It seems that the Independent Alliance are not the only ones that believe the increased General Election turnout played a pivotal role in the council election results!

Maggie Sullivan, Head of the Independent Group at the Local Government Association (LGA) sent the following e-mail on behalf of Councillor Keith Ross OBE, leader of the Independent Group.

The LGA has four political groups; Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent. The Independent Group represents approximately 2,000 Independent Councillors across England and Wales i.e. councillors who are not members of the three largest political parties.

Dear Colleague

As you know local elections were held in 164 authorities in England on May 6. On behalf of Keith Ross, Leader of the Independent Group, I am emailing to give you all a preliminary view of the fortunes of those councillors able to apply for support from the Local Government Association Independent Group arising from the elections. 

There are some bright lights on our horizon arising from the elections. Independent Councillors continue to hold the balance of power in the London Borough of Merton. We have gained the balance of power in Mole Valley (Surrey), Barrow-in Furness and Hyndburn. Green Councillors now hold the balance of power in Sheffield. In several other authorities, Independent Group members have maintained their numbers as before. 

However, although the votes for the General Election left Labour in a less favourable position than before, at the local level voters have returned to the Labour Party in considerable numbers. Initial analysis shows that as far as the Independent Group at the LGA is concerned, we are down around 125 seats for the coming political year. Please note that these figures are still to be finally verified but we don’t expect them to change much in the final figure. Both Liberal-Democrats and the Conservatives have also lost a considerable number of seats in the local elections.  

Clearly councillors we’d hoped to see win fought just as hard as they could and we would like to thank those concerned for their valiant efforts. Congratulations to those who were re-elected of course and to new Independent Group Councillors – if existing colleagues are in touch with new councillors could you pass on our best wishes and a warm welcome to them. We will be in touch with first time elected councillors as soon as possible with more information about the Independent Group at the LGA. 

We will give you more detail about what the final political map for the coming political year looks like as soon as possible. The research and development department at the LGA are compiling the map now. 

Once again, congratulations to everyone concerned for their efforts and energies. Time, now to renew our energies and effort ready for the local elections due in 2011.

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