Knowsley Council’s deputy leader lost her seat as history repeated itself at this year’s elections.
Labour candidate Louise Harbour, deputy leader and cabinet member for adult social care, lost her Whitefield seat to Independent Steve Guy. Last time out, the party’s former deputy leader Sean Donnelly lost his seat in Kirkby to former firefighter Steve Smith.
The party also lost the St Gabriel’s ward to the Green Party but maintained its standing in nine of the 15 seats contested in the borough. new Cllr Guy said he experienced plenty of emotions during his maiden campaign.
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He said: “It’s my first experience as standing as a councillor and understanding what goes in to being a councillor. It’s exhilarating, worrying, frightening, all the emotions you go through.
“What I’m so pleased about, I live in Kirkby, I have done my whole life, I’ve worked for Knowsley Council for 38 years. Door to door speaking to people, some of the concerns are the conditions people are living under, the state of the roads, the lack of provision for children.
“One of the big issues on my agenda was in relation to green space, there’s a massive housing programme going on in the Kirkby area. We welcome a lot of new families but where do the children play?
“I worked with children for the most of my career and I saw the change in terms of parents being concerned that their children go and play in safety.”
Labour were given a real scare in Roby, where Kevin Bannon clung on to the seat by just 11 votes to Green candidate Paul Woodruff. Cllr Graham Morgan, leader of Knowsley Council and Labour group, said the party had run a “positive campaign”.
He said: “With all the regeneration in our townships, Prescot, Kirkby and we’re starting on Huyton. We’ve got some exciting plans for Halewood so we’ve been putting a positive spin on everything on our leaflets and knocking on the doors and we’ve had a great reaction.”
Cllr Morgan said the authority needed to get the message across that it was “doing our best with limited funds”. Alongside Cllr Guy’s win, Halewood South ward was also an independent win for Joanna Harvey.
Cllr Harvey fired a warning to Labour, despite their majority, that there was a need for change in Halewood. She said: “It’s massive for myself, so proud of my team, they’ve worked so hard.
“The things we do in the community, we try our best. We’re sick of being a left out town, we’re sick of being left behind.
“It’s time for change and they shouldn’t take the election for granted.”
The Greens took just two victories, holding on Prescot South. The Liberal Democrats also locked up its traditional stronghold in Prescot, taking the town’s North ward.
