Labour held off multiple challenges in Newcastle’s local elections to maintain a dominant majority on the council, after a stormy few months for the party.
Just one seat changed hands in the city on election night, with the Lib Dems claiming a red seat in the hotly-contested Ouseburn by a margin of only 25 votes. But Labour successfully survived challenges in several other key wards across Newcastle to make it a happy night for the ruling group and its new leader Nick Kemp, who is set to take charge of the council after the long-serving Nick Forbes was ousted earlier this year amid a bitter party split.
Ouseburn is renowned as an extremely tight swing ward and so it proved again this year, as Liberal Democrat Mike Cookson edged out Labour cabinet member Paula Holland to win. He follows in the footsteps of his father, former lord mayor Mike Cookson, by claiming a seat on the council.
