Labour’s 100% hold over Manchester City Council was broken by experienced Liberal Democrat John Leech on an otherwise quiet day in the Manchester City Council elections.
Former Withington MP Leech was elected by a comfortable 700 votes in Didsbury West, leaving the make-up of Manchester City Council 95 Labour councillors and one lone Lib Dem.
Labour held all of their other 31 seats without much fuss, despite the Lib Dems also coming close in Chorlton Park.
“This is a small step forward for the Liberal Democrats in Manchester,” Leech told his supporters as his victory was announced.
“We have finally cracked the one party state.”
While a Corbyn-led Labour showed its strength in central Manchester, the view for the party across Greater Manchester is more mixed with overall results showing a slight drift away.
Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell was cautious about the result, saying: “It’s far from a slam dunk. It’s time to take stock and learn some lessons.”
The Liberal Democrats’ result in South Manchester will be heartening for the party who have been looking to rebuild in the city after losing all of their seats in 2014.
Supporters of other parties will also take some solace as they have decried Labour’s ‘one party state’ as undemocratic and requiring opposition.
Predictably, parties on the right of the political spectrum didn’t do well, with the Conservatives only managing second place in four of the 32 seats they contested.
Stephen Woods, the Area Officer of Greater Manchester Conservatives who contested in Brooklands ward, expressed his disappointment, saying: “We’re not connecting with the inner city.”
UKIP, however, were slightly more focused in North Manchester, achieving second place in nine of the thirteen seats they contested including Gorton North and Moston.
