Canterbury Council Elections 2019: Tories lose ground

Credit: Kent Online

The local council elections saw the Conservatives lose eight seats in the Canterbury City Council election on May 2.

Among them, leader of Canterbury Council, Simon Cook, who lost the seat to Liberal Democrat, Mike Sole, by a margin of 238 votes.

Speaking to Kent Online, the defeated Cook said that he had “no regrets”.

He said: “We ran a very good council for four years and I am pleased with what we have done – but it is a big shame. Life goes on.”

The city will remain Conservative-run, but will have to be more willing to compromise with their counterparts in other parties.

Labour were the main beneficiaries of the election in the constituency, winning seven councillors. The Liberal Democrats doubled their councillors from three to six.

UKIP lost their only two candidates.

In total, the Tories lost 75 councillors across Kent, as they went on to lose 1,330 councillors in England, their worst result in local council elections since 1995 when they lost over 2,000.

Notable losses in the county included Folkestone & Hythe (no overall control), Gravesham (Labour gain), and Swale.

Many pundits have since speculated that these results signify a backlash of the government’s handling of Brexit and may be further displayed in the upcoming European Parliament elections later this month.