Local Election results as they happened: Labour gain overall control of two Notts councils in damaging day for Conservatives

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Results from polls in eight council areas across Nottinghamshire have seen significant gains for Labour and damaging results for the Conservatives.

Ashfield District Council has been held by the Ashfield Independents after the group won the 18 seats required to keep control. Bassetlaw has been retained by Labour.

Labour have also kept hold of Nottingham City Council, and the Conservatives have been wiped out on the authority. Mansfield has been gained by Labour, as has Broxtowe. Bassetlaw District Council and Gedling Borough Council have been held by the party. Rushcliffe stayed with the Conservatives.

See how our live blog unfolded below as results came in from counts in eight local Notts council areas.

Key points 

  • Results came in on Friday from Notts local elections after Thursday’s poll
  • Ashfield District Council: Ashfield Independents HOLD
  • Bassetlaw District Council: Labour HOLD
  • Mansfield Mayoral Election: Labour GAIN
  • Mansfield District Council: Labour GAIN
  • Broxtowe Borough Council: Labour GAIN
  • Rushcliffe Borough Council: Conservative HOLD
  • Gedling Borough Council: Labour HOLD
  • Nottingham City Council: Labour HOLD
  • Newark and Sherwood District Council: No overall control [Conservatives lose control]
  • Nationally Labour have been gaining key victories

 

19.03 We’ll be wrapping up this live blog shortly, thank you to everyone for joining us. There will be more stories on the main website through the evening.

18.57 Over in Newark and Sherwood – a reminder that the Conservatives have lost full control of that authority, which now goes to ‘no overall control’ thanks to gains by Labour and Independent candidates.

18.47 We’re now also getting more in from Mansfield courtesy of Local Democracy Reporter Andrew Topping. 

Speaking after the election victory, re-elected mayor Andy Abrahams said: “I’m absolutely exuberant and I am surprised because I never thought I’d we could convert the work in the community into this number of seats.

“I’m over the moon.”

The former controlling Mansfield Independents – which lost the mayoral election by two votes in 2019 – struggled to retain the 13 seats it won in 2019 and lost many local counts to Labour.

It allowed the Labour Group to capitalise and take overall control of the council after a significant drop off in Mansfield Independent vote share.

Speaking on his party’s slump in the vote, former deputy mayor Cllr Mick Barton – who was re-elected in the Maun Valley ward, said: “The vote has dropped off but I think one of the reasons is a lot of promises by the other groups to get rid of [the post of] the mayor.”

18.43 Reaction from the Conservatives to that disastrous result for them in Nottingham City, where the party failed to get a single seat on the authority for the first time in history.

Paul Ruane, who stood for Bulwell Forest but failed to get elected, is the chairman of the Nottingham Conservative Group.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service he said: “I am naturally disappointed with the results, but obviously there has been a national trend going on here, the Conservatives and the party has not had a particularly great night all round.

“Unfortunately it looks like we’ve been pulled down the same route as the Conservative Party has gone down nationally.

“The Conservative Party has a remarkable amount of resilience, there have been times in the past where we have been wiped off councils before and come back and ended up taking control.”

18.34 Here’s a round-up of everything we know for sure after an hour or so of frantic results.

Labour have kept hold of Nottingham City Council, and the Conservatives have been wiped out on the authority. Mansfield has been gained by Labour, as has Broxtowe. Bassetlaw District Council and Gedling Borough Council have been held by the party. Rushcliffe stayed with the Conservatives.

17.27 Nottingham City Council – LABOUR HOLD

17.27 Confirmation that Nottingham City Council has been retained by the Conservatives. Not a single seat went to the Tories, in a result which will surely result in mcuh soul-searching by the party.

17.00 Anna Whittaker’s report onthe initial results in Broxtowe is in.

15.59 Results coming in from Broxtowe and the council there has gone from no overall control to a Labour win

14.04 Mansfield Mayoral Election – LABOUR HOLD 

14.04 Results coming in in Mansfield District now.

13.50 Incredible scenes in Broxtowe where the votes were neck-a-neck in one ward, meaning the returning officer had to enact the rule of drawing names from a box, leading to veteran Conservative Richard Jackson losing his seat.

 

12.11 Joe Locker is in position for results of the city council election – where Labour are expected to win again despite ongoing struggles with the authority’s finances.

 

11.39 Over in Nottingham City the count is under way at Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Bilborough. Joe Locker and Jordan Guerrero are reporting on events there.

11.30 More pictures from the ongoing count in Broxtowe from Hannah Levene. Results here expected mid-afternoon.

10.59 Counts are now starting at Broxtowe. Anna Whittaker is at the count at The Old Town Hall, Beeston.


10.21 One of the biggest questions in the Ashfield District Council election surrounded Ashfield Independent Tom Hollis. All eyes were on how voters would respond to him being convicted following two trials last year for harassment and dangerous driving. He lost his job on the cabinet but stayed on as a councillor and candidate for the group.

He defended his seat in Huthwaite and Brierley despite the convictions, and was in tears after the result was announced early this morning.

Andrew Topping’s full report on this result is in. 

Cllr Tom Hollis in tears hugging his partner after being re-elected to represent Huthwaite and Brierley.

10.19 The Independent Alliance has retained the Kirkby South seat in a Nottinghamshire County Council by-election and will continue as the joint opposition group at the authority.

Kirkby South was vacated by departing politician Daniel Williamson (Ash Ind), who retained it as an Ashfield Independent candidate in May 2021.

He inherited the seat from previous Ashfield Independent incumbent Rachel Madden, who did not seek re-election in the poll two years ago.

But now Cllr Madden has again won an election in the Kirkby South division after successfully beating Labour and the Conservatives on May 4.

The new councillor, who also secured victory in Annesley and Kirkby Woodhouse on Ashfield District Council, received 1,680 votes in the by-election.

Labour’s Lorraine Fagan received 1,017 votes and finished in second place, with the Conservatives’ Sam Howlett receiving 584 votes in third.

Read Andrew Topping’s full report on the by-election here.

Councillor Rachel Madden won the Kirkby South Nottinghamshire County Council by-election.

09.50 Although there was no overall Nottinghamshire County Council election, there was a by-election of one seat on this authority in Kirkby South, and we’ll have more on that result shortly.

09.10 In Bassetlaw we have more now on Labour’s increased grip on the district council.

The Labour group, now led by Cllr James Naish, won a total 38 seats out of a possible 48.

From 2019 the group had occupied 37 seats, a record majority which Cllr Naish said they had successfully “defended” and built upon.

Cllr Naish, who sits on the Sturton ward seat where the new STEP fusion energy plant is planned, was chosen as the new leader in September last year upon the resignation of Simon Greaves, who stepped down from the role after 10 years.

“We were defending a record year so we are very pleased,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“We set out a vision through to 2040 as part of the campaign which we will soon be consulting residents on.

“The fusion energy plant is at the heart of that. Bassetlaw is on a journey, there are some really positive things happening.”

Joe Locker’s full results and reaction piece is here.

Cllr James Naish, leader of Bassetlaw District Council, pictured at the count
Cllr James Naish, leader of Bassetlaw District Council

08.52 More reaction in from Ashfield where Ashfield Independents increased their majority, and Labour have won only one seat.

08.02 Yesterday’s polls were the first at which voters had to bring photo ID to polling stations to take part. The rule change was brought in by the Government, which says it is needed to reduce the risk of electoral fraud. Did you remember your ID?

Here’s what people thought when casting their votes yesterday. 

07.38 So…. how this works from now on. Bassetlaw and Ashfield were the only two councils from eight in Notts holding elections yesterday who decided to count votes overnight. That’s why these results are in already.

Nottingham City, Rushcliffe Borough, Gedling District, Mansfield District, Newark and Sherwood District and Broxtowe Borough Councils and the votes from the Mansfield Mayoral election are all being counted on Friday – most of these councils won’t start verifying votes before full counting until about 10am.

07.15 Joe Locker’s Initial result report is also through from Bassetlaw District Council where Labour have held control.

07.03 Reaction from Ashfield where Local Democracy Reporter Andrew Topping is following developments. Read his initial result report here.

Ashfield Independents leader Jason Zadrozny: “I’m absolutely delighted. People will be waking up to see Labour having a fantastic day across the country but not in Ashfield.

“We’ve done local, community politics and the residents of Ashfield have returned us for another four years. I’m really delighted.”

Cheryl Butler, a Labour council leader until 2018, reacted to her party’s election results in the area by saying she feared a lot of the results were down to “apathy”.

She said: “In some of the wards, turnout was down to 25 per cent – how do we get people out to vote in these elections?

“Labour has done really well nationally and I think for us it’s about some of the vote percentage gains we have made.

06.48 Pictures from the Ashfield count at Kirkby Leisure Centre show Ashfield Independents Leader Jason Zadrozny celebrating as he holds his Larwood Ward seat.

Jason Zadrozny celebrates retaining Larwood Ward at Ashfield District Council.

06.42 The full Bassetlaw result is in and shows an overall comfortable win for Labour but one gain for the Conservatives. Remember this is the area home to a Labour council but a Conservative MP – Brendan Clarke-Smith has held the seat here since 2019.

06.32 A full overall result from Bassetlaw’s count is also expected shortly.

06.13 Bassetlaw District Council – Labour HOLD

06.13 In Bassetlaw counting has also taken place overnight and Bassetlaw District Council will not change hands either. Labour have held on to the authority with 33 seats so far.

05.57 Ashfield District Council – Independent HOLD

05.57 First we can bring you news from Ashfield District Council where the Ashfield Independents have held on to the council after passing the magic 18 seats required to keep overall control of the authority.

05.56 Coverage comes from Local Democracy Reporters Andrew Topping in Ashfield and Mansfield, Joe Locker in Nottingham and Anna Whittaker in Broxtowe. Alongside them today are Jordan Guerrero, Hannah Levene, Sasha Jackson, Reuben Claypole and Mateusz Gasinski.

05.55 Good morning Nottinghamshire. If you’re awake at this hour and reading then this you like local politics as much as Chris Breese, our digital editor, who will be following things throughout the day.

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