In this first of four county-by-county previews over the coming week, here’s a summary of where things stand in the six northern local authorities.
- Current Administration: Labour minority.
- Current Leader: Cllr. Ian Roberts (Lab).
- Number of Seats (2022): 66 (-4).
- Current Seat Distribution: Labour (34), Independents & Non-Affiliated (26), Conservative (5), Liberal Democrats (5).
Previous Results:
- 1995 – Labour control.
- 1999 – Labour control.
- 2004 – No Overall Control.
- 2008 – No Overall Control.
- 2012 – No Overall Control.
- 2017 – No Overall Control.
There’ve been a large number of changes to ward boundaries compared to 2017 which makes it a bit more difficult to predict what would happen.
One of the main stories here is the departure from Labour of former Deputy Leader, Bernie Attridge, in 2019 following a falling out with the former Leader, Aaron Shotton. He’s now running as an Independent. In 2020, Shotton was suspended from the council for three months for inappropriate behaviour.
Labour should have enough in the tank to remain the largest group at the very least seeing as they tend to dominate the multi-member wards in the Deeside area, but the Independents have seen their candidate numbers swell compared to 2017.
While that might otherwise concern Labour, the Independents are running in separate groups, potentially resulting in vote splitting.
