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: Independent-Conservative coalition.
- Current Leader: Cllr. Mark Pritchard (Ind).
- Number of Seats (2022): 56 (+4).
- Current Seat Distribution: Independents & Non-Affiliated (28), Labour (11), Conservative (8), Plaid Cymru (5).
Previous Results:
- 1995 – Labour control.
- 1999 – No Overall Control.
- 2004 – No Overall Control.
- 2008 – No Overall Control.
- 2012 – No Overall Control.
- 2017 – No Overall Control.
Since a major internal split within Labour in 2014 over the Plas Madoc centre, Independents have largely cemented their position even if they sit in different groups. They’ve already won 6 seats uncontested.
The job of securing a majority for all of the parties/groups is perhaps even more difficult this year due to the overall increase in the number of councillors and a large number of boundary changes.
Despite the current feel-good factor surrounding the football club, the current Independent-Conservative administration has done themselves no favours by getting embroiled in highly-publicised spats over council tax and what turned out to be a highly-divisive city status bid. There’ve also been protests over a proposed housing development in Rossett, which was recently granted planning permission.
The conditions are, on paper, ripe for a change – but will that change come?
Wrexham is the sort of place Labour would want to make a big local comeback ahead of future national and UK elections. If they can tap into disappointment with the local MP and UK-wide issues they might be able to put some distance between themselves and the Tories – though doing so may result in them letting other parties concentrate on local issues at their expense.
Plaid Cymru members have been putting in a lot of legwork on the ground over the last several elections and are putting up a significant number of candidates. Recent by-election successes hint that they could make gains this year – nothing dramatic perhaps, but any sign of progress ought to be welcomed and something to build upon.
