Independents fail to loosen Labour’s grip on South Leeds

All nine Labour Party candidates in the three South Leeds wards of Beeston & Holbeck, Hunslet & Riverside and Middleton Park have been elected in the ‘all out’ Leeds City Council election.

Results were declared in the early hours of Friday morning (4 May 2018) after an overnight count at the first direct Arena. The full results are published at the bottom of the page.

Turnout ranged from 23.6% in Middleton Park Ward to 28.8% in Beeston and Holbeck Ward, similar to the last Council elections in 2016.

Angela Gabriel, Gohar Almas and Andrew Scopes were elected in Beeston & Holbeck Ward. The Save Our Beeston & Holbeck Independents, campaigning mainly around ending the ‘Managed Approach’ to prostitution in Holbeck, came second winning 29% of the vote but trailing Labour by around 1,000 votes each.

Speaking to South Leeds Life, Cllr Angela Gabriel thanked residents across the ward for supporting the Labour team as well as retiring Councillors David Congreve and Adam Ogilvie.

“We are a new Labour team and we want to work with everyone in the ward to improve our community” she said.

Gohar Almas said:

“I’m humbled and grateful to the voters who gave myself and my Labour party colleagues an overwhelming vote of confidence to continue serving our people.

“I’ll try my level best to meet the expectations of the residents of Beeston, Holbeck and Cottingley Hall and to continue the conversation and initiatives to make our neighbourhood a better place to live in.”

In Hunslet & Riverside Ward Elizabeth Nash, Mohammed Iqbal and Paul Wray were elected. Ed Carlisle for the Green Party was fourth, coming within 400 votes of winning the third seat, although the the other Green candidates fared less well.

Paul Wray commented on Twitter:

“To the people of Hunslet and Riverside – thank you for the honour to serve you. Now the real work starts.”

A similar story played out in Middleton Park Ward where Kim Groves, Judith Blake and Paul Truswell were elected for Labour. Wayne Dixon standing for the SDP came fourth, but was over 1,000 votes behind Labour.

Commenting on the results, Cllr Judith Blake told South Leeds Life:

“I’m delighted that Kim, Paul and myself have retained our seats, we work well ads a team on behalf of the people of Belle Isle and Middleton.”

She paid tribute to the Labour Party members in the ward “without whose support we would be able to do what we do year round.”

She went on to say that she was delighted with results overall across the city as Labour will continue in control of Leeds City Council. Labour now hold 61 of the 99 seats on the Council, up 3 from 2016.

 

Beeston & Holbeck Ward

Electorate: 16927     Turnout: 28.8 %     Spoilt papers : 12

Surname	Forename	Votes	Elected	Description	Length of term
Almas	Gohar	2471	ELECTED	Labour Party	2 Years
Birch	Bill	1281		Save Our Beeston & Holbeck Independents
Brear	Owen Arthur David	343		Green Party
Buckley	Lyn Jean	464		Conservative Party Candidate
Durdin	Robert William Fraser	159		Liberal Democrats
Gabriel	Angela	2593	ELECTED	Labour Party	4 Years
Gaines	Jarrod Anthony	197		Liberal Democrats
Robertson	Ian	395		Conservative Party Candidate
Scopes	Andrew Timothy	2257	ELECTED	Labour Party	1 Year
Sturman	Sean Patrick	1250		Save Our Beeston and Holbeck Independents
Walton	Laura Elizabeth	1269		Save Our Beeston and Holbeck Independents
Winfield	Robert James William	495		Conservative Party Candidate

 

Hunslet & Riverside Ward:

Electorate: 16702     Turnout: 27.4 %     Spoilt papers: 13

Surname	Forename	Votes	Elected	Description	Length of term
Carlisle	Ed	1740		Green Party lead candidate
Goncalves	Eunice Helena Dos Santos Almeida Barbosa Vicente	1024		Green Party second choice candidate
Hall	Alaric Timothy Peter	931		Green Party third choice candidate
Iqbal	Mohammed	2391	ELECTED	Labour Party	2 Years
Nash	Elizabeth Anne	2399	ELECTED	Labour Party	4 Years
Salt	Richard Mark	409		Conservative Party Candidate
Saunders	Kenny	340		Independent
Smith	Scott David Ian	384		Conservative Party Candidate
Spencer	James Michael	176		Liberal Democrats
Wheeler	Michael Edward John	342		Conservative Party Candidate
Wray	Paul Ian	2132	ELECTED	Labour Party	1 Year

 

Middleton Park Ward

Electorate: 19465     Turnout: 23.6 %     Spoilt papers: 14