Southampton goes blue
The Conservative party has earned its most stunning gain of local election night so far by taking control in the hung council of Southampton.
Southampton’s two parliamentary constituencies contribute Labour MPs to the House of Commons, but the Tories won eight councillors to gain control of Southampton’s council.
Labour lost four councillors and the Lib Dems shed three.
A Labour party spokesperson said that “strong local issues” were behind the break-up of the Lib-Lab agreement and accused the Tories of “acting dishonestly” on residents’ parking.
The representative claimed that the Labour vote did not switch to the other parties in substantial numbers but admitted supporters had stayed at home.
He added however that the result was not in any way a reflection of national politics.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Eastleigh, the Liberal Democrats gained one councillor from the Tories to reinforce their hold on the district council.
