Friday 6th May 2011

It took just 3 hours for Chesterfield Borough Council to see a seismic change in control today as voters made their mark at the polling booth, resulting in a 23 seat gain for the Labour Party, with the Lib Dems suffering losses of over 10 wards.


The Count took place at Queens Park Leisure Centre where candidates nervously awaited the results earlier today

There were some well-known casualties amongst the Councillors with Mick Bagshaw the Deputy Mayor, Tony Rogers and Keith Falconer all falling foul of what was termed the 'Clegg Effect' by members.

The final result was a 34-14 swing to Labour, who gained 23 seats this time around. It was a two horse race around the town, with no Conservative or Green seats won.

The Chesterfield Post was at the count and caught up with John Burrows, the Leader of the Labour group in town who expressed his joy at the win, "I'm elated - I didn't think the day would return when the labour group took back control. I've had some sad and despondent times over the last few years but this is the icing on the cake.

"It's been hard work with a hard working team that I believe has persuaded  the people of Chesterfield that locally, we're correct for Chesterfield. I think it was about Chesterfield policies not national ones.

"We will do everything in our power to reverse the trend where public service jobs have been put in private hands, we will do everything we can to protect public services, that may come at a price but we will see.

"We will also work on the fringes of Chesterfield which have been sadly neglected. I want to put in place an emergency plan to make sure that the old and the ill in the community don't suffer in extreme weather and floods.

"I also am proud that we have young people in the Labour group again - didn't think I'd see the day!"

In his victory speech he thanked all the party members who had helped make the result possible, in particular new councillor Nick Stringer who he said had made the victory possible.

He promised members that their victory would see an end to the privatisation of Chesterfield services, it's now on hold but he admitted there will have to be innovative changes. He said it was, "A day when Chesterfield, Staveley and Brimington have come back to Labour - I'm elated - I went home with my tail between my legs 8 years ago - it won't happen this time. We rise to challenges and overcome them - let's go to work and change this town."

In a dignified Speech, the outgoing Leader of the Council, Ray Russell told supporters that, "Politics had ups and downs and it was a down for the Lib Dem party today". He went on to thank the many great councillors who had lost their seats in the election. "They would", he said, "have to go and regroup and then play their part in moving the town forward."

MP for Chesterfield Toby Perkins was at the count and he told us that he thought it was a great result for Chesterfield, "A sensational result, we had high hopes that we'd take over the council but to do it with a 20+ seat majority is beyond our wildest dreams. Some of it's down to the 'Clegg effect' but the size of the swing in Chesterfield has been bigger than other towns, so I think people have bought into the message about what Labour would do for Chesterfield.

"We need not to lose sight of the fact we're there on a temporary basis until the voters of Chesterfield decide otherwise. It's a more consultative party and one that wants to listen to voters. We have younger and women candidates who bring abilities and modernise the Labour group in Chesterfield. It's an exciting time for Chesterfield."

He also wished to congratulate the Spiretes on their promotion and wished them luck ahead of their pivotal game tomorrow adding, "It's been a special few days - and the football club hopefully seal the title tomorrow - with the AV vote looking like it's a NO, the result today and promotion for the Spireites - it's like the Holy Trinity!"

Asked if Nick Clegg needs to resign now, he had this to say "Nick Clegg has two choices - he needs to resign or go back to the policies he had at the last election."

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