Burnley Borough Council election, 1999

The 1999 Burnley Borough Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, 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 31
• Liberal Democrat 9
• Independent 5
• Conservative 3^[2]

Campaign

Seventeen seats were contested in the election, with two vacancies in Rosehill ward.^[3] Labour were the only party to contest all 17 seats, with the other candidates coming from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and independents.^[3] A record nine independents stood in the election in which they were defending seats in Lowerhouse, Queensgate and Rosehill, in all of which councillors had previously defected from Labour.^[4]

The election saw controversy in Daneshouse ward where a policy enquiry was launched after complaints of voters being assigned proxy votes without their permission.^[5][6] Out of an electorate of 4,158, over 1,100 had proxy votes with an estimate that 775 would be for Liberal Democrats as against 375 for Labour.^[5] The Liberal Democrat candidate, Mozaquir Ali, said he would call for the election to be re-run if he lost, as a council electoral officer had given him incorrect advice on the eligibility of some proxy votes.^[7] The situation in Daneshouse partly led to the government reviewing the law on proxy votes to ensure they were not misused to guarantee votes.^[8] Meanwhile, the police enquiry would last for nearly a year but eventually decided no action should be taken. ^[9]

The police were again asked to investigate due to claims in an independent candidate's leaflet.^[10] Labour said that the claim that they reduced rates on their own party offices was misleading and in contravention of the Representation of the People Act 1983.^[10]

Election result

The results of the election saw all four groups on the council remain at the same number of seats, with Labour keeping their majority on the council.^[11] The only seat changes came in Brunshaw where the independent took a seat from Labour and in Lanehead where Labour took a seat back.^[11] Overall turnout in the election was 28%.^[11]

The hard fought contest in Danehouse ward saw the Liberal Democrat Mozaquir Ali win the election by 216 over Saeed Akhtar Chaudhary from Labour.^[11] Turnout in the ward was a record 70% substantially higher than in the rest of Burnley.^[12] On the day after the election fighting broke out in Danehouse ward between supporters of Labour and the Liberal Democrats with the police needed to separate the two groups, while the Labour candidate and his son were hit by a vehicle.^[13]

References

Council elections in Lancashire
County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017
Blackburn with Darwen	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Blackpool	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015
Burnley	1973 1976 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 2016
Chorley	1973 1976 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 2016
Fylde	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Hyndburn	1973 1976 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 2016
Lancaster	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Pendle	1973 1976 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 2016
Preston	1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 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 2016
Ribble Valley	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Rossendale	1973 1976 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 2016
South Ribble	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
West Lancashire	1973 1976 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 2016
Wyre	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
See also: Wards Boundary changes

(1998 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 1999 (→ 2000)
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National Assembly elections	Scotland Wales
See also: European Parliament election