Wakefield Metropolitan District Council election, 2006

The 2006 Wakefield Metropolitan District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council in West Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party kept overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Labour 41
• Conservative 14
• Independent 5
• Liberal Democrat 3^[2]

Campaign

Before the election Labour had 44 seats, the Conservatives 10, independents 6 and the Liberal Democrats 3 seats.^[3] 75 candidates stood in the election for the 21 seats that were being contested,^[3] with Labour very unlikely to lose control of the council, which was the only council in West Yorkshire they still had a majority on.^[4]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives gain 4 seats, 3 from Labour and 1 from an independent.^[5][6] Labour were defeated in Horbury and South Ossett, Pontefract South and Wrenthorpe and Outwood West wards,^[5] with the losses blamed by the Labour leader on national issues.^[7] The other Conservative gain came in Wakefield South where they defeated independent councillor Norman Hazell by 17 votes.^[5][8] Hazell was a former Conservative member who had left the party in 2001 to sit as an independent councillor.^[5] However the other independent member managed to hold his seat in Featherstone despite a strong challenge from Labour.^[5]

Wakefield Local Election Result 2006[2][9][10]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	13	0	3	-3	61.9	41.7	32,765	-4.0%
	Conservative	6	4	0	+4	28.6	29.1	22,832	-0.7%
	Liberal Democrat	1	0	0	0	4.8	9.4	7,375	+1.1%
	Independent	1	0	1	-1	4.8	7.6	5,962	-2.3%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	10.7	8,426	+6.7%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	861	+0.6%
	Socialist Alternative	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	231	-0.3%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	128	-0.9%

Ward results

Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sarah Balfour	1,707	41.6
	Conservative	Andrew Crowther	1,285	31.3
	Independent	John Evans	566	13.8
	Liberal Democrat	Oliver Wadsworth	543	13.2
Majority			422	10.3
Turnout			4,101
	Labour hold		Swing

Airedale and Ferry Fryston[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Broom	1,655	58.0
	BNP	Stephen Rogerson	709	24.9
	Conservative	Eamonn Mullins	489	17.1
Majority			946	33.1
Turnout			2,853
	Labour hold		Swing

Altofts and Whitwood[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Darran Travis	1,717	49.6
	BNP	Loraine Frazer	682	19.7
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Burch	572	16.5
	Conservative	Tom Dixon	490	14.2
Majority			1,035	29.9
Turnout			3,461
	Labour hold		Swing

Castleford Central and Glasshoughton[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denise Jeffery	1,884	52.8
	BNP	Rita Robinson	876	24.6
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Mann	475	13.3
	Conservative	Rebecca Mullins	333	9.3
Majority			1,008	28.2
Turnout			3,568
	Labour hold		Swing

Crofton, Ryhill and Walton[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graham Isherwood	1,594	35.9
	Conservative	Adam Parry	1,247	28.1
	BNP	Dean Crossland	868	19.6
	Independent	Janice Power	729	16.4
Majority			347	7.8
Turnout			4,438
	Labour hold		Swing

Featherstone[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Roy Bickerton	2,207	50.1
	Labour	Margaret Isherwood	1,871	42.5
	Conservative	Jean Molloy	326	7.4
Majority			336	7.6
Turnout			4,404
	Independent hold		Swing

Hemsworth[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tracey Hardwick	1,773	66.1
	Conservative	Christian l'Anson	908	33.9
Majority			865	32.2
Turnout			2,681
	Labour hold		Swing

Horbury and South Ossett[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Sharp	1,411	34.3
	Labour	David Watts	1,245	30.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Goodair	873	21.2
	BNP	John Aveyard	582	14.2
Majority			166	4.0
Turnout			4,111
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Knottingley[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patricia Doyle	1,673	64.1
	Conservative	Nathan Garbutt	937	35.9
Majority			736	28.2
Turnout			2,610
	Labour hold		Swing

Normanton[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Blezard	1,370	43.3
	BNP	Adam Frazer	667	21.1
	Independent	William Wood	432	13.6
	Conservative	Tony Ayoade	426	13.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jack Smith	272	8.6
Majority			703	22.2
Turnout			3,167
	Labour hold		Swing

Ossett[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Walker	1,752	38.7
	Labour	Gwendoline Page	1,179	26.0
	BNP	Suzy Cass	806	17.8
	Conservative	Tony Homewood	794	17.5
Majority			573	12.7
Turnout			4,531
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Pontefract North[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clive Tennant	1,757	62.0
	Conservative	Mellisa Wan Omer	1,077	38.0
Majority			680	24.0
Turnout			2,834
	Labour hold		Swing

Pontefract South[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Walsh	1,852	42.2
	Labour	James Nicholson	1,810	41.2
	Independent	Clive Wigham	730	16.6
Majority			42	1.0
Turnout			4,392
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

South Elmsall and South Kirkby[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Laurie Harrison	2,482	73.3
	Conservative	Sheila Scholes	902	26.7
Majority			1,580	46.6
Turnout			3,384
	Labour hold		Swing

Stanley and Outwood[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jacqueline Williams	1,246	33.5
	Conservative	Graham Ridler	986	26.5
	BNP	Glenn Fothergill	777	20.9
	Liberal Democrat	David Evans	706	19.0
Majority			260	7.0
Turnout			3,715
	Labour hold		Swing

Wakefield East[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Olivia Rowley	1,541	44.2
	Conservative	Andrew Pesterfield	648	18.6
	Liberal Democrat	Ather Mohammed	540	15.5
	BNP	Dawn Byrom	528	15.1
	Socialist Alternative	Michael Griffiths	231	6.6
Majority			893	25.6
Turnout			3,488
	Labour hold		Swing

Wakefield North[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Rhodes	1,356	38.9
	Conservative	Angela Holwell	774	22.2
	Liberal Democrat	Douglas Dale	621	17.8
	BNP	Graham Thewlis-Hardy	609	17.5
	UKIP	Keith Wells	128	3.7
Majority			582	16.7
Turnout			3,488
	Labour hold		Swing

Wakefield Rural[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	June Drysdale	2,471	51.1
	Labour	Hazel Chowcat	1,507	31.1
	Green	John Lumb	861	17.8
Majority			964	20.0
Turnout			4,839
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wakefield South[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nadeen Ahmed	1,315	29.4
	Independent	Norman Hazell	1,298	29.0
	Labour	Charles Keith	747	16.7
	BNP	Neville Poynton	594	13.3
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Huthall	521	11.6
Majority			17	0.4
Turnout			4,475
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Wakefield West[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Stone	2,318	57.1
	Labour	Anthony Richardson	1,241	30.6
	Liberal Democrat	Susan Morgan	500	12.3
Majority			1,077	26.5
Turnout			4,059
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wrenthorpe and Outwood West[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Betty Liles	1,843	46.3
	Labour	Rosaline Lund	1,410	35.4
	BNP	Grant Rowe	728	18.3
Majority			433	10.9
Turnout			3,981
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Wakefield". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
2. "Local elections". The Times. 2006-05-06. p. 64.
3. "UK's eyes on us as council faces the litmus test". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2006-04-05.
4. "Parties battle to regain control". BBC News Online. 2006-04-27. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
5. "Coalition keeps its grip on city". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2006-05-06.
6. "No surprises in election results". BBC News Online. 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
7. "Tories gain Wakefield seats". Wakefield Express. 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
8. "Stalwart is ousted in elections". Wakefield Express. 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
9. "Local Election Results May 2006". Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
10. "Local election results 2006". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2006-05-06.