2018 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election

Overall election result

Overall result compared with 2016.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election result, 2018
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	23	12	0	0		54.5	45.5	40,092	0.6
	Conservative	23	8	0	0		31.8	35.3	31,122	4.5
	Liberal Democrats	22	2	0	0		9.1	10.2	8,993	0.7
	Green	23	1	0	0		4.5	8.6	7,545	1.8
	TUSC	3	0	0	0		0.0	0.3	239	0.2
	UKIP	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	107	3.6
	Independent	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	92	1.1

^{[5] [n 2]}

Results by constituency

Birkenhead constituency

Birkenhead consists of the wards of Bidston and St James, Birkenhead and Tranmere, Claughton, Oxton, Prenton and Rock Ferry.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Election Results, 2018 (Birkenhead)
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	6	4	0	0		66.7	54.7	11,169	1.0
	Green	6	1	0	0		16.7	19.2	3,916	6.9
	Liberal Democrats	5	1	0	0		16.7	14.1	2,875	2.2
	Conservative	6	0	0	0		0.0	11.3	2,307	1.0
	TUSC	2	0	0	0		0.0	0.7	150	0.3

^[5]

Wallasey constituency

Wallasey consists of the wards of Leasowe and Moreton East, Liscard, Moreton West and Saughall Massie, New Brighton, Seacombe and Wallasey.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Election Results, 2018 (Wallasey)
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	6	4	0	0		66.7	52.2	12,201	0.1
	Conservative	6	2	0	0		33.3	38.1	8,898	3.5
	Green	6	0	0	0		0.0	4.8	1,121
	Liberal Democrats	6	0	0	0		0.0	4.0	934	1.6
	UKIP	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.5	107	5.1
	Independent	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	92	N/A

^[5]

Wirral South constituency

Wirral South consists of the wards of Bebington, Bromborough, Clatterbridge, Eastham, and Heswall.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Election Results, 2018 (Wirral South)
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	5	2	0	0		40.0	40.4	8,803	2.9
	Conservative	5	2	0	0		40.0	39.5	8,602	6.8
	Liberal Democrats	5	1	0	0		20.0	15.7	3,418	2.1
	Green	5	0	0	0		0.0	4.4	966

^[5]

Wirral West constituency

Wirral West consists of the wards of Greasby, Frankby and Irby, Hoylake and Meols, Pensby and Thingwall, Upton, and West Kirby and Thurstaston.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Election Results, 2018 (Wirral West)
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	6	4	0	0		60.0	50.0	11,315	6.1
	Labour	6	2	0	0		40.0	35.0	7,919	4.0
	Liberal Democrats	6	0	0	0		0.0	7.8	1,766	0.7
	Green	6	0	0	0		0.0	6.8	1,542	0.6
	TUSC	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	89

^{[5] [n 2]}

Changes in council composition

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

After the election the composition of the council was:

Votes summary

Seats summary

Proportionality

The disproportionality of the 2018 election was 7.49 using the Gallagher Index.

Political Party		Vote Share	Seat Share	Difference	Difference²
	Labour	45.46	54.55	9.09	82.63
	Conservative	35.29	31.82	3.47	12.04
	Liberal Democrat	10.20	9.09	1.11	1.23
	Green	8.56	4.55	4.01	16.08
	TUSC	0.27	0.00	0.27	0.07
	UKIP	0.12	0.00	0.12	0.01
	Independent	0.10	0.00	0.10	0.01
				TOTAL	112.07
				TOTAL /2	56.04
				${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\frac {\text{TOTAL}}{2}}}}$	7.49

^{[n 3]}

Contesting political parties

Party		Leader	Leader since	Leader's ward	Up for re-election?	Last election		This election
						% of votes	Wards	Defending	Prior Composition
	Labour	Phil Davies	29 March 2012	Birkenhead and Tranmere	N	46.1%	13	12	39 / 66
	Conservative	Ian Lewis	8 May 2017	Wallasey	N	30.8%	7	7	21 / 66
	Liberal Democrats	Phil Gilchrist	16 May 2013	Eastham	N	10.9%	2	2	5 / 66
	Green	Pat Cleary[n 1]	22 May 2014	Birkenhead and Tranmere	Y	6.8%	0	1	1 / 66

There were in total 96 candidates (down 7 from 2016).^[7] As per 2016, both Labour and The Conservative Party contested all 23 seats up for election. The Green Party also stood 23 (up 2), the Liberal Democrats, 22 (up 3) and TUSC, 3 (down 4). UKIP stood 1 candidate (down 8) with 1 Independent also standing.^[8]

Policies

Labour Party

Wirral Labour's local election campaign was launched on 10 April 2018 at The Engineering College in Monk's Ferry with the help of the Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram.^[9]

Wirral Labour's key priorities were to protect services; work with the police and social services to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and to work with the Metro Mayor to access funds to improve roads and highways.^[10]

Wirral Labour received criticism by its own LCF (Local Campaign Forum) for only having one target seat, the Green held ward of Birkenhead and Tranmere.^[11] Their campaign in Birkenhead included "Super Saturdays", personal attacks against the Green candidate Pat Cleary and suspected Green voting Labour members put on a list and threatened with suspension.^[11] The Greens held the seat with an increased vote share.^[12] Other targets were later added.

Conservative Party

The Wirral Conservative's key priorities were to cut spending on consultants and senior directors; abolish country park and coastal area parking charges; scrap the Wirral View newspaper and use the money to reinstate school crossing patrols; scrap plans for food waste bins and instead do more to reduce packaging and plastic waste; ban lending to other councils and scrap plans to build on the Green belt.^[13][14]

Liberal Democrats

The Wirral Liberal Democrat's key priorities were to focus on getting basic services right; secure grants from the government that will recognise Wirral's needs; give local people a greater say, particularly over the Wirral Growth Company; "leave nobody out", particularly in the example of health and social services; make sure money from the sale of council assets is put back into the community; better maintain the road network with more 20 mph zones to improve safety and to scrap the Wirral View.^[14]

Green Party

The Wirral Green Party's key priorities were to clamp down on waste and invest more in "key public services"; scrap the Wirral View newspaper and invest savings made in improving the environment; freeze executive pay and introduce measures to address the "obscene pay gap" between the lowest and highest paid council staff; prioritise key brownfield sites for regeneration and housing to end the threat to Wirral's Green belt; transform democratic structures to secure "a more inclusive and transparent council in contrast to the rigid closed shop operated by the Labour Party" and to prioritise investment in active travel with pedestrians, cyclists and cleaner air.^[14]

Other parties

The sole UKIP candidate, Paula Walters, was urged to withdraw her nomination by The Labour Party due to a series of "hate-filled" tweets from an account under her name that compared migrants to terrorists.^[15]

Results compared directly with the last local election in 2016.

Bebington

Bebington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Cottier	2,660	59.6	2.6
	Conservative	Des Drury	1,355	30.3	8.6
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Britton	235	5.3
	Green	Rachel Heydon	215	4.8	0.5
Majority			1,305	29.3	6.0
Registered electors			12,086
Turnout			4,473	37.0	0.1
Rejected ballots			8	0.2	0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	3.0

^[27][28]

Bidston and St James

Bidston and St James

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Liz Grey	1,866	75.7	6.6
	Conservative	Nick Hanna	303	12.3	4.6
	Green	Jamie Parkhouse	119	4.8	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Parsons	92	3.7	0.4
	TUSC	Warwick Roberts	84	3.4	1.3
Majority			1,563	63.4	7.7
Registered electors			10,294
Turnout			2,469	24.0	0.8
Rejected ballots			5	0.2	0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	3.9

^[29][30]

Birkenhead and Tranmere

Birkenhead and Tranmere

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Pat Cleary	1,881	49.7	7.1
	Labour	Paul Jobson	1,810	47.8	0.1
	Conservative	June Cowin	96	2.5	0.7
Majority			71	1.9	N/A
Registered electors			10,281
Turnout			3,793	36.9	3.3
Rejected ballots			6	0.2	0.4
	Green hold		Swing	3.6

^[12][31]

Bromborough

Bromborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Irene Williams	2,120	61.1	10.6
	Conservative	Peter Taylor	768	22.1	9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Vicky Downie	386	11.1	6.9
	Green	Susan Braddock	198	5.7	2.0
Majority			1,352	39.0	16.1
Registered electors			11,756
Turnout			3,483	29.6	2.0
Rejected ballots			11	0.3	0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	8.1

^[32][33]

Clatterbridge

Clatterbridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mary Jordan	2,735	55.3	3.6
	Labour	Giuseppe Roberto	1,674	33.9	3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Thompson	322	6.5	0.9
	Green	Jim McGinley	211	4.3	0.4
Majority			1,061	21.4	6.7
Registered electors			11,528
Turnout			4,952	43.0	3.4
Rejected ballots			10	0.2	0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.4

^[34][35]

Claughton

Claughton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gillian Wood	2,079	58.9	7.7
	Conservative	Suzanne Downward	795	22.5	4.6
	Liberal Democrats	David Evans	426	12.1	5.3
	Green	Liz Heydon	231	6.5	0.3
Majority			1,284	36.4	12.3
Registered electors			11,549
Turnout			3,541	30.7	0.9
Rejected ballots			10	0.3	0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	6.2

^[36][37]

Eastham

Eastham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Carubia	2,083	48.2	18.8
	Labour Co-op	Jo Bird	1,561	36.1	12.5
	Conservative	Allan Guy	564	13.0	5.7
	Green	Percy Hogg	115	2.7	0.6
Majority			522	12.1	31.3
Registered electors			11,150
Turnout			4,330	38.8	2.0
Rejected ballots			7	0.2	0.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	15.7

^[38][39][40]

Greasby, Frankby and Irby

Greasby, Frankby and Irby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wendy Clements	3,046	58.8	10.3
	Labour	Katherine Stuart	1,238	23.9	4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Corkhill	717	13.8	3.8
	Green	Cathy Page	176	3.4	1.8
Majority			1,808	34.9	15.2
Registered electors			11,500
Turnout			5,184	45.1	5.3
Rejected ballots			7	0.1	0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.6

^[41][42][43]

Heswall

Heswall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Les Rowlands	3,180	69.3	4.3
	Labour	Christine Trenery	788	17.2	3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Thompson	392	8.5	1.7
	Green	Barbara Burton	227	4.9	2.9
Majority			2,392	52.1	7.4
Registered electors			10,950
Turnout			4,595	42.0	2.0
Rejected ballots			8	0.2	0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.7

^[44][45]

Hoylake and Meols

Hoylake and Meols (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Cox [n 4]	2,441	53.9	0.2
	Conservative	Andrew Gardner [n 5]	2,378	52.6	1.5
	Labour	Tony Murphy	1,346	29.7	0.5
	Labour	Matthew Daniel	1,191	26.3	3.9
	Green	Alix Cockcroft	526	11.6	2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Reisdorf	298	6.6	0.1
	Green	Mark Wilde	259	5.7	3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Alexander Clark	222	4.9	1.6
Majority			1,095	23.7	0.2
Registered electors			10,586
Turnout			4,537	42.9	3.9
Rejected ballots			12	0.3	0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing	–

^{[46][47][48][49]}

Leasowe and Moreton East

Leasowe and Moreton East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sharon Jones	2,067	58.6	10.7
	Conservative	Debbie Caplin	1,185	33.6	9.9
	Green	Michael Dixon	116	3.3	3.8
	Independent	Mike Holt	92	2.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	David Tyrrell	65	1.8	New
Majority			882	25.0	20.6
Registered electors			10,782
Turnout			3,534	32.8	0.9
Rejected ballots			9	0.3	0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	10.3

^[50][51]

Liscard

Liscard

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Janette Williamson	2,241	63.6	8.3
	Conservative	Margaret Kalil	756	21.5	4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Arrowsmith	337	9.6	2.7
	Green	Perle Sheldricks	190	5.4	2.9
Majority			1,485	42.1	3.8
Registered electors			11,091
Turnout			3,542	31.9	0.9
Rejected ballots			18	0.5	0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	1.9

^[52][53]

Moreton West and Saughall Massie

Moreton West and Saughall Massie

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bruce Berry	2,711	61.6	4.8
	Labour	Bill McGenity	1,464	33.3	0.7
	Green	Helen O'Donnell	135	3.1	1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Crowfoot	92	2.1	New
Majority			1,247	28.3	5.5
Registered electors			10,688
Turnout			4,409	41.3	1.9
Rejected ballots			7	0.2	0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.8

^[54][55]

New Brighton

New Brighton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Spriggs	2,402	59.1	7.2
	Conservative	William Raybould	1,048	25.8	8.3
	Green	Cynthia Stonall	326	8.0	3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Keenan	184	4.5	2.3
	UKIP	Paula Walters	107	2.6	3.4
Majority			1,354	33.3	15.5
Registered electors			11,267
Turnout			4,076	36.2	2.9
Rejected ballots			9	0.2	0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	7.8

^[56][57]

Oxton

Oxton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Allan Brame	2,073	47.6	6.4
	Labour	Jeff Davies	1,700	39.0	3.4
	Conservative	Hilary Jones	376	8.6	2.4
	Green	Moira Gommon	205	4.7	0.5
Majority			373	8.6	9.8
Registered electors			11,135
Turnout			4,359	39.1	1.0
Rejected ballots			5	0.1	0.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	4.9

^[58][59]

Pensby and Thingwall

Pensby and Thingwall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kate Cannon	1,878	43.9	4.6
	Conservative	Michael Collins	1,855	43.4	10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Lucy Johnson	298	7.0	0.6
	Green	Allen Burton	244	5.7	3.0
Majority			23	0.5	14.7
Registered electors			10,473
Turnout			4,282	40.9	3.9
Rejected ballots			7	0.2	0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	7.4

^[60][61][62]

Prenton

Prenton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Samantha Frost	1,914	49.4	10.9
	Green	Chris Cooke	1,322	34.1	24.2
	Conservative	Tom Bottom	470	12.1	7.1
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Forshaw	172	4.4	6.2
Majority			592	15.3	25.8
Registered electors			10,995
Turnout			3,891	35.4	3.6
Rejected ballots			19	0.5	0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	12.9

^[63][64][65]

Rock Ferry

Rock Ferry

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Moira McLaughlin	1,800	74.9	8.2
	Conservative	Sue Hemmings	267	11.1	2.6
	Green	Sheena Hatton	158	6.6	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Smith	112	4.7	1.2
	TUSC	Mark Hazlehurst	66	2.7	1.2
Majority			1,533	63.8	10.4
Registered electors			10,113
Turnout			2,409	23.8	1.9
Rejected ballots			6	0.2	0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	5.2

^[66][67]

Seacombe

Seacombe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adrian Jones	2,003	77.1	8.2
	Conservative	John Laing	337	13.0	1.7
	Green	Peter Lageard	174	6.7	New
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Teggin	85	3.3	New
Majority			1,666	64.1	6.5
Registered electors			10,366
Turnout			2,605	25.1	1.6
Rejected ballots			6	0.2	2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	3.3

^[68][69]

Upton

Upton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Whittingham	2,289	58.2	2.8
	Conservative	Alison Wright	1,125	28.6	3.9
	Green	Lily Clough	265	6.7	0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Davies	166	4.2	0.4
	TUSC	John Murray	89	2.3	0.3
Majority			1,164	29.6	6.7
Registered electors			12,471
Turnout			3,945	31.6	1.3
Rejected ballots			11	0.3	1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	3.4

^[70][71][72]

Wallasey

Wallasey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lesley Rennie	2,861	54.6	4.5
	Labour	Paul Martin	2,024	38.7	3.6
	Green	James Brady	180	3.4	2.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Codling	171	3.3	1.0
Majority			837	15.9	0.9
Registered electors			11,823
Turnout			5,243	44.3	5.7
Rejected ballots			7	0.1	0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.4

^[73][74][75]

West Kirby and Thurstaston

West Kirby and Thurstaston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeff Green	2,848	61.5	4.0
	Labour	James Laing	1,168	25.2	3.4
	Green	Yvonne McGinley	331	7.1	0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Redfern	287	6.2
Majority			1,680	36.3	7.4
Registered electors			10,328
Turnout			4,642	44.9	4.1
Rejected ballots			8	0.2	0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.7

^[76][77]

Bromborough by-election 2018

Cllr Warren Ward, elected in 2016, announced his resignation on 9 July 2018.^[78] A casual vacancy was announced the next day.^[79][80]

By-election, 23 August 2018: Bromborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jo Bird[81]	1,253	47.1	14.0
	Conservative	Des Drury[82]	749	28.1	6.0
	Liberal Democrats	Vicky Downie[83]	454	17.1	6.0
	Independent	Steve Niblock	147	5.5	New
	Green	Susan Braddock	59	2.2	3.5
Majority			504	19.0	20.0
Registered electors			11,760
Turnout			2,664	22.7	6.9
Rejected ballots			2	0.1	0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	10.0

^[40][84][85]

Campaign

On 20 July, Conservative candidate Des Drury sent a printed letter to nearly 1,200 residents about a planning application being approved for the ex-Bromborough Secondary School site that borders the south of the ward.^[86][87] The letter mentions a "More than 1,000" signature strong petition opposing the application.^[88] The lead petitioner, who spoke in front of the planning committee when the application was considered on 19 July, was future Labour candidate Jo Bird.^[87] This was despite the fact that all 7 Labour councillors on the committee (a majority on the committee as a whole) voted to approve the application.^[88]

Upton by-election 2018

Cllr Matthew Patrick, first elected in 2013, announced his resignation on 21 September 2018.^[89] He formally resigned on 7 October 2018 with a casual vacancy announced the following day.^[90][91]

By-election, 22 November 2018: Upton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Robinson[92]	1,490	61.3	3.1
	Conservative	Emma Sellman[93]	705	29.0	0.4
	Green	Lily Clough	151	6.2	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Davies	83	3.4	0.8
Majority			785	32.3	2.7
Registered electors			12,040
Turnout			2,434	20.2	11.4
Rejected ballots			5	0.2	0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	1.4

^[94][95]

Other changes

On 22 February 2019, Moira McLaughlin was announced as leader of an Independent group composed of the three Labour defections.^[103]

• italics denote the sitting councillor • bold denotes the winning candidate