Map of the results of the 2007 Southampton council election.
Conservatives in blue,
Labour in red and Liberal Democrats in yellow.
The 2007 Southampton Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Southampton Unitary Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]
After the election, the composition of the council was
Campaign
Before the election the Conservative and Labour parties both had 16 seats, while the Liberal Democrats who formed the administration had 15 seats, with one seat, formerly Liberal Democrat, being vacant.[3] 17 seats were being contested in the election, with 2 seats up in Millbrook after Liberal Democrat Virginia Moore resigned from the council.[3]
In total 69 candidates were standing[3] and as well as candidates from the national political parties, a couple of candidates stood for local parties called Southampton First and Southampton Save Our Services.[4] They campaigned on local issues, with Southampton Save Our Services running on a platform calling for improved conditions for public sector workers in Southampton.[4] Candidates also included a 20 year old Conservative, Vince Capozzoli in Portswood, after the age for councillors was reduced from 21 to 18.[5]
National politicians including Conservative leader David Cameron and Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain visited Southampton to campaign for their parties.[6][7]
The council used an electronic system to check postal votes, but had to check them by hand after the system failed to read up to 40% of them.[8][9]
Election result
The results saw no party win a majority, but the Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats, 2 each to the Conservative and Labour parties.[10] The Conservatives won 9 of the 17 seats contested, to move to 18 seats, level with Labour, while the Liberal Democrats fell to 12 seats.[11] One of the Conservative gains from the Liberal Democrats came in Swaythling and was put down to plans for a travellers' camp in the area, which had been opposed by the Conservative candidate.[12] Overall turnout in the election was 30.2%.[12]
Following the election Conservative group leader Alec Samuels was elected leader of the council.[13] This came after one Liberal Democrat councillor, Norah Goss, voted in favour of a Conservative administration, breaking from the rest of the party who abstained.[13]
Southampton Local Election Result 2007[14][15] |
Party |
Seats |
Gains |
Losses |
Net gain/loss |
Seats % |
Votes % |
Votes |
+/− |
|
Conservative |
9 |
2 |
0 |
+2 |
52.9 |
37.5 |
20,321 |
+5.0% |
|
Labour |
6 |
2 |
0 |
+2 |
35.3 |
30.5 |
16,489 |
+0.7% |
|
Liberal Democrat |
2 |
0 |
4 |
-4 |
11.8 |
23.8 |
12,892 |
-5.0% |
|
Green |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5.1 |
2,745 |
+0.8% |
|
UKIP |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.2 |
1,201 |
+0.6% |
|
Official Southampton First |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.6 |
299 |
+0.6% |
|
Socialist Alternative |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
116 |
-0.1% |
|
Southampton Save our Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.1 |
80 |
+0.1% |
Ward results
Bargate[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Labour |
Parvin Damani |
893 |
43.2 |
+2.1 |
|
Conservative |
Amy Whiskerd |
675 |
32.6 |
+0.0 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Sylvia Drake |
305 |
14.7 |
-1.2 |
|
Green |
Rigel Jenman |
195 |
9.4 |
+9.4 |
Majority |
218 |
10.5 |
+2.0 |
Turnout |
2,068 |
16.0 |
-0.8 |
|
Labour hold |
Swing |
|
|
Bassett[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Alec Samuels |
1,858 |
47.4 |
+2.0 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Sharon Mintoff |
1,420 |
36.2 |
-10.4 |
|
Labour |
Michael Brainsby |
427 |
10.9 |
+2.9 |
|
UKIP |
Michael Cottrell |
217 |
5.5 |
+5.5 |
Majority |
438 |
11.2 |
|
Turnout |
3,922 |
35.9 |
-4.8 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Bitterne[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Labour |
Matthew Stevens |
1,373 |
48.3 |
+6.8 |
|
Conservative |
Edward Osmond |
961 |
33.8 |
+6.1 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Robert Naish |
510 |
17.9 |
+2.2 |
Majority |
412 |
14.5 |
+0.7 |
Turnout |
2,844 |
28.6 |
-1.8 |
|
Labour hold |
Swing |
|
|
Bitterne Park[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Peter Baillie |
1,663 |
49.3 |
+4.1 |
|
Labour |
Shaun Brady |
734 |
21.8 |
+1.7 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Arnold Robinson |
720 |
21.4 |
+0.4 |
|
Green |
Sarah Curl |
254 |
7.5 |
-0.5 |
Majority |
929 |
27.6 |
+3.6 |
Turnout |
3,371 |
32.6 |
-2.7 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Coxford[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Labour |
Donald Thomas |
1,219 |
34.9 |
-0.8 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Kenneth Darke |
1,162 |
33.3 |
-3.9 |
|
Conservative |
Neil Fitzgerald |
784 |
22.4 |
+3.6 |
|
UKIP |
Leslie Obee |
201 |
5.8 |
+5.8 |
|
Green |
David Curl |
128 |
3.7 |
-4.6 |
Majority |
57 |
1.6 |
|
Turnout |
3,494 |
33.9 |
+1.8 |
|
Labour gain from Liberal Democrat |
Swing |
|
|
Freemantle[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Brian Parnell |
1,369 |
45.8 |
+5.1 |
|
Labour |
Harry Mitchell |
815 |
27.3 |
-3.1 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Juliet Williams |
407 |
13.6 |
-1.4 |
|
Green |
Darren Pickering |
395 |
13.2 |
-0.7 |
Majority |
554 |
18.6 |
+8.2 |
Turnout |
2,986 |
28.2 |
-2.2 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Harefield[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Adrian Johnson |
1,723 |
49.2 |
-6.7 |
|
Labour |
Paul Jenks |
1,017 |
29.0 |
+1.1 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Diana Wills |
490 |
14.0 |
-2.2 |
|
Green |
Andrew Shaw |
275 |
7.8 |
+7.8 |
Majority |
706 |
20.1 |
-7.9 |
Turnout |
3,505 |
33.2 |
-2.1 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Peartree[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Liberal Democrat |
John Slade |
1,443 |
44.3 |
-4.4 |
|
Conservative |
Kim Baillie |
972 |
29.9 |
+2.0 |
|
Labour |
Julian Price |
839 |
25.8 |
+2.4 |
Majority |
471 |
14.5 |
-6.3 |
Turnout |
3,254 |
31.9 |
-0.7 |
|
Liberal Democrat hold |
Swing |
|
|
Portswood[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Steven Sollitt |
1,063 |
33.3 |
|
|
Conservative |
Vincenzo Capozzoli |
840 |
26.3 |
|
|
Labour |
Ann Wardle |
560 |
17.5 |
|
|
Green |
Joseph Cox |
350 |
11.0 |
|
|
Official Southampton First |
Peter Knight |
299 |
9.4 |
|
|
Southampton Save our Services |
Neil Kelly |
80 |
2.5 |
|
Majority |
223 |
7.0 |
|
Turnout |
3,192 |
29.6 |
-4.4 |
|
Liberal Democrat hold |
Swing |
|
|
Redbridge[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Labour |
Peter Marsh-Jenks |
1,292 |
43.0 |
-1.3 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Paul Russell |
906 |
30.1 |
-1.3 |
|
Conservative |
Clare Bettison |
808 |
26.9 |
+2.6 |
Majority |
368 |
12.8 |
-0.1 |
Turnout |
3,006 |
28.9 |
-1.6 |
|
Labour hold |
Swing |
|
|
Shirley[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Matthew Dean |
1,762 |
44.9 |
+3.0 |
|
Labour |
Graham Giles |
1,256 |
32.0 |
+5.4 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Pauline Harding |
395 |
10.1 |
-3.0 |
|
Green |
John Spottiswoode |
327 |
8.3 |
-4.4 |
|
UKIP |
David Geddes |
183 |
4.7 |
-1.0 |
Majority |
506 |
12.9 |
-2.4 |
Turnout |
3,923 |
38.2 |
+0.3 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Sholing[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Gavin Dick |
1,787 |
45.1 |
+10.5 |
|
Labour |
David Furnell |
1,435 |
36.2 |
-5.7 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Martin Lisle |
390 |
9.8 |
-3.6 |
|
UKIP |
Tony Weaver |
354 |
8.9 |
-1.1 |
Majority |
352 |
8.9 |
|
Turnout |
3,966 |
37.3 |
+0.0 |
|
Conservative hold |
Swing |
|
|
Swaythling[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Conservative |
Diana Odgers |
1,215 |
45.2 |
+16.5 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Anne Work |
711 |
26.5 |
-14.6 |
|
Labour |
Andrew Wilson |
504 |
18.8 |
-0.5 |
|
Green |
Christopher Bluemel |
256 |
9.5 |
-1.5 |
Majority |
504 |
18.8 |
|
Turnout |
2,686 |
28.4 |
+3.4 |
|
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat |
Swing |
|
|
Woolston[14] |
Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Labour |
Warwick Payne |
1,346 |
47.2 |
-3.5 |
|
Conservative |
John Whiskerd |
840 |
29.5 |
+3.2 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
Barbara Cove |
666 |
23.4 |
+0.4 |
Majority |
506 |
17.7 |
-6.7 |
Turnout |
2,852 |
28.5 |
-1.8 |
|
Labour gain from Liberal Democrat |
Swing |
|
|
References
Preceded by Southampton Council election, 2006 |
Southampton local elections |
Succeeded by Southampton Council election, 2008 |