May 1st election results

May 1 was a very bad day for the Labour Party in Derby. It signaled the end of an era and the start of a new one as the Liberal Democrats replaced Labour as the largest party on the council.

Of course it’s worth remembering that 19 of Derby’s current crop of councillors were elected on the Labour ticket. Had two of them not betrayed their former comrades, and the people who voted them in as Labour councillors, Labour would have remained the largest party.

But that is cold comfort. Even if Labour had been left with 19 rather than 17 councillors, May 1 would still have been a disastrous day for us.

Three years ago we regained control of the city following a famous by-election success in Abbey ward when Asaf Afzal’s victory gave us an overall majority on the council.

But as I watched the votes being counted in the early hours of May 2 I knew the game was up. The euphoria of that by-election seemed a distant memory. This year’s election turned out to be Labour’s worst defeat in Derby for 40 years.

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