Conservatives take control of Medway CouncilYesterday's local elections in Medway to contest the 55 (reduced from the previous 80) seats in 22 new wards produced the following results in terms of seats:
A number of sitting Labour and Liberal Democrat sitting Councillors were ousted, including several long-serving members, and easily the most impressive result in terms of votes per candidate came in Peninsula ward, with around 2,500 votes going to each of the three successful Conservative candidates, while their nearest opponents achieved only 776 votes.
Because the election was being fought in new wards it is not possible to calculate swings in the wards, but overall the percentages of votes cast in 2000 and this time are summarised in the table below, from which it appears that the increased number of "other" candidates (21 UK Independence Party, 3 BNP, and several Independents) slightly reduced the percentage vote for Labour and the Conservatives. However it is seats that count, as each seat represents a vote in Council and Committee, which is far more significant for all three mainstream Parties:
| Political Party | 2000 | 2003 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote | Seats | Vote | Seats | |
| Conservative | 45·66% | 47·5% | 43·81% | 54·5% |
| Labour | 34·02% | 34% | 32·07% | 30·9% |
| Liberal Democrat | 18·46% | 18·5% | 18·97% | 10·9% |
| Others: Independents, UKIP, BNP | 1·85% | 2·5% | 5·14% | 3·6% |
The representation on Medway Council now more accurately reflects the braod wishes of the Medway electorate, though the now-greater imbalance between Labour and Liberal Democrat numbers is an anomaly, apparently caused mainly by their putting up candidates who do not live in or near the wards for which they were standing.