On May 5th the local elections were contested in 19 out of a total of 57 council seats in Preston. Of these 4 changed hands giving Labour a narrow gain with an overall majority of 1 councillor.
The full council now comprises: Labour 29 (+4), Conservative 21 (-1), Liberal Democrats 6 (-1), Others 1 (-2).
The seats were last contested in 2003 so it isn’t easy to compare like for like, but Labour achieved an increase in vote of 6000 votes or 40% compared with the seats contested in 2007 while the Liberal Democrats lost 2000 votes or 48% compared with 2007. The Conservatives breaking even.
It could be concluded that results followed a northern trend where the Liberal Democrats lost votes to Labour, whereas in the south the LD’s lost votes to the Conservatives. While the Conservatives maintained a national trend of not losing voters. The LibDems are said by some to be suffering for being a party in government rather than a protest group for disaffected voters from other parties. This could be an honest position for true LibDems, if unpreferable.