Cllr Tony Riordan is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Is the end of a Labour-led Council in Stockton-on-Tees on the horizon?
Stockton-on-Tees, or just Stockton as we call it locally has been under Labour control for the last 11 years. However, the political landscape is changing locally, and has been since 2019.
Following that election, the Conservative Group made a net gain of one seat taking their tally to 14, from the 56 seats available. Pleasingly, Labour lost overall control of the Council, losing 8 seats and leaving them with 24 seats.
The rest of the seats were taken up by a mixture of some ‘true’ Independents and a great deal of ‘Labour supporters’ masquerading as Independents but propping up the Labour led Council.
Although the gain in seats by the Conservative Group was small, the voting by the electorate was more significant and gave a greater insight into the direction the voters in Stockton were going and thinking.
29,335 people voted for the 24 Labour candidates, or 32.6 per cent of the total votes cast. Compared to 29,864 people voted for the 14 Conservative candidates, or 33.2 per cent of the total votes cast.
Putting it another way, each of the 14 Conservative candidates, on average received 74 per cent more votes than the 24 Labour candidates.
Keeping this momentum going forward was incredibly important. In May 2021 the Conservative Group ‘smashed’ the by-election, taking all five seats. Labour was nowhere to be seen.
Although, Labour still held control of the Council, the Conservative group gained an additional net of two seats, taking them to 16. Over the five wards the Conservative Group amassed 7,602 votes compared to Labours 2,441, or 211 per cent more votes.
The Conservative message during the campaign was strong and clear: “The Labour Council take your Council-Tax and waste it on vanity projects.” Dr Ben Lamb, a Research Lecturer/Senior lecturer in Media at Teesside University, one of the defeated Labour candidates, wrote a post campaign article, complimenting the Conservative campaign message.
An example of one of the vanity projects is the near £30 million they have squandered on a Local Theatre they do not own, paying an annual lease to the property owner, in addition to paying the company that runs it more than £300,000 a year to promote the acts. A further example is the £17 million Hotel they have built, promising to the local taxpayer that it would make £250,000 a year to put back into local services. So far it hasn’t made one penny and had to ‘gift’ the Council Company running it £465,000 last year.
Over the last two years Stockton has been the subject of a protracted, but welcome Ward Review by the Local Government Boundary Commission, covering two separate and lengthy consultation periods.
Why two separate consultation periods?
It would be fair to say that Labour and their Independent supporters didn’t like the initial recommendations of the Commission and objected loudly when they wrote,
The Conservative Group’s borough-wide scheme provided a mixed warding pattern of one-, two- and three-councillor wards for Stockton-on-Tees. We carefully considered the proposals received and were of the view that the proposed patterns of wards provided for good electoral equality in some areas of the borough, broadly used clear boundaries, and in some cases provided evidence of community identity. Consequently, we have generally based our draft recommendations on the proposals from the Conservative Group and requested a further consultation period.
The Commission, following the further period of consultation, wrote:
“The Conservative Group’s borough-wide scheme provided a mixed warding pattern of one-, two- and three-councillor wards for Stockton-on-Tees. We carefully considered the proposals received and were of the view that the proposed patterns of wards provided for good electoral equality in some areas of the borough, broadly used clear boundaries, and in some cases provided evidence of community identity.”
In short, the Labour Group and their Independent supporters, known locally to residents as ‘Labour in disguise’ are not happy with the Final Recommendations and the order laid before Parliament.
One ‘Independent’ councillor (Labour supporter) has recently written to all members and Officers expressing his views:
“Obviously, the LGBCE is not independent and merely a gerrymandering arm of government. The whole outrageous pretence of honest restructuring was so blatantly cut and dried and those who supported the outcome simply willing accomplices.”
Politics is a serious game, and if you engage with change, for the benefit of all of our people in the Borough, rather than a parochial mindset focusing on the needs of your group, you gain their trust and their vote.
The review undertaken by the Commission was an excellent piece of work that rebalances the Wards, and possibly the make up of the Council in next year’s elections.
The last 3 three years has shown that our electorate are gaining confidence in our messaging, our vision, and our commitment to change for the better. We need to ensure the trust that they are showing in us is rewarded with a majority Conservative controlled Council.
I know as a Group Leader of highly motivated and hardworking Councillors that nothing can be taken for granted in politics. We will go into next year’s election with the aim of winning control of the Council.
Our message to the electorate will focus on them and their families, putting them first, spending their hard-earned money on them, and the services they desperately need. Our message will include a cast iron promise of prudent financial management practices, focusing on reducing the debt the Labour Led Council have amassed on vanity projects. We will invite private investment into our six towns of the Borough. Finally, we will lobby Government to invest in our Borough and our people.