What a Vic-Tory! 

Vic-Tory for Swindon Conservatives

 

It was a night of celebrations for the Conservative party in Swindon last night, as they increased their Council majority from 25 to 27 in the local elections.

 

Party	Councillors	% change of vote
Conservative	43 (+1)	+ 7.25%
Labour	12 (-)	- 3.5%
Liberal Democrats	3 (-)	+ 1.79%
Other	1 (-1)

 

A victory that Conservative leader Rod Bluh described as "a ringing endorsement of our policies."

 

On a day that mirrored voting across the UK, Labour saw their general number of votes take a significant dip, although in Swindon the party did have the consolation of gaining the Central ward from the Conservatives.

 

A long night of counting: the Swindon result was announced just after 1am

 

Labour candidate Junab Ali eventually declared the winner, after an initial counting error indicated the Conservatives had held on to the ward they gained by default in 2006 when former Labour councillor Sinead Darker switched to the Tories.

 

Commenting on the overall result, Rod Bluh, Leader of the Conservative group said:

 

"We are the party for positive change, and we thank the electorate in Swindon for their ringing endorsement of the way we are running Swindon Borough Council.

 

"We will continue to work on improving Swindon for everyone who lives and works here, including focusing on the regeneration of Swindon town centre, investing in leisure facilities and working with the relevant authorities to reduce anti-social behaviour." 

 

Mel Turner-Wright