Labour maintained their stronghold of Wigan council at the local elections but failed to sweep the board like many had predicted.
The party won 19 out of the 25 available seats but only gained one new ward in Tyldesley taking their representation in the chamber up to 63.
The conservatives now have five councillors after winning two new seats in Standish and Orrell while the Wigan Independent Network held onto two seats.
Ukip, Liberal Democrats and Green Party candidates failed to make inroads and did not win any of the available seats.
Labour councillor Damian Edwardson held onto his seat in Shevington and hailed a great night for his party in the borough.
“It’s been a fantastic night for Labour,” he told MM.
“I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t gain all the seats which is what we wanted to do at the start of the night but at the end of the day we’ve got some tough opposition out there. Everyone campaigns really hard and you can’t take that away from people.
“We’ll carry on what we’re doing now. We believe in a thing called ‘positive politics’. Everything we do is aimed at making things better for people. We’ve got a lot of big projects in the works with local clubs and sporting clubs and we’ll keep working hard for the residents.”
The best victory speech of the night went to Douglas’ new Labour councillor Patricia Draper who was overjoyed to win her first council election by a landslide of 1463 votes over the Conservative candidate.
An excited Ms Draper said: “This is a great result for Douglas.
“We have a few issues to sort out and I’m the right person to do it. I want to thank the people of Douglas and assure them I can do a good job in that ward.”
The closest ward on the night as predicted was in Orrell where Conservative Michael Winstanley was elected with a majority of just 77 votes.
“The amount of work we’ve put in and the effort in this campaign has paid dividends,” he said.
“I’ve had an outstanding reception on the doorstep and I’d like to thank the voters for voting for me in this election.
“I’ve been a councillor in Orrell previously so voters will have seen the work that I’ve done before and the work I’ve done when I’ve not been on the council as well in campaigning and helping people in the area. I think that’s paid dividends with the election result tonight.
“I’m going to go home now and straight to work tomorrow!”
Picture courtesy of Martin Deutsch, with thanks.
