Labour maintained its iron grip on Rochdale council at this year's local elections. Victory for the party was rubber-stamped when leader Neil Emmott easily saw off a push from the Middleton Independents Party (MIP).
It means Labour has 46 seats, taking two from MIP, which now has just two councillors; and one from the Tories, who are left with nine. The Lib Dems held onto the one seat they were fighting, leaving them with three councillors, as before.
Town hall leader Coun Emmott, who only just saw off his MIP rival by 150 votes at last year's all-out elections, cruised to victory this time around in West Middleton, polling 1,120 votes, more than all his rivals put together.
