Map of the results of the 2007 Carlisle City Council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in grey were not contested in 2007.

The 2007 Carlisle City Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

Before the election the Conservative party formed the administration on the council with the support of the Liberal Democrats, but Labour were the largest party with 24 seats, compared to 19 Conservatives, 7 Liberal Democrats and 1 independent.[3] A further seat was vacant in Morton, after the Liberal Democrat councillor Ralph Aldersey stood down from the council.[3]

18 seats were being contested with Labour needing to make at least 2 gains to take control of the council.[3] Candidates at the election included an independent Maureen Toole in Belah ward, after her husband Alan Toole, the sitting councillor for the ward, was deselected by the Conservatives.[3] Both the Conservative and Labour parties contested all 18 seats, while the Liberal Democrats had candidates in 6 wards.[4] The British National Party contested seats in Carlisle for the first time, with 6 candidates, and there was also 1 candidate from the English Democrats.[3]

Campaign

Labour campaigned on a pledge to tackle anti-social behaviour, such as dog fouling and littering, and targeted Morton from the Liberal Democrats and Belah from the Conservatives, where they were hoping the Conservative vote would be split due to the independent candidate.[3] Meanwhile, the Conservatives defended their record in control of the council and targeted the Labour held seats of Belle Vue and Yewdale.[3] The Liberal Democrats defended their seats, while hoping to gain Dalston from the Conservatives and Upperby from Labour.[3]

During the campaign the national Conservative leader David Cameron visited Carlisle to support his party in the election,[5] while the Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman came to support Labour.[6]

Election result

Only 1 seat changed hands at the election, with Labour gaining Morton from the Liberal Democrats to remain the largest party on the council with 25 seats.[7] Labour also narrowly beat off Conservative challenges in Belle Vue by 31 votes and in Yewdale by only 10 votes.[7] This meant the Conservatives stayed on 19 councillors, the Liberal Democrats dropped to 7, and there continued to be 1 independent.[8][7] Among those elected was Labour's Abdul Harid in Currock ward, who became the first Asian councillor on Carlisle council,[9] defeating the British National Party who came second in the ward.[7] Overall turnout at the election was 35.45%, up from 34.6% at the 2006 election.[10]

Following the election Conservative Mike Mitchelson remained as leader of the council after the Liberal Democrats continued to support him, in return for which Liberal Democrat Peter Farmer joined the council executive.[11] The election for mayor was won by Conservative Liz Mallinson by 26 votes to 25 for Labour's Mary Styth, after one Labour councillor missed the meeting,[11] while Mike Mitchelson was re-elected by 26 votes to 24.[12] All 7 Liberal Democrats backed the Conservative candidates, while the only independent councillor Bill Graham, voted for the Labour candidate for mayor Mary Styth, as she had served on the council for the longest period,[13] and abstained on the vote for council leader.[11]

Carlisle local election result 2007[10][2]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 9 1 0 +1 50.0 38.6 9,639 +3.0%
  Conservative 8 0 0 0 44.4 42.6 10,635 +1.9%
  Liberal Democrats 1 0 1 -1 5.6 11.9 2,969 -1.8%
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0 5.0 1,252 +5.0%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 1.6 399 -6.7%
  English Democrat 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 96 -0.5%

Ward results

Belah[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Trish Vasey 818 43.3 -11.0
Labour Thomas Johnson 482 25.5 +1.3
Independent Maureen Toole 399 21.1 +13.4
English Democrat Stephen Gash 96 5.1 -8.7
BNP Wayne Newton 96 5.1 +5.1
Majority 336 17.8 -12.3
Turnout 1,891 40.1 +.2
Conservative hold Swing
Belle Vue[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mary Styth 652 44.1 +0.7
Conservative Fiona Robson 621 42.0 +0.0
Liberal Democrats Olive Hall 205 13.9 +13.9
Majority 31 2.1 +0.7
Turnout 1,478 34.3 +1.7
Labour hold Swing
Botcherby[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Terry Scarborough 618 50.0 -5.5
Conservative Terri Cartner 400 32.4 +3.4
BNP Karl Chappell 217 17.6 +17.6
Majority 218 17.7 -8.9
Turnout 1,235 27.8 +3.5
Labour hold Swing
Burgh[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Collier 540 74.3 +1.8
Labour Robin Pearson 187 25.7 -1.8
Majority 353 48.6 +3.5
Turnout 727 43.0 +9.0
Conservative hold Swing
Castle[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Kimberly Hunter 607 54.1 +0.1
Labour Steven Bowditch 331 29.5 +2.1
Conservative Charlotte Fisher 185 16.5 +3.8
Majority 276 24.6 -2.0
Turnout 1,123 27.6 -0.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Currock[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Abdul Harid 571 44.5 -11.7
BNP Brian Allen 309 24.1 +24.1
Conservative John Hanlon 235 18.3 -0.4
Liberal Democrats Marjorie Richardson 169 13.2 +0.4
Majority 262 20.4 -17.1
Turnout 1,284 28.8 +1.3
Labour hold Swing
Dalston[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicola Clarke 1,037 53.1 +9.6
Liberal Democrats Colin Farmer 598 30.6 -13.7
Labour Ann Warwick 319 16.3 +4.1
Majority 439 22.5
Turnout 1,954 41.0 -2.3
Conservative hold Swing
Denton Holme[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Hugh McDevitt 836 66.5 +6.3
Conservative Lynn Fleming 421 33.5 +8.1
Majority 415 33.0 -1.8
Turnout 1,257 27.9 -0.5
Labour hold Swing
Harraby[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Cyril Weber 776 45.0 -10.5
Conservative Michele Gwillim 456 26.4 -18.1
BNP David Fraser 262 15.2 +15.2
Liberal Democrats Warren Allison 232 13.4 +13.4
Majority 320 18.5 +7.5
Turnout 1,726 36.2 +5.0
Labour hold Swing
Irthing[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ray Knapton 480 79.1 +2.6
Labour Alex Faulds 127 20.9 -2.6
Majority 353 58.2 +5.3
Turnout 607 37.4 +3.7
Conservative hold Swing
Longtown and Rockliffe[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Mallinson 658 64.0 +3.3
Labour Robert Dodds 370 36.0 +1.9
Majority 288 28.0 +1.4
Turnout 1,028 31.3 -0.8
Conservative hold Swing
Lyne[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jonathan Devlin 544 83.7 +1.0
Labour Roger Horne 106 16.3 -1.0
Majority 438 67.4 +2.0
Turnout 650 41.0 +8.2
Conservative hold Swing
Morton[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Bell 950 48.0 +5.4
Liberal Democrats David McMillan 787 39.7 -9.3
Conservative Lawrence Fisher 244 12.3 +12.3
Majority 163 8.2
Turnout 1,981 41.6 +0.4
Labour gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
St. Aidans[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Reg Watson 750 51.3 +2.2
Conservative James Layden 512 35.0 +4.1
BNP Tony Carvell 200 13.7 +13.7
Majority 238 16.3 -1.9
Turnout 1,462 32.5 +1.4
Labour hold Swing
Stanwix Rural[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative James Bainbridge 1,047 77.7
Labour John Hale 300 22.3
Majority 747 55.5
Turnout 1,347 38.6 -0.8
Conservative hold Swing
Stanwix Urban[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jacquelyne Geddes 1,244 67.5 +9.1
Labour Ross Warwick 599 32.5 +5.8
Majority 645 35.0 +3.3
Turnout 1,843 39.8 -0.9
Conservative hold Swing
Upperby[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour June Martlew 677 47.3
Liberal Democrats James Osler 371 25.9
Conservative Mike Clarke 215 15.0
BNP Christine Williamson 168 11.7
Majority 306 21.4
Turnout 1,431 35.4 +3.5
Labour hold Swing
Yewdale[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Hendry 988 50.3 +7.8
Conservative Gareth Ellis 978 49.7 +9.8
Majority 10 0.5 -2.0
Turnout 1,966 40.4 +2.2
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "Carlisle". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Allerdale, Eden, Carlisle: Will these be their last elections?". Times and Star. 20 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  4. ↑ Brenan, Victoria (5 April 2007). "Labour and Tories to fight every city seat". News and Star. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  5. ↑ Whittle, Julian (20 April 2007). "Cameron: Tories can win Carlisle seat". News and Star. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  6. ↑ Whittle, Julian (20 April 2007). "Minister caught up in pay row on the campaign trail". News and Star. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Labour takes one seat in city". News and Star. 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "Results for Carlisle and Barrow". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Eve, Kelly (8 May 2007). "Abdul savours election success at third attempt". News and Star. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Election Results 2007". Carlisle City Council. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 Whittle, Julian (25 May 2007). "Tories still in charge of Carlisle thanks to help from Lib Dems". News and Star. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  12. ↑ "Conservatives hold on to power". News and Star. 21 May 2007. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  13. ↑ Whittle, Julian (18 May 2007). "Bill, the unlikely kingmaker". Cumberland News. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
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