompted by the resignations of former councillors Ian Byrne, Labour MP for West Derby, and Cheryl Didsbury in January.
Mr Byrne ’s former seat in Everton will now be taken by his daughter, Ellie, who won with 925 votes, 62% of the ballots cast. She saw off challenges from Green Party candidate and former Everton Labour member Kevin Robinson-Hale who received 362 votes.
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Liberal Party candidate Angela Preston came in third with 84 votes while Conservative Party hopeful Wendy Hine received 51 votes. Former Mayoral hopeful Roger Bannister for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition won 45 ballots while Steve Fitzsimmons for the Liberal Democrats secured just 25.
It wasn’t quite so simple for Ms Byrne's Labour colleague Sam East, who just clung onto Warbreck by just 38 votes after former Cllr Didsbury stepped down from her seat after almost seven years on the Town Hall benches at the end of March. Cllr East narrowly saw off the challenge of Karen Afford for the Liberal Democrats by 912 to 874 votes - a margin of 2%.
Rebecca Lawson of the Green Party received 61 votes. A total of 46 votes were cast for Conservative Party candidate Mark Butchard. Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, tweeted her congratulations to both Labour candidates saying their victories were “fantastic news” while reserving praise for new Cllr Byrne, as she added: “Everton has clearly voted for the best candidate. You’ll be great.”
A third by-election will be held in due course in Fazakerley after Lyndsay Melia resigned her seat at the end of March. Both new councillors and Cllr Melia’s successor will have just a year in post before they go to the city electorate again after local polls were delayed for 12 months and all-out elections called for 2023 for a four-year cycle, alongside the Mayoral vote, as a result of the damning Caller Report and appointment of commissioners by the UK Government.
