Local elections: Bolton Labour largest party but not in overall control

Labour has made key gains in Bolton in this year’s local elections to become the largest party on the council but has not taken majority control of the local authority.

In Bolton’s all-out election this year, Labour won 26 seats, making five gains, while the Conservatives’ total number of seats fell by seven to 17. Independents retained a strong presence on the council, gaining three seats to take their total to 11. The remaining six seats on the council were won by the Liberal Democrats.

Labour lost Bolton council to no overall control in 2019, with a Conservative-minority administration taking control. Two of the area’s three constituencies were won by the Tories in 2019, with Mark Logan gaining Bolton North East from Labour by 378 votes and Chris Green retaining Bolton West with an increased majority of 8,855.

In an interview with the Guardian ahead of this year’s local elections, Labour group leader on Bolton council Nick Peel said he did not feel the party was seeing “that seismic shift”.

He argued that the Conservatives were “overplaying” how bad a result their party might be facing and suggested that the local Tory Party might not be punished heavily for the national picture.

Read more on the local elections:

• Latest updates: Labour councils won, held and lost
• Labour win overall control in key target council Stoke
• Labour wins majority control of Medway for first time
• Local elections: ‘Seismic’ Labour win in bellwether Plymouth council
• 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?