2003 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election

Elections to Wigan Borough Council were held on 1 May 2003 with one-third of the council was up for election. Prior to the election, there had been two vacancies in Leigh Central, with Labour winning a by-election in June and the seat being fought in this election filled unopposed by Barbara Jarvis.

Map of the results of the 2003 Wigan council election.

The election boasted a record number of candidates for an election of thirds, with 90 spread across all 24 wards. Whilst the Conservative's fielded a strong showing of all but three wards and the Lib Dems improved to fight half the wards, the bulk of the increase came from Community Action and the Socialist Alliance more than doubling their last year's totals, with the Socialist Alliance now contesting all but four wards and Community Action just under half. Labour reliably put up candidates for all wards, and the BNP a second candidate in Orrell.

Labour's share fell to under half of the votes for only the second time in the council's history, with the only other time being their low-point in 1975, with one of their lowest votes achieved. The main beneficiaries were the rapidly advancing Community Action Party, and to a lesser extent the Lib Dems, helping them to narrowly retain their third place in vote share behind the second place, and largely unchanged, Conservatives. The Socialist Alliance made little headway despite their near-full slate, and significantly fell back in their most competitive wards.

Labour lost five seats on the night, with each of three main competitors picking up seats. Community Action accounted for three, gaining further representation in Bryn and Lightshaw and also making another breakthrough in the formerly uninterrupted Labour territory of Ashton-Golborne. The Lib Dems picked up a seat in the historically competitive Aspull-Standish ward for the first time in over a decade, as well as comfortably defending their seat in Hindsford. The Tories strengthened their footing on the council with another gain in Swinley, a ward which had reliably elected Conservatives throughout the eighties, but had progressively been routed in the early nineties. This left Labour's majority at 58, the lowest in just under twenty years.

Overall turnout dropped from last year's partly recovered figure of just over a quarter of the electorate, to 22.7%.[1][2][3][4]

Election result
Wigan Local Election Result 2003
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 18 0 5 -5 75.0 49.6 26,761 -7.3
  Community Action 3 3 0 +3 12.5 13.8 7,458 +4.6
  Liberal Democrats 2 1 0 +1 8.3 14.0 7,568 +2.4
  Conservative 1 1 0 +1 4.2 17.0 9,174 -0.3
  Socialist Alliance 0 0 0 0 0.0 3.6 1,921 +1.1
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0.0 1.7 944 +0.7

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:

Party Previous council New council
Labour 65 60
Community Action 2 5
Liberal Democrat 3 4
Conservative 2 3
Socialist Alliance 0 0
BNP 0 0
Total 72 72
Working majority  58   48 

Ward results
Abram[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Carl Sweeney 1,261 56.7 -8.5
BNP Dennis Shambley 576 25.9 +3.1
Community Action Ronald Barnes 218 9.8 +9.8
Conservative Marion Green 164 7.4 -4.3
Rejected ballots 5 0.2 -0.1
Majority 685 30.8 -11.6
Turnout 2,219 25.0 -3.1
Labour hold Swing -5.8
Ashton-Golborne[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Community Action Kevin Williams 1,256 46.8 +4.7
Labour Patricia Holland 1,060 39.5 -4.8
Conservative Marie Winstanley 276 10.3 +0.2
Socialist Alliance Marian Markham 89 3.3 -0.1
Rejected ballots 3 0.1 +0.0
Majority 196 7.3 +5.2
Turnout 2,684 24.1 -2.7
Community Action gain from Labour Swing +4.7
Aspull-Standish[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Trevor Beswick 1,354 39.8 +9.3
Labour George Davies 1,296 38.1 -6.2
Conservative Barry Woolley 687 20.2 -2.0
Socialist Alliance Judith Ford 61 1.8 -1.1
Rejected ballots 3 0.1 +0.0
Majority 58 1.7 -12.1
Turnout 3,401 28.8 -1.7
Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Swing +7.7
Atherton[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Reginald Holmes 989 53.6 -1.2
Liberal Democrats John Stackhouse 659 35.7 +2.2
Conservative Ann Davies 193 10.5 +4.2
Rejected ballots 4 0.2 +0.2
Majority 330 17.9 -3.4
Turnout 1,845 21.3 -7.3
Labour hold Swing -1.7
Bedford-Astley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Lea 881 53.5 N/A
Conservative David Morris 393 23.9 N/A
Liberal Democrats Glynnis Hogg 305 18.5 N/A
Socialist Alliance Barbara Hennessy 61 3.7 N/A
Rejected ballots 6 0.4 N/A
Majority 488 29.6 N/A
Turnout 1,646 19.9 N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Beech Hill[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Collins 1,010 55.3 -2.5
Liberal Democrats Nigel Wickes 467 25.6 -6.0
Conservative Barry Alder 233 12.8 +12.8
Socialist Alliance Graham MacFarlane 111 6.1 +6.1
Rejected ballots 5 0.3 -0.1
Majority 543 29.7 +3.5
Turnout 1,826 20.1 -7.0
Labour hold Swing +1.7
Bryn[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Community Action Gary Wilkes 1,320 47.7 -0.3
Labour Robin Atkinson 1,222 44.1 -0.9
Conservative Stuart Foy 161 5.8 -1.1
Socialist Alliance Paul Lewis 61 2.2 +2.2
Rejected ballots 4 0.1 +0.0
Majority 98 3.5 +0.5
Turnout 2,768 28.0 -1.4
Community Action gain from Labour Swing +0.3
Hindley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jack Topping 1,278 66.3 -7.4
Conservative Andre Walker 331 17.2 -8.1
Liberal Democrats Tarek Gaber 190 9.9 +9.9
Socialist Alliance Mark Tebbutt 117 6.1 +6.1
Rejected ballots 12 0.6 -0.5
Majority 947 49.1 +0.7
Turnout 1,928 18.2 -3.1
Labour hold Swing +0.3
Hindley Green[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Turner 1,039 57.9 -13.8
Conservative Rosina Oxley 343 19.1 -8.0
Liberal Democrats Solveiq Gaber 273 15.2 +15.2
Socialist Alliance Claire Doherty 135 7.5 +7.5
Rejected ballots 5 0.3 -1.0
Majority 696 38.8 -5.8
Turnout 1,795 16.3 -3.3
Labour hold Swing -2.9
Hindsford[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Robert Bleakley 1,685 61.1 +5.7
Labour Philip Loudon 943 34.2 +1.3
Conservative Dorothy Angell 131 4.7 +0.7
Rejected ballots 0 0.0 -0.1
Majority 742 26.9 +4.4
Turnout 2,759 25.4 -3.1
Labour hold Swing +2.2
Hope Carr[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John O'Brien 1,196 47.6 -4.5
Community Action Janice Solinas 648 25.8 +6.7
Conservative Andrew Oxley 564 22.5 -2.3
Socialist Alliance Keith Fry 91 3.6 +0.0
Rejected ballots 11 0.4 +0.1
Majority 548 21.8 -5.5
Turnout 2,510 24.4 -3.7
Labour hold Swing -5.6
Ince[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Molyneux 1,085 73.7 -2.7
Conservative Robert Rees 139 9.4 -1.5
Socialist Alliance Michael Doherty 125 8.5 -3.9
Community Action Ian Franzen 120 8.1 +8.1
Rejected ballots 4 0.3 -0.1
Majority 946 64.2 +0.3
Turnout 1,473 19.2 -2.0
Labour hold Swing -0.6
Langtree[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Crosby 1,211 42.5 -9.4
Conservative Gareth Fairhurst 1,062 37.3 +7.7
Liberal Democrats Freda Graham 476 16.7 -1.5
Socialist Alliance John Pointon 91 3.2 +3.2
Rejected ballots 11 0.4 +0.1
Majority 149 5.2 -17.1
Turnout 2,851 24.5 -4.1
Labour hold Swing -8.5
Leigh Central[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Barbara Jarvis 1,030 65.8 -5.7
Conservative Alan Lowe 281 18.0 +1.4
Community Action Daniel Burrows 170 10.9 -0.8
Socialist Alliance Robert Stephenson 79 5.0 +5.0
Rejected ballots 5 0.3 +0.0
Majority 749 47.9 -7.0
Turnout 1,565 18.6 -2.9
Labour hold Swing -3.5
Leigh East[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Cunliffe 1,144 62.5 -14.5
Conservative Derek Davies 368 20.1 -2.1
Community Action James Forkgen 232 12.7 +12.7
Socialist Alliance William Markham 79 4.3 +4.3
Rejected ballots 8 0.4 -0.4
Majority 776 42.4 -12.3
Turnout 1,831 16.9 -2.1
Labour hold Swing -6.2
Lightshaw[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Community Action Peter Solinas 1,540 45.4 +0.9
Labour Alan Melling 1,221 36.0 -5.7
Conservative James Grundy 568 16.7 +3.1
Socialist Alliance Marie Winnard 58 1.7 +1.7
Rejected ballots 5 0.1 +0.0
Majority 319 9.4 +6.5
Turnout 3,392 27.9 -7.1
Community Action gain from Labour Swing +3.3
Newtown[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joy Birch 981 66.1 -10.8
Liberal Democrats Martin Sutton 348 23.5 +23.5
Socialist Alliance Barry Conway 146 9.8 -11.4
Rejected ballots 9 0.6 -1.2
Majority 633 42.7 -13.0
Turnout 1,484 17.5 -1.2
Labour hold Swing -17.1
Norley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Parker 815 59.2 -24.3
Community Action Margaret Crank 508 36.9 +36.9
Socialist Alliance Samuel Blakeman 51 3.7 -12.3
Rejected ballots 3 0.2 -0.3
Majority 307 22.3 -45.2
Turnout 1,377 20.5 +2.6
Labour hold Swing -30.6
Orrell[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ronald Capstick 1,380 46.7 -5.5
Conservative Richard Clayton 1,074 36.4 -10.9
BNP Richard Moreton 368 12.5 +12.5
Socialist Alliance Robert Fairhurst 125 4.2 +4.2
Rejected ballots 6 0.2 -0.3
Majority 306 10.4 +5.4
Turnout 2,953 31.5 +1.2
Labour hold Swing +2.7
Swinley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Cadman 1,265 47.8 +7.5
Labour John Ball 913 34.5 -2.3
Liberal Democrats Alan Robinson 351 13.3 +0.9
Socialist Alliance Frances Berka 111 4.2 +2.0
Rejected ballots 6 0.2 +0.1
Majority 352 13.3 +9.7
Turnout 2,646 30.7 -3.7
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +4.9
Tyldesley East[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Hellier 1,237 50.8 -13.2
Liberal Democrats Richard Derricutt 1,186 48.7 +13.5
Rejected ballots 12 0.5 -0.3
Majority 51 2.1 -26.7
Turnout 2,435 20.2 -0.7
Labour hold Swing -13.3
Whelley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Earl 1,208 65.4 -5.4
Liberal Democrats Jean Beswick 274 14.8 -6.9
Conservative Joan Pietre 239 12.9 +12.9
Socialist Alliance Janet Phillips 117 6.3 -0.7
Rejected ballots 10 0.5 +0.0
Majority 934 50.5 +1.5
Turnout 1,848 22.7 -1.4
Labour hold Swing +0.7
Winstanley[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Philip Kelly 1,259 44.5 -20.1
Community Action Stanley Barnes 961 34.0 +34.0
Conservative Jonathan Cartwright 486 17.2 -17.5
Socialist Alliance John Bolton 114 4.0 +4.0
Rejected ballots 9 0.3 -0.5
Majority 298 10.5 -19.4
Turnout 2,829 21.7 +1.7
Labour hold Swing -27.0
Worsley Mesnes[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Baldwin 1,102 57.8 -16.8
Community Action William Barnes 485 25.4 +25.4
Conservative Thomas Sutton 216 11.3 -3.9
Socialist Alliance Jacqueline Pointon 99 5.2 -4.7
Rejected ballots 6 0.3 +0.0
Majority 617 32.3 -27.0
Turnout 1,908 20.0 -0.2
Labour hold Swing -21.1

References
  1. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  2. "Wigan Council results from 1973 to 2008" (PDF). wigan.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  3. "Local Election Results 01 May 2003". wiganmbc.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  4. "Local Elections Archive Project: 2003 - Wigan". andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
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