NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE POLL: CONSERVATIVES TRIUMPH ON NIGHT OF SURPRISES

THE Conservatives have  sensationally seized overall control of North East Lincolnshire Council.

In a shock result, they won a series of seats and are now in a position to  run the authority without need to form alliances with any of the other political groups.

The new state of the parties is:

Conservative	23
Labour	14
Liberal Democrats	4
UKIP	1

The outcome of the vote was completely out of kilter with what happened in most of the rest of England and seems to confirm North East Lincolnshire as a pendulum borough whose residents' voting behaviour is almost impossible to predict.

The Tory triumph came mostly at the expense of Labour which unexpectedly lost seats that were thought to be relatively safe.

But the Lib-Dems, the Green Party and Independents also fared poorly - their lacklustre performances failing  to mirror the successes achieved in other parts of the country.

However, Ukip managed to secure one of the two seats up for grabs  in the South ward.

A feature of the election was that a large number of those who attended the polling booths spoiled their voting papers in apparent protest over the messy current state of politics - both national and local.

Noting the low turn-out (just 27.31 %), Grimsby’s Labour MP, Melanie Onn, attributed her party’s poor showing to an inability to get its voters out.

But there was a borough-wide perception that the previous Labour administration had consistently failed to heed public opinion - most notably over its highly contentious plan to replace the roundabout at Waltham Toll Bar with traffic lights.

Its fortunes were not helped when its erstwhile leader, Ray Oxby, resigned after a bizarre motoring accident - he was reported to have crashed his car into his own garden wall - which led to him being quizzed by police.

Conservative leader Coun Philip Jackson said the decision on Waltham Toll Bar would be “addressed” as a priority.

But an even more pressing challenge will be to form a cabinet of colleagues, most of whom (including himself) have limited or no experience of high-level decision-making, at least in a political context.

Coun Jackson will also have to forge an effective working relationship with the council’s chief executive, Rob Walsh.

Despite the low turn-out, the count, held at Grimsby Auditorium, was not concluded until 3.30am  - proceedings having been held up by a recount requested by one of the candidates in South Ward.

FULL RESULTS

Croft Baker (turnout: 27.41%)

Candidate	Party	No. of Votes Polled
Bob Callison	Conservative	1049
Roy Horobin	Liberal Democrat	388
Judy Nichols	Labour	808

East Marsh (turnout: 20.96%)

Candidate	Party	No. of Votes Polled
Mark Patrick Gee	Labour	296
Phillip Andrew Moulson	UKIP	264
David George Townend	Conservative	80
Terry Walker	Liberal Democrat	738

Freshney (turnout: 28.00%)

Candidate	Party	No. of Votes Polled
Tom Furneaux	Conservative	713
Martin Joseph Grant	UKIP	363
Mick Kiff	Independent	362
Sheldon James Mill	Labour	580

Haverstoe (turnout: 32.54%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Peter Kenneth Bailey	Labour	559
Keith Cyrus Brookes	Conservative	1962

Heneage (turnout: 24.81%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Matthew David Patrick	Labour	800
Mark Smith	Conservative	595
John Matthew Stockton	UKIP	552

Humberston and New Waltham (turnout: 32.11%)

Candidate	Party	No. of Votes Polled
Sheldon Ellis	Labour	480
Stan Shreeve	Conservative	2301

Immingham (turnout: 25.87%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
David Bolton	Labour	818
Karen Doris Swinburn	Conservative	1269

Park (turnout: 32.10%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Matthew Craig Barrow	Labour	491
Anthony Alan Blake	UKIP	482
David Michael De Freitas	Liberal Democrat	781
Debbie Woodward	Conservative	1034

Scartho (turnout: 34.08%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Liz Haddock	Labour	609
Louise Horobin	Liberal Democrat	193
Ian Robert Lindley	Conservative	1725
Stephen John White	UKIP	442

Sidney Sussex (turnout: 21.97%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Marie Ann Green	Labour	715
John Robert Hancock	UKIP	512
Graham Donald Reynolds	Conservative	544

South Ward (turnout: 20.70%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Paul David Batson	Conservative	381
Liudmila Berezina	UKIP	363
Jane Elizabeth Bramley	UKIP	528 (for one year term)
Loyd Layton Emmerson	Green	232
Janet Angela Goodwin	Labour	532 (for full four year term)
Deborah Elsie Florence May Hill	Independent	314
Roy Long	Independent	160
Ian Stuart Rodwell	Labour	442

Waltham (turnout: 33.29%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Philip Jackson	Conservative	1557
Vikki Verity	Labour	260

West Marsh (turnout: 21.08%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Peter Michael Barker	Independent	310
Adrian Jackson	UKIP	212
Hugh George James Riches	Conservative	118
Karl Wilson	Labour	410

Wolds (turnout: 30.36%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Henry Richard Hudson	Conservative	1344
Karl Andrew Quibell	Labour	404

Yarborough (turnout: 22.67%)

Candidate	Party	No. of votes polled
Garry Kenneth Abel	Conservative	867
Kieran Ian Barlow	Socialist Alternative	421
Peter Christopher Wheatley	Labour	622