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Labour held on comfortably to its majority on Wirral Council in a night which saw few surprises in the borough.

As the last result was declared , Labour remained on 39, the Conservatives on 21, the Liberal Democrats on 5 and the Green Party on 1.

With 23 seats up for grabs, Labour defended its 14, the Conservatives 7 and the Liberal Democrats 2.

The Conservatives had hoped to take victory in Pensby and Thingwall after narrowly losing out in 2015, but Labour secured a comfortable majority to maintain its dominance in the ward.

The party’s Mike Sullivan won with 2243 votes to Conservative Andrew Gardiner’s 1541.

A bitterly contested campaign in Pensby saw allegations from the Tories that Labour councillors put Birkenhead first and had an “obsession” with the town.

To loud cheers from his supporters, Cllr Sullivan said: “What a great result. I think we can now call Pensby a safe Labour seat.”

In Bromborough, long-standing councillor Steve Niblock, who was standing as an independent after being deselected by Labour, lost his seat to the party’s Warren Ward.

Cllr Ward, 18, hailed his victory as “evidence of what young people can do when they are empowered and given the opportunity”.

Former Wallasey and Leasowe councillor Ian Lewis secured his return to Wallasey Town Hall with a win for the Conservatives in Wallasey, a seat previously held by Leah Fraser.

He pledged he would be a “strong voice for Wallasey ward in the Town Hall and the wider Wallasey community”.

Former chief lifeguard Tony Jones was victorious for Labour in New Brighton, seeing off a challenge from Conservative former ward councillor Tony Pritchard.

The Green Party was bidding to make more gains in Birkenhead and Tranmere after securing its first council seat in the ward in 2014 but polled 1384 votes to Labour’s 1555.

The turnout across Wirral was 35.37%, from an electorate of 238,342.

Wirral Conservative leader Jeff Green said the results left Wirral in “stalemate”.

He said: “If I was the Labour Party I would be disappointed that they have made no gains at a time when there’s a Conservative government. You would normally expect the opposition party to be making gains.

“The issue the Labour party has to address is why they didn’t make any gains. That can only be down to the fact that the public does not have any confidence in the Labour party.”

Council leader Phil Davies, meanwhile, said the results were a “vote of confidence in Labour’s leadership” in the borough.