Tameside’s town hall remains ‘very much’ red after Thursday’s council election but the Conservatives have hailed a ‘wonderful’ night with two gains made. Ashton-Under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner cheered Labour on throughout the count in Ashton but appeared shaken by Oldham’s Labour leadership loss for the second time in as many years.
Tameside saw a low turnout of 28 per cent and despite two gains for the Tories, Labour still dominates the council with 49 councillors, compared to seven Conservatives and a lone Green. Tory candidates were confident on making gains in Hyde and Stalybridge but as ballots were counted Labour remained hopeful about holding nearly all seats.
Soon after the count was completed however Labour all but conceded defeat in Hyde Godley. This ward has been the subject of a highly controversial planning application to build 2,150 homes on green belt land in Hyde, named the Godley Green garden village.
More than 3,400 people signed a petition against these plans. But, council leader Brenda Warrington defied this in a full council meeting saying “I will be on that bulldozer” and “will ram it down your throat”.
Voters hit back and the Conservatives gained this ward from Labour, with new councillor Andrea Colbourn demanding they be given the keys to this bulldozer in her winning speech. Ashton Hurst was also taken by the Conservatives in a vote won by just 27 votes.
A total of 53 candidates were on the ballot across 19 wards in yesterday’s poll. Some seats were a straight shootout between Labour and the Conservatives, with Labour coming off better in nearly all of these.
The Green Party stood in all but six seats and despite high hopes in Ashton Waterloo, they ended the night with as many councillors as they started yesterday’s poll with. The two other parties standing, Reform UK’s Barbara Mitchison in Denton North East and Hattie Thomas for the Woman’s Equality Party in Mossley, were hoping to offer something different for residents but fell well short of the bigger parties.
So while the Tories looked at their two gained seats as a small victory, Tameside still remains a Labour stronghold. “It’s been a good night for Labour,” Cllr Warrington told the Manchester Evening News.
“We held onto most of our seats and we will fight for the ones we have lost. We will be back for them.
“We knew where it would be tight and that they could be lost. But in Tameside it has been a good night for Labour. We have kept Tameside very much red.”
On Oldham’s leader, Cllr Arooj Shah, losing her ward, Cllr Warrington said: “It’s really sad to hear that she’s lost her seat. She’s been a really good and effective leader in her short time.”
While the Tories are still far behind Labour in Tameside their leader Doreen Dickinson described their night as ‘wonderful’. “It’s been absolutely positive,” she told the MEN.
“We don’t often win in Tameside. Our candidates worked really hard and I think when you’ve had one party in control for the best part of 40 years people start to question whether they’ve really benefited from it or not.
“I’d rather we had 27 seats instead of 7 but it’s a marathon not a sprint. This is definitely something to build on.
“If you’d looked at the national news over recent days you’d have thought all Conservatives would have lost. But that’s definitely not the case. We’re delighted with how we’ve done tonight.”
Counts for the different boroughs in Greater Manchester will take place at different times. You can check their results for reach borough below:
