18:05

Manchester council remains under firm Labour control

Manchester remains under firm Labour control tonight after the party won all but two seats at the town hall.

Lib Dem John Leech kept his seat in Didsbury West, but is no longer the only opposition voice in the chamber. His running mate Richard Kilpatrick also triumphed in the ward.

But group leader Mr Leech said he was ‘very disappointed’ not to have taken the third seat in the ward after the group missed out to Labour’s David Ellison by just 22 votes.

Mr Leech said the gain showed his party is making significant progress across Manchester and he is confident they can gain even more seats next year.

He added: “We’re delighted that we have doubled our representation. But I think if you look at other results and other bits of the city, particularly in Didsbury East and in city centre wards and also in Gorton we have made significant progress. And I would hope that next year we should be able to at least double our representation on the council again so that we have a much stronger opposition here in Manchester.”

Despite the Lib Dem gain, most of the city remained under Labour control during a day in which each of the 96 seats were up for grabs.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

The ruling party took 94 seats, several of which were in completely new wards following boundary changes.

Amongst the new councillors were Jon-Connor Lyons, representing Piccadilly, and Deansgate councillor Marcus Johns, 23.

As the youngest councillor elected, at just 21, Coun Lyons says homelessness, housing and litter will be top of the agenda for him as he works to improve the city centre.

A student union rep, he says he is well placed to represent this young and vibrant ward.

“It feels great,” he said. “I want to empower community groups and run productive campaigns.”

Coun Johns meanwhile said he looks forward to working with his Labour colleagues in the city centre.

“There’s so much development going on and I think a team of three focusing on a smaller area can better hold people to account, developers particularly,” he said.

“I think that we’re going to make a good team. The three of us get on really well and we really care about where we live.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

“And there are so many issues: things like homelessness, things like litter. They take a team approach, a good passionate touch. And I think that is what we offer.”

The Liberal Democrats had hoped to make gains in Withington after Labour Coun Chris Paul was accused of misogyny following a Twitter storm. But Coun Paul will keep his seat for another year after winning 1,577 in the south Manchester ward.

Despite putting forward a full slate of candidates after a ‘huge’ last-minute push to find hopefuls, the Conservatives failed to gain a single seat.

The Greens too stood someone in every ward but didn’t manage to make any gains.

UKIP, who put forward four candidates - down from 13 at the last local election in 2016 - were all but eradicated. They managed to garner just 736 votes from four inner city wards.