The loudest cheers of the night at Aintree Racecourse came as Labour made gains, claiming seats from independent councillors.
Sefton Council's election counts were a sea of red as candidates, councillors and party members gathered to mark a dominant Labour performance. The party increased its control of the local authority, gaining five seats to take its total to 51 (of Sefton's 66 seats) by the time the last results were called at around 2.30am on Friday (May 5).
The election count took place overnight on Thursday (May 4) and into Friday. Counts were split across Southport's Dunes Leisure Centre and two suites at the racecourse, where the borough's south and central seats were declared.
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At Aintree, Labour held onto the seven up for election within Bootle constituency and made gains in Sefton Central - in the Harington, Sudell, Ravenmeols and Park wards. Sitting Sudell Labour councillor James Hansen said the gains showed that Labour were "on the up".
He told the ECHO: "The results are clear tonight. We've got the best result we've ever got in Sefton with 51 out of 66 councillors. Considering we only took control in 2012, it's clear that Labour are on the up here. People are responding to the work we're doing. They want decent councillors who represent them, but the graft in, are hard-working and it shows tonight."
The two suites at the racecourse which held the Bootle and Sefton Central counts were dominated by Labour personnel. There was a smattering of other candidates, including some Greens and a few Conservatives, but Sefton's governing party dominated proceedings.
After he won his seat in Bootle's Victoria ward, Leslie Byrom told the ECHO: "The Conservative Party, in this part of the country, their votes collapse. It's no surprise, they're being punished by the electorate. The Liberal Democrats, as you can see, didn't bother to show up and their votes collapsed.
"Quite clearly, Labour is the vote bucking the trend and showing time after time that the Labour vote holds up in Sefton. We've got an extra five seats, which is really good news. It's great for the leadership here, for all the work that's being done and really ought to be reflected in the general election when it very quickly comes."
There was plenty of talk of the general election and national issues among the candidates. Not impressed by this was Daniel Kirk, 18, who was standing for the Conservatives in Sudell ward.
These were the first elections that the Lancaster University student was able to vote in. He told the ECHO: "most parties have been trying to turn this into a national issue when it's really about local issues".
He added: "The Conservatives can offer Sefton lower council tax" and added: "we want to stand up for families in the area and stop building on the green belt."
"At the moment, the Conservative Party has found that (national issues) difficult. Well there are a lot of issues at the moment, the economy is not in the greatest shape with inflation at 10%, but I'm hoping Rishi Sunak will be able to control that."
However, Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson told the ECHO that Labour's performance in the local elections across the country shows that the electorate wants change. The Tories suffered significant council losses, while Keir Starmer's party has picked up a number of target councils including Plymouth and Swindon.
Mr Esterson said: "I think this is a very important next step and I think we can be optimistic that the country is starting to see Labour has the opportunity to improve the fortunes of the country, to improve the fortunes of families and of communities up and down the country, including right here in Sefton."
In the north of the borough, the first big result of the night was Labour's gain in Ainsdale. The seat had previously been held by Cllr Terry Jones, a former Conservative councillor who broke away to join the Southport independents but he didn't stand this year.
A recount was ordered before Janet Harrison took the seat for Labour by just 16 votes - the first time the party has won a seat in the ward. Winning the seat in the Southport area will increase Labour's confidence of taking the parliamentary seat back from Merseyside's only Tory MP Damien Moore at the next general election.
However, the area is also a target for the Liberal Democrats. Councillor Iain Brodie-Browne spoke to the ECHO as he pointed out that his party topped the popular vote in the constituency in these local votes.
He said: “It’s been a great night for the Lib Dems. We’ve topped the popular vote in Southport. If a general election was held today on these votes, we would have won It. Labour have been strutting around boasting that they were going to win Southport and we defeated them."
It was a productive night for Labour. The party was always going to retain control of the council, but those in attendance at Aintree delighted to have strengthened.
The results left Labour on 51 seats, with the Liberal Democrats in second place on eight seats. The Conservatives have five seats and only two independents remain.
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