Ups and downs in the Southport vote

There was something for everyone in the Southport election results last night – with the exception of UKIP which drifted away almost to zero, in line with the national trend.

Conservatives probably profited the most, winning three council seats in the town despite dropping from top place to second in Southport’s popular vote since the General Election 11 months ago.

Labour’s two victories in Norwood and Kew Wards (something they have never done before) was offset by them dropping back to third place in the town in the popular vote in the town from second place in the General Election.

The Lib Dems narrowly lost two seats (Cambridge and Dukes Wards) to the Conservatives and ended the night only winning two Southport seats (Birkdale and Meols Wards), however, they re-emerged from the General Election performance as the most popular party in the town in terms of total votes cast. Lib Dems took top place across the seven Southport wards: seven hundred ahead of the Tories, after coming third in the General Election.

UKIP had a disastrous night they only gained about 3 per cent of the vote overall in the five Southport wards that they contested and were placed fifth in the town behind the Greens. An amazing co-incident for the Green Party in Southport was that their candidates in three of the town’s wards (Meols, Dukes and Ainsdale) scored exactly the same number of votes: 118.