Kirklees Council leader says Labour councillors going 'back to the drawing board' after losing control of council

Friday’s nail-biting vote count saw the ruling Labour group lose its majority, with their seats plummeting from 35 to 31.

Former council Leader, Shabir Pandor, lost his seat as did two cabinet members – Jackie Ramsay (Dewsbury South) and Mussarat Pervaiz (Dewsbury West).

A group-by-group breakdown of the results and the seats that were lost or gained is as follows:

Labour: 31 (-4)

Conservatives: 15 (-3)

Lib Dems: 10 (+2)

Greens: 4 (+1)

Kirklees Community Independents: 3 (-1)

Independent: 6 (+5)

Now that the council has no overall control, it may be run through a minority administration – where the largest group leads – or a coalition could be formed.

Leader of the council, Coun Cathy Scott, made it clear that she hopes to continue as leader of the council and that a coalition was not something she was immediately considering.

Responding to the results, she said: “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board, we’re listening – we need to listen more to the community."

Kirklees was one of only a handful of councils that bucked the national trend of Labour gains. Overall, the party gained control of eight councils, with Kirklees and Oldham being the only two to slip from a Labour majority.

The council has faced many challenges since the last time voters went to the polls, including a £47m black hole in its budget prompting cuts across several areas.