Southend Tories election night delight despite falling short of majority

Senior Tory councillors insisted election night was “beyond their wildest dreams” as the party won three seats.

Discussions are now in full swing over forming a coalition with 23 seats in the borough now blue and leader Tony Cox confident of achieving a Tory minority administration.

The party sits three seats short of having full control of the council.

Mr Cox said: “The polls show this administration has been rejected. Residents don’t want the Independents propping up the council any more.

“They’ve made no gain, and they’ve eroded the lead they’ve had.

“What’s happened is beyond our wildest dreams.”

He is now desperately trying to strike a deal with either the Liberal Democrats, the Independent Group, or all three of of the unaligned Indepedents so he can become leader of Southend Council.

Labour leader, Ian Gilbert, retained his seat in the Victoria ward, winning more than half of the votes.

On the night, the Tories gained three seats while Labour gained just one council spot.

The Liberal Democrats neither gained or lost seats and will continue to have five councillors, while the Independent group lost one seat, leaving them with eight.

The unaligned Independents lost one seat, taking their total on the council to three.

James Duddridge, Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East, added: “The town needs rescuing from the coalition of chaos.

“It needs an invigorated leader.”

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Labour candidate Aston Line snatched one of two seats up for grabs in the Westborough ward, with a by-election also taking place.

Anne Jones – also a Labour candidate – nabbed the other.

Mr Line said: “I’m absolutely elated, it comes after months of hard work in a ward that’s very close to my heart.

“I grew up here and my parents’ business is also here too.”

Liberal Democrat Peter Wexham, who retained his seat for the Leigh ward, aims to focus on helping the environment – including lowering Southend’s carbon footprint and tackling pollution.

He added: “I’m of course very pleased to be able to represent Leigh and be able to help the residents in any way I can.

“It’s so nice to have so many people come out and get behind me, there were over 1,000 votes in total.”

Conservative councillor Helen Boyd also managed to retain her seat in Blenheim Park, after wearing out “around seven pairs of shoes” while on the campaign trail.

She added: “One of the things I’d like to look at moving forward are our grass verges, roads and pavements, and I’m pushing to get the equipment at Blenheim Park rejuvenated.”

Elsewhere, Mayor John Lamb claimed victory in West Leigh to retain his seat.