The Green Party made key gains at Knowsley’s elections as Labour retained control of the council.
The ruling Labour group headed into elections this year confident of retaining control of its huge majority across Knowsley Council. With 16 of the borough’s 45 seats up for grabs, Labour retained many in its strongeholds.
Labour also made one key gain – taking Whitefield from independent John Morgan, who had defected from the party last year – although they also lost in key battlegrounds to their main local rivals, Knowsley’s Greens.
READ MORE: Local Elections 2023 results from Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley and across the country
A major victory for the Greens saw them win comfortably in St Gabriels Ward, Labour’s Jo Schumacher, who became candidate after the controversial deselection of Crispin Evans, lost to the Green’s Graham Golding by 213 votes.
The Greens also made a crucial gain in Roby with Paul Woodruff taking the seat from Labour’s Hugh Malone by 34 votes. In Whiston, which Green leader Cllr Kai Taylor said “Labour threw all it had at”, sitting councillor Ron Gaffney retained his seat with a margin of 121 votes.
In Prescot North, the Lib Dems retained their seats, with a Cllr Marke Burke winning the seat of former Knowsley Lib Dem leader Carl Cashman, who had moved over to take his chances in Liverpool, where earlier today he secured victory in Church ward.
Cllr Mark Burke spoke of his “delight” at being chosen by Prescot North voters. He joins his sister Joanne Burke in representing the people of Prescot. She sits as a Green councillor in Prescot South.
In Halewood South, independent Barbara Dunn retained her seat, winning with a nearly 40 vote margin against Labour’s Clare Louise Rose.
Speaking after the count, Knowsley opposition leader and leader of the Greens Cllr Kai Taylor said he was “thrilled” with the result.
Cllr Taylor said: “We won our two target seats and held on in Prescot south despite a significant and at times nasty campaign. I’m thrilled with the result. Speaking to people on the doorstep, it’s not a surprise.
“There’s a lot of apathy with Labour in terms of Keir Starmer’s campaign pledges, people don’t seem to trust him now. You’ve got those national issues there’s also the local issues. People feel disconnected, like they’re not being listened to. ”
Speaking on Twitter after the results, a Knowsley Labour spokesperson called the results “bitter sweet.”
The spokesperson said; “Congratulations to all elected Labour Knowsley councillors. Bitter sweet for colleagues who didn’t quite make it. Heads held high, after some really great campaigns.”
The results mean Labour now have 31 seats, with the Greens rising to 7 councillors. There are four independent councillors and the Lib Dems remain on three seats.
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Local Elections 2023 results Live from Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley and across the country
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