Elections to Barrow-in-Furness Council was held on 1 May 2008. The whole of the council was up for election, with the number of councillors falling from 38 to 36, as a result of ward boundary changes enacted in February 2008.[1] Councillors were elected for terms ranging between two and four years; where more than one councillor was elected in a ward, the councillor with the highest number of votes was granted the longer term.[1]
The election results were both tight and dramatic, with well known local councillors failing to be re-elected and recounts in certain wards delaying the announcement of votes.[2] No party gained control of the council, and local news sources claimed that the biggest winners from the election were the local People's Party, who quadrupled their number of councillors,[3] and independent candidates campaigning against plans to open an Academy school in the town.[4] Mirroring the results in other local elections across England and Wales held on the same day, the Conservative Party ended as the largest group on the council with the Labour Party party's representation dropping heavily.[4]
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Following the 2007 election and the defection of two Conservative Party councillors to the Liberal Democrats in October 2007, [5] the composition of the council entering the election was:
| Affiliation | Members |
|
| Conservative Party | 17 | |
| Labour Party | 16 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 2 | |
| Independent | 2 | |
| People's Party | 1 | |
| Barrow-in-Furness Local Election Result 2008 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/- | ||
| Conservative | 17 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 47.2 | 42.6 | 15 756 | -3.5% | ||
| Labour | 8 | 0 | 8 | -8 | 22.0 | 34.4 | 12 724 | -3.7% | ||
| Independent | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 16.7 | 14.1 | 5 211 | +5.0% | ||
| Socialist People's Party | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11.0 | 4.9 | 1 828 | -0.3% | ||
| Liberal Democrat | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 1 173 | +3.2% | ||
| BNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 321 | +0.2% | ||
The break-down of councillor terms as a result of the election is shown below. The seats of the ten councillors with two year terms were contested in the 2010 council election.
| Affiliation | Term Length | |||
| 2 Years | 3 Years | 4 Years | ||
| Conservative Party | 4 | 6 | 6 | |
| Labour Party | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Independent | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| People's Party | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Barrow Island | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Independent | Eric Wood | 381 | 80.9 | ||
| Labour | Trevor Biggins | 90 | 19.1 | ||
| Majority | 291 | 61.8 | |||
| Turnout | 471 | 25.2 | |||
| Central (2) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Mary Irwin | 232 | |||
| Socialist People's Party | Rosmerie Hamezeian | 224 | |||
| Independent | Norman Hill | 176 | |||
| Labour | Margaret Thomson | 174 | |||
| Socialist People's Party | Sarah Martinez | 158 | |||
| Turnout | 964 | 20.3 | |||
| Dalton North (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Jill Heath | 870 | |||
| Conservative | Kath Unwin | 812 | |||
| Conservative | Bill Bleasdale | 730 | |||
| Labour | Dennis Bell | 502 | |||
| Labour | Jayne Phizacklea | 432 | |||
| Labour | Dermot O'Connor | 386 | |||
| Liberal Democrat | Lynn Murray | 376 | |||
| Turnout | 4,108 | 32.0 | |||
| Dalton South (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Timothy Bell | 689 | |||
| Conservative | Dorothy James | 623 | |||
| Independent | John Millar | 577 | |||
| Conservative | David Gill | 576 | |||
| Liberal Democrat | Frank Murray | 377 | |||
| Labour | Wendy Maddox | 369 | |||
| Labour | Barry Doughty | 347 | |||
| Labour | Graham Chester | 329 | |||
| Turnout | 3,887 | 31.1 | |||
| Hawcoat (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Independent | Michael Stephenson | 922 | |||
| Conservative | Dave Roberts | 779 | |||
| Conservative | Jack Richardson | 720 | |||
| Independent | Chloe Lancaster | 719 | |||
| Conservative | Bill Joughin | 705 | |||
| Labour | Rebbecca Melling | 290 | |||
| Turnout | 4,135 | 42.2 | |||
| Hindpool (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | David Pidduck | 445 | |||
| Labour | Michelle Roberts | 441 | |||
| Conservative | Phil Murray | 359 | |||
| Labour | Kenneth Beeres | 335 | |||
| Turnout | 1,580 | 20.4 | |||
| Newbarns (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Dorothy Dawes | 609 | |||
| Conservative | Colin Liversedge | 516 | |||
| Independent | Philip Solloway | 511 | |||
| Conservative | Bob Maltman | 486 | |||
| Labour | Charles Elliot | 299 | |||
| Labour | Lorraine Biggins | 243 | |||
| Labour | Allison Johnston | 216 | |||
| Turnout | 2,880 | 29.9 | |||
| Ormsgill (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Socialist People's Party | Jim Hamezeian | 632 | |||
| Socialist People's Party | Sheila Begley | 407 | |||
| Socialist People's Party | William McEwan | 407 | |||
| Labour | Stephen Forbes | 360 | |||
| Conservative | Alison Giles | 341 | |||
| Labour | Stephen Groundwater | 295 | |||
| Labour | Ernest Wilson | 280 | |||
| Independent | Margie Arts | 235 | |||
| Independent | James Tongue | 226 | |||
| BNP | Mike Ashburner | 185 | |||
| BNP | Eion McPoland | 136 | |||
| Turnout | 3,504 | 31.4 | |||
| Parkside (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Independent | Jim Jefferson | 495 | |||
| Independent | Lisa Hammond | 476 | |||
| Liberal Democrat | Dominic McCavish | 420 | |||
| Labour | David McCormack | 403 | |||
| Labour | Marie Derbyshire | 390 | |||
| Labour | Tricia Kegg | 375 | |||
| Conservative | Linda Last | 371 | |||
| Conservative | Tina Macur | 300 | |||
| Conservative | Shirley Richardson | 299 | |||
| Turnout | 3,529 | 32.0 | |||
| Risedale (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Des English | 461 | |||
| Labour | Jean Waiting | 427 | |||
| Labour | Jeffery Garnett | 395 | |||
| Labour | Debra Seward | 387 | |||
| Turnout | 1,670 | 21.6 | |||
| Roosecote (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Ray Guselli | 805 | |||
| Conservative | Ken Williams | 761 | |||
| Conservative | Rory McClure | 743 | |||
| Independent | Wayne Butler | 493 | |||
| Labour | Kenneth Thomson | 290 | |||
| Labour | Lovinia Williams | 241 | |||
| Turnout | 3,333 | 36.4 | |||
| Walney North (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Des Barlow | 746 | |||
| Labour | Anita Husband | 680 | |||
| Labour | Anthony Callister | 614 | |||
| Conservative | Steve Smart | 518 | |||
| Conservative | Shahnaz Asghar | 436 | |||
| Conservative | Mike Macur | 424 | |||
| Turnout | 3,418 | 30.1 | |||
| Walney South (3) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | David Marcus | 637 | |||
| Conservative | Ollie Flitcroft | 594 | |||
| Conservative | Alan Pemberton | 592 | |||
| Labour | Colin Thomson | 528 | |||
| Labour | John Murphy | 525 | |||
| Labour | Robert Pointer | 506 | |||
| Turnout | 3,382 | 29.8 | |||
| Preceded by Barrow-in-Furness Council election, 2007 |
Barrow-in-Furness local elections | Succeeded by Barrow-in-Furness Council election, 2010 |
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