2004 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2004 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2003 reducing the number of seats by six.[1] The Labour Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.[2]

Map of the results of the 2004 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election. Labour in red, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Conservatives in blue.

Background

Since the 2003 election boundary changes reduced the number of councillors from 54 to 48, while also reducing the number of wards from 18 to 16.[3]

Election result

Labour lost their majority of the council, after losing 9 seats to take exactly half of the seats on the council, with 24 councillors.[4][5] The Labour leader of the council, Marie Rimmer held her seat in West Park after 3 recounts, while Labour councillors Terry Hanley, Jeff Molyneux and Marlene Quinn were among those to be defeated.[3] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats gained 3 seats to have 18 councillors and the Conservatives won 6 seats.[5][6] Overall turnout at the election dropped to 40% from 48% in 2003,[5] despite the election being held with all postal voting as in 2003.[7]

Following the election Labour continued to run the council with all of the executive being Labour councillors,[8] after an agreement between the Labour and Conservative group leaders.[9] This saw Conservative Betty Lowe becoming the new mayor, but only after agreeing not to use her vote at full council meetings.[9]

St Helens local election result 2004[2][10]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 24 -9 50.0 42.3 55,950 -6.2%
  Liberal Democrats 18 +3 37.5 40.0 52,918 +6.6%
  Conservative 6 0 12.5 15.6 20,614 -1.4%
  Independent 0 0 0 1.5 2,021 +0.6%
  UKIP 0 0 0 0.3 429 +0.3%
  BNP 0 0 0 0.2 328 +0.2%

Ward results
Billinge and Seneley Green (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bessie Griffin 1,503
Labour Alma Atherton 1,492
Labour Susan Murphy 1,229
Independent James Stevenson 917
Conservative David Davies 905
Conservative Michael Hodgson 893
Conservative James Spanner 878
Liberal Democrats Michael Bagot 651
Liberal Democrats Gail Mills 454
Liberal Democrats Katrina Young 409
Turnout 9,331 41.7
Blackbrook (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Andrew Bowden 1,352
Labour Linda Maloney 1,310
Labour Albert Smith 1,305
Liberal Democrats Ruth Smith 1,156
Liberal Democrats Joanne Hankinson 884
Liberal Democrats Vivienne Lavery 883
Conservative Joan Foster 416
Turnout 7,256 35.9
Bold (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Hargreaves 1,107
Liberal Democrats Stephen Topping 1,052
Liberal Democrats Matthew Dunn 1,019
Liberal Democrats Thomas King 955
Labour John Wiseman 951
Labour Paul Pritchard 926
Conservative Jill Jones 244
Turnout 6,254 34.1
Earlestown (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Leon McGuire 1,214
Labour Keith Deakin 1,106
Labour Charles Banks 1,078
Liberal Democrats Virginia Taylor 795
Liberal Democrats David Smith 783
Liberal Democrats David Crowther 775
Conservative Catherine Perks 359
Turnout 6,110 33.5
Eccleston (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Teresa Sims 3,317
Liberal Democrats Shirley Evans 3,030
Liberal Democrats Geoffrey Pearl 2,718
Conservative Kathleen Barton 867
Conservative Michael Marriott 687
Labour Ellen Glover 645
Labour Keith Cottom 617
Labour Patricia Ireland 517
Turnout 12,398 49.6
Haydock (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Caunce 1,564
Labour William Swift 1,400
Liberal Democrats Eric Sheldon 1,219
Labour Janet Richardson 1,177
Liberal Democrats Thomas Duffy 1,148
Liberal Democrats Janet Sheldon 1,129
Conservative Anthony Rigby 378
Turnout 8,015 37.7
Moss Bank (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Carole Kavanagh 2,077
Liberal Democrats Eric Simpson 1,685
Liberal Democrats Richard Ferry 1,566
Labour Barbara Jakubiak 1,327
Labour Brian Hart 1,188
Labour Sandra Banawich 1,047
Conservative William Highcock 353
Turnout 9,243 42.7
Newton (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Suzanne Knight 2,034
Liberal Democrats Peter Astbury 1,783
Liberal Democrats Neil Taylor 1,654
Labour Jeanette Banks 810
Labour Mark Rahaman 803
Labour Stuart Hughes 758
Conservative Brian Honey 355
Conservative Margaret Harvey 298
Turnout 8,495 40.6
Parr (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Pinder 1,604
Labour Keith Roberts 1,236
Labour Terence Shields 1,217
Liberal Democrats Paul Brown 684
Liberal Democrats Ethel Clarke 409
Liberal Democrats Stephen Knowles 381
Conservative Madeleine Wilcock 215
Turnout 5,746 30.2
Rainford (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Betty Lowe 2,131
Conservative John Brown 2,021
Conservative John Parr 1,900
Labour David Wood 955
Labour Keith Aspinall 898
Labour Mary Newby 886
Liberal Democrats Frederick Barrett 342
Liberal Democrats Malcolm Dunn 310
Liberal Democrats Gary Pulfer 277
Turnout 9,720 51.0
Rainhill (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Doyle 2,372
Labour Joseph De Asha 2,153
Labour Stephen Glover 1,433
Independent Neil Thompson 908
Conservative Gaynor Parr 793
Conservative Henry Spriggs 763
Liberal Democrats Christina Duncan 735
Liberal Democrats Darren Makin 622
Liberal Democrats Majorie Beirne 524
Turnout 10,303 42.1
Sutton (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Brian Spencer 1,917
Liberal Democrats Stephanie Topping 1,821
Liberal Democrats Julie Jones 1,756
Labour Derek Maylor 983
Labour Philip Wiseman 941
Labour Michael Glover 935
Conservative Pauline Wilcock 234
Independent Alan Brooks 196
Turnout 8,783 37.8
Thatto Heath (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Sheila Seddon 1,406
Labour Patricia Robinson 1,351
Labour Richard McCauley 1,139
Liberal Democrats Carol Pearl 713
Liberal Democrats Noreen Knowles 502
UKIP Ann Fleetwood 429
Liberal Democrats Sandra Ferry 380
Conservative Barbara Woodcock 326
Turnout 6,246 34.2
Town Centre (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats John Beirne 1,173
Labour John Fletcher 1,099
Labour Margaret McLachlan 1,027
Labour Jeffrey Molyneux 1,024
Liberal Democrats Mandy Stanley 992
Liberal Democrats Alec Mills 958
BNP Michael Pearcey 328
Conservative Richard Seddon 195
Turnout 6,796 32.8
West Park (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Lesley Ronan 1,395
Liberal Democrats David Evans 1,391
Labour Marie Rimmer 1,374
Labour Marlene Quinn 1,312
Labour Terence Hanley 1,278
Liberal Democrats Stephen Broughton 1,265
Conservative Charmian Pyke 451
Turnout 8,466 38.7
Windle (3 seats)[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wallace Ashcroft 1,757
Conservative Nancy Ashcroft 1,682
Conservative Kenneth Roughley 1,513
Labour Geoffrey Almond 1,160
Labour Jean West 871
Labour Mark Arnold 870
Liberal Democrats Kenneth Knowles 484
Liberal Democrats Darren Jackson 381
Liberal Democrats Marise Roberts 330
Turnout 9,048 42.5

References
  1. "St Helens council". BBC News Online. 11 June 2004. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  2. "Ballot box - Elections". The Times. NewsBank. 12 June 2004. p. 26.
  3. Bianchi, Stefania (17 June 2004). "Election quake rocks town hall". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  4. Beattie, Jason; Oakeshott, Isabel (11 June 2004). "Losses in the heartlands and there may be more defeats". London Evening Standard. NewsBank.
  5. Kilmurray, Andrew (11 June 2004). "Labour loses control of St Helens". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  6. Bianchi, Stefania (17 June 2004). "Move forward say Lib Dems". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  7. Kelly, Andy (11 June 2004). "Elections 2004: The big question -was postal vote a success?". Liverpool Daily Post. NewsBank.
  8. Cummins, Liz (8 July 2004). "Labour takes control of the executive". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  9. Kilmurray, Andrew (24 June 2004). "Betty keeps mayor's chain". Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  10. "Election Results". St Helens Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
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