It’s a family affair in Wigan as an independent candidate joined her husband and father-in-law as a councillor for the Standish and Langley ward last night.
Standish Independent candidate Debbie Fairhurst swept to victory and will work alongside her spouse Gareth Fairhurst.
Also holding a seat in the Standish and Langley ward is Gareth’s father George Fairhurst.
All three seats in the ward are now currently held by the growing political dynasty.
Mrs Fairhurst said: “I’d like to thank everybody’s who’s voted for me in Standish.
“Hopefully now the council will take note of what we’re saying.”
Mrs Fairhurst made an impact with voters, raking in 1,543 votes for the hotly-contested seat.
This was more than twice that of her nearest opponent Conservative candidate David Ollerton – who obtained 701 votes.
Councillor Gareth Fairhurst said of his wife’s victory: “It’s a team effort, we’ve all worked hard and this is the reward.
“We’re going to continue working hard and continue to improve for next year.”
Labour maintained their dominance in Wigan overall, claiming more than 50% of the vote after controlling the borough for more than 40 years.
Veteran council leader Lord Peter Smith retained his Leigh West seat with a majority of 1,347.
The result means Labour has dropped from 63 to 62 seats at the town hall.
Councillor David Molyneux, Labour Deputy Leader of Wigan, said: “I’m very pleased. It shows we keep getting it right and we have lots of support.”
The biggest disappointment of the night belonged to for the Conservative candidate and former Wigan Mayor, Michael Winstanley, who narrowly missed out in his attempt to regain the seat he lost in 2011.
He said: “Yes I’m disappointed on a personal level but we’re still in a healthy position as a party.
“We’ll be looking forward now to next year and working hard to make sure we’re in a stronger position then.”
The Liberal Democrats lost their seat to Labour in Tyldesley meaning they now control no seats on Wigan council.
The overall turnout for the election was 28.5%, a slight increase from 28.2% for the last election in 2012.
