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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Election results: Labour holds on to Sunderland | Election results: Labour holds on to Sunderland |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Labour has held on to Sunderland Council, though its share of the vote has gone down sharply. | Labour has held on to Sunderland Council, though its share of the vote has gone down sharply. |
| UKIP, the Lib Dems and Greens all gained their first seats on the council and the Conservatives also took seats at Labour's expense, which lost 12. | UKIP, the Lib Dems and Greens all gained their first seats on the council and the Conservatives also took seats at Labour's expense, which lost 12. |
| The council's leader blamed its losses on Labour MPs supporting a fresh vote on Brexit. | The council's leader blamed its losses on Labour MPs supporting a fresh vote on Brexit. |
| Councillor Graeme Miller said: "We've seen a massive voter protest on that issue." | Councillor Graeme Miller said: "We've seen a massive voter protest on that issue." |
| He added: "Sunderland voted as a city to leave and having had a message from MPs saying we have to have a people's vote and a second referendum, people are saying we are not just accepting that in the Labour party. | He added: "Sunderland voted as a city to leave and having had a message from MPs saying we have to have a people's vote and a second referendum, people are saying we are not just accepting that in the Labour party. |
| "I have lost councillors tonight because of this - the Brexit message has stepped into local politics and that is the outcome. | "I have lost councillors tonight because of this - the Brexit message has stepped into local politics and that is the outcome. |
| "Hopefully the party will learn from it and will not make that mistake again." | "Hopefully the party will learn from it and will not make that mistake again." |
| However, Bridget Phillipson, Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, tweeted: "Losses to different parties across city tells us this isn't a simple Brexit story." | |
| Labour also lost five seats in South Tyneside and two in Newcastle, as it held on to both councils. | Labour also lost five seats in South Tyneside and two in Newcastle, as it held on to both councils. |
| It also held on to North Tyneside, where it lost one seat to the Conservatives. | It also held on to North Tyneside, where it lost one seat to the Conservatives. |
| Analysis | |
| By BBC North East and Cumbria political editor Richard Moss | |
| Labour had a lot to lose in the North East and Cumbria. It is the party that dominates its town halls - but it took some heavy hits overnight. | |
| Sunderland's voters delivered the early blows - 12 councillors gone. | |
| Then Hartlepool was lost, Allerdale losses hit double figures and, to add insult to injury, there was a by-election defeat in a usually reliable part of County Durham. | |
| And the party's problems in northern Mayoral races continue as their candidates trailed in a distant second to Independents in Middlesbrough and Copeland. | |
| Local leaders were quick to point to Brexit confusion. But that just highlights the party's dilemma. While their leader in Sunderland claims flirting with a new referendum cost him councillors, Newcastle's Labour leader says a failure to fully back one backfired. | |
| And it just seems voters wanted anyone but Labour in some places. How else to explain gains for UKIP, Greens, Lib Dems, Independents and Conservatives? | |
| As the Establishment in the region, perhaps some sort of kicking for Labour was inevitable. But do not discount local factors. | |
| It may be convenient - and partly justified - for council leaders to blame events in Westminster, but anyone who has talked to voters in the region will know that some Labour regimes here are far from loved. | |
| Either search using your postcode or council name or click around the map to show local results. |