Manchester now has a council ward which has no Labour representatives for the first time in years.
Anastasia Wiest’s victory in the Woodhouse Park ward means all three councillors for the Wythenshawe area are Greens. The other Green Party members are Astrid Johnson and Rob Nunney.
Ms Johnson won her seat last year, with Mr Nunney first elected in 2021. Today’s win for Ms Wiest means the Greens have picked off three Woodhouse Park Labour members in successive years.
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Woodhouse Park is the southernmost point in the city of Manchester, and includes much of Wythenshawe town centre, plus Manchester Airport.
Speaking after her win, Ms Wiest said: “I’m really excited about the result, and I’m really happy that the people of Woodhouse Park have put their trust in us again. I hope that we can live up to their hopes.
“It was really close, we were on tenterhooks until the last minute, I had no idea until he read it out. It was very, very tense.” Asked how she would celebrate, Ms Wiest joked she would ‘go to the pub’.
Astrid Johnson said: "We are incredibly pleased and grateful that the residents of Woodhouse Park have put their trust in three councillors. It's the first time Manchester has had a ward that's entirely Green.
"It's because people see us out and about all year, taking care of their issues, and that's paid off."
Woodhouse Park is just one swing seat that Labour lost in this election. The other was Ancoats & Beswick, where Chris Northwood defeated Majid Dar.
Ms Northwood, a Liberal Democrat, beat the incumbent Labour man by 335 votes. There was a 25.8 percent turnout in the city centre ward.
In Woodhouse Park, turnout was 22.4 percent, with Ms Wiest beating Labour’s Dave Marsh by only 146 votes. Mr Marsh took over the candidacy after Edward Newman stood down as a councillor.
He had represented residents on both Manchester council and in the European Parliament since 1979. He had been a Woodhouse Park councillor since 2002.
"I'm coming up to 70 years of age, and I've done 41 years as an elected rep so I thought it was time to stand down," he said. "I'm obviously disappointed that the Green Party have now got all three seats in Woodhouse Park.
"Labour had an excellent candidate in Dave Marsh who worked really hard but he was only selected four months ago so we only had a few months to work and to reduce the Green majority."
Labour is set to retain control of the council, going into this year’s poll with 91 councillors, out of a total of 96.
Greater Manchester local election results 2023
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