Somerset Tories have increased their control of the County Council with a near landslide swing in the recent elections and gained 4 extra seats in the process giving them a strong majority.
Lib Dems, who had attempted to put themselves forward as the only alternative, in fact lost seats and only made a couple of high profile gains including Tessa Munt in Wells taking out Tory leader John Osman.
UKIP were wiped out across the county and their vote simply added to the Conservative pile giving them the clear victory.
In Frome, two Green candidates were elected for the first time on County .
Across the board 3 independents won seats including left leaning members who had formed an alliance with Labour during the last Council.
Labour held it’s 3 seats in Wellington and in both Bridgwater South and North while increasing their vote in Bridgwater East and Bridgwater West.
A full set of results ca be found here.
The new balance on Somerset County Council is;-
County Labour Leader Leigh Redman, who held his Bridgwater South seat against a strong Tory challenge, had this to say
“I am really pleased to have been re-elected to serve Bridgwater South for another term, the poor turnout at yesterdays county election was a little frustrating considering the massive impact county has on everyone in our community, the unseen and often forgotten services run by County are now at risk, I look forward to working in the new council to represent my community. The first thing that needs to happen is the conservative administration need to find a new leader and cabinet, then the Q4 outrun (end of year budget statement will need to be declared and I am assuming a deficit of many million pounds that will be not a good way to start a new council. A considerable overspend and further cuts can only mean cuts in services that will impact staff & users.”