Conservative candidate claims Salford mayoral first round 'not a total walkover by Labour' despite 12K vote difference

THE COUNT: For second round

By Alex McIntyre & Najeeb Rehman

The conservative candidate vying to become Salford’s mayor has claimed that the first round of results do not convey a total walkover.

Karen Garrido, who polled 17% of the vote, is through to the second count at the Salford mayoral election but is a distant second to Labour’s Ian Stewart, who polled 46%.

 Ms Garrido said: “At least it has not been a total walkover like people thought it would be.”

When asked about the low turnout she said: “Labour have been in power for 40 years and people think it will not make a difference if they vote.”  

She then went on to criticise the building of the Salford City Stadium, the venue for the count.

“Why have we borrowed £25million to build this stadium. With that money we could have eradicated child poverty in the area."

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