RECAP: How elections unfolded in South Tyneside as Labour loses seats to Greens and independents

All election results are now in for South Tyneside.
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This is how the night unfolded.

LIVE: South Tyneside Elections 2022

Key Events

  • All results are now in for South Tyneside
  • The Green Party claimed three more seats, taking two from Labour and one from the Conservatives.
  • Independents also gained two seats from Labour.

At least one seat in all 18 of South Tyneside Council’s electoral wards is being contested.

Two are available in the Harton ward following the death of councillor Rob Dix in February 2022.

Wards to watch

Beacon and Bents - The Green Party has taken seats from Labour here in the past to elections, and will be hoping to complete the set.

West Park - Another Green gain in 2021, and the party will be hoping to repeat its success.

Cleadon and East Boldon - voters elected Conservative councillors in May 2021 and at a by-election later the same year.

Primrose - another ward Labour lost in 2021, with independent councillors now occupying two out of the three seats.

Westoe, Bede and Fellgate and Hedworth - held by Labour in 2021, but saw opposition councillors elected in 2019.

All manner of buildings are being used as polling stations. Many voters have already voted in advance by post, however.

How things stand in South Tyneside

Labour has held control of South Tyneside Council for almost the entirety of the council’s history since being formed in 1974.

Back in 2018, the ruling Labour Group was primed to take 100% control of the council with Labour councillors elected to all 54 seats.

However, this plan was scuppered following the election of then Conservative councillor Jeff Milburn in the Cleadon and East Boldon ward.

Since 2018, the ruling Labour Group lost five seats in the 2019 local elections and four in the 2021 local elections, with Green Party and Conservative Party councillors and independents entering the council chamber.

A by-election in September 2021 in the Cleadon and East Boldon ward, to fill a vacancy left by Jeff Milburn, saw the Conservatives grasp a narrow victory over the Greens and Labour.

Another by-election earlier in July 2021, triggered by the resignation of independent councillor John Robertson, saw candidate Jay Potts take the Fellgate and Hedworth seat back for Labour.

The Labour Party currently holds 45 out of South Tyneside Council’s 54 seats, with the Green Party holding three, the Conservatives two and four held by independents.

Of the 19 seats which will be decided on May 5, 2022, one is currently held by the Conservatives and the rest have most recently been held by Labour.

Things are in swing at the count

Where to watch elsewhere in the North East on election night

By Daniel Holland

Sunderland

Most attention will be on Sunderland City Council, which could follow Durham in slipping out of Labour hands. Nine red seats fell on Wearside in 2021 and another six this time around would see the authority slip into no overall control for the first time since it was formed in the 1970s.

The fact that Mr Starmer has been to Sunderland twice in the last couple of months would suggest the party is nervous. The council’s leader, Graeme Miller, is faced with a personal battle too as he tries to keep hold of his Washington South seat – a ward where the Tories were narrowly victorious last year.

Newcastle

The Lib Dems, Greens, and Newcastle Independents all fancy their chances of taking advantage of the ruling party’s turmoil and making it a baptism of fire for new leader Nick Kemp. Newcastle’s Conservatives, meanwhile, are bidding to win a seat on the council for the first time since 1992 and are pushing hard in Gosforth.

Elsewhere in Tyneside

Opposition parties will also hope to make dents in the commanding Labour majority in Gateshead.

Though in North Tyneside it may be coastal Tory seats that are worth keeping an eye on after the party was embroiled in rows over alleged abuse of the furlough scheme and leaflets mimicking the Green Party.

Ballot boxes have started to arrive at Temple Park

Ballot boxes arriving Ballot boxes arriving
Ballot boxes arriving
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