Local elections: Bellwether Swindon win paves way for Labour MPs

Labour has won 29 seats on Swindon council to take control of the local authority, flipping the council from Conservative to Labour control.

The Tories lost nine seats while the Liberal Democrats and Independents held steady with a seat apiece.

Swindon has been a key target for Labour in this set of elections and was where Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner launched the party’s local election campaign.

Swindon council has been led by the Conservatives since 2004. Going into the election, the Conservatives held 32 council seats to Labour’s 23.

Labour made significant gains in last year’s local elections and increased the party’s total number of councillors by three.

Labour’s group leader in Swindon is Jim Robbins. He told LabourList last month that the local party was building on a strong performance last year and that Labour’s cost of living message was drawing new voters: “People are struggling, and they’re looking for something new.”

The win will raise party hopes of returning two Labour MPs at the next general election in the bellwether seat, with Swindon South a tight race in 2019 but the Tories guarding a 16,000-strong majority in Swindon North.

Labour group leader Jim Robbins recently told LabourList he was “confident” both seats would turn red at the general election despite the scale of the Tories’ lead in Swindon North.

Read more on the local elections:

• Latest updates: Labour councils won, held and lost
• Labour win overall control in key target council Stoke
• Local elections: ‘Seismic’ Labour win in bellwether Plymouth council
• Labour becomes largest party in Bolton but not in overall control
• Labour’s Chris Cooke takes Middlesbrough mayor post from independent
• Labour bruises the Tories in North West Leicestershire, Hartlepool, Tamworth
• What would good local election results look like for Labour?