St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2012

Map of the results of the 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

The 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Labour 40
• Liberal Democrats 5
• Conservative 3^[2]

Background

Before the election Labour ran the council with 35 seats, while the Liberal Democrats had 9 seats and the Conservatives had 4 seats.^[3] 16 seats were contested in 2012, with Labour defending 9, Liberal Democrats 5 and the Conservatives 2.^[3]

Five councillors stood down at the election, two Conservatives, Betty Lowe and the former leader of the Conservative group Wally Ashcroft, two Labour members Leon McGuire and Eric Smith, and one Liberal Democrat, John Beirne.^[3] Meanwhile a former Liberal Democrat cabinet member, Carole Kavanagh, resigned her membership of the party over the policies of the national coalition government and defended her seat as an independent candidate.^[3]

While the Conservative, Labour and the Green parties contested every seat, the Liberal Democrats only put up candidates in 9 of the 16 wards.^[3][4]

Election result

Labour gained 5 seats at the election to have 40 of the 48 councillors on St Helens council.^[5] The Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats to Labour to be reduced to 5 councillors, while the Conservatives lost 1 seat to have 3 councillors.^[5]

The Labour gains included defeating both the Liberal Democrat group leader and councillor for 27 years,^[6] Brian Spencer, in Sutton and the Liberal Democrat deputy leader Suzanne Knight in Newton.^[5] The Liberal Democrats held only one seat at the 2012 election in Eccleston, while the Conservatives held one seat in Rainford.^[7] Meanwhile after contesting every seat at the election, the Greens failed to win any seats, but did come second in Blackbrook, Thatto Heath and West Park wards.^[8]

Brian Spencer, the former Liberal Democrat leader of St Helens council, was involved in an altercation with an Labour candidate, Mark Johnson, at the election count and would later in 2012 be convicted and fined for assault over the incident.^[5][9]

Ward results

By-elections between 2012 and 2014

Windle

A by-election was held in Windle on 2 May 2013 after the death of Labour councillor Pat Martinez-Williams.^[11] The seat was held for Labour by David Baines with a majority of 717 votes over Conservative Robert Reynolds.^[11]

Billinge and Seneley Green

A by-election was held in Billinge and Seneley Green on 28 November 2013 after the resignation of Labour councillor Alison Bacon.^[13][14] The seat was held for Labour by Dennis McDonnell with a majority of 494 votes over UK Independence Party candidate Laurence Allen.^[14]

References

Council elections in Merseyside Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Liverpool City Council 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Merseyside County Council 1973 1977 1981 Abolished

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