Preston City Council local elections 2021: Preston Labour keep control of Town Hall as Tories return as official opposition

The counting at the Guild Hall for the local elections with Covid secure measures

Labour retained their majority on Preston City Council as the Conservatives returned as the official opposition after picking up two seats.

The Tories won in Greyfriars and Ingol and Cottam, ousting the Liberal Democrats in the local elections.

Labour retained 10 of the 16 seats up for grabs in this year’s election to remain the largest party and keep power.

Councillor Matthew Brown, leader of Preston Labour, said after the election count: “I am absolutely delighted that we managed to retain ten out of ten Labour seats, across the country the Labour Party is losing around 1/4 of its councillors and we managed to buck the trend.

“We want to rebuild Preston post-pandemic and build something fairer. Too many people have suffered it’s been a collective trauma what the community has been through and we have got to use all the power and influence we have as a Labour council to make sure we have fairness for everyone. It’s been an exhausting few weeks campaigning in a way that’s really unconventional and I think people realise we are trying to do our best.”

The Tories saw a national surge in support and this translated into two further seats in the North and West of Preston.

Tory Councillor Daniel Duckworth said about the result: “We are ecstatic, we are now the second largest party so it has been a great day with two seats gained. It was close in some areas but the electorate have spoken and it’s been good to see democracy in action, especially in COVID times.

“Extremely proud of Greg Aldridge being elected for Greyfriars. It’s been an amazing day, hopefully see the same tomorrow.”

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Liberal Democrat leader, John Potter said: “As expected we had a rough election due to the national surge of support for the Conservatives.

Our brilliant community campaigners & councillors always put local residents first but it wasn’t enough this time.Politics can be a brutal sport at times but democracy never stops and neither will our commitment to our local residents.”

The results for the Lancashire County Council local elections will be announced during Saturday following the count.

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