Red dawn

Labour take control of Medway Council in dramatic local elections

Medway Labour has swept to victory in Medway’s local elections, taking outright control of the authority for the first time.

In a brutal night for the ruling administration, long-time councillors saw themselves rejected by voters seemingly wanting change.

Big beasts of the Conservative group, including Stuart Tranter, Rupert Turpin, Josie Iles, and Chris Buckwell were all beaten by their Labour rivals.

Elsewhere, any Lib Dem resurgence or Green breakthrough in Medway failed to materialise, while independents managed to take all four seats on the Hoo peninsula, even if only three of them are willing to work together.

But the big wins of the night were for Labour, who managed to take every one of their target seats, allowing them a solid majority and control of Medway Council for the next four years. The party swept seats across Rochester and Strood, and consolidated their base in Gillingham and Chatham.

Overall composition of Medway Council:
33 Labour
22 Conservative
4 Independent

We’ll have a full analysis of the results in the coming days, but for now, the ward-by-ward results of Medway’s local elections are below: