The 2000 Southend-on-Sea Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Southend-on-Sea Unitary Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.[1]
After the election, the composition of the council was
Campaign
Before the election the council was run by a coalition between the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties, but the election was expected to see the Conservatives take control from them.[3] 14 of the 39 seats were being contested,[4] with the Conservatives only needing to gain one seat in order to have a majority.[5] They only required a tiny swing to achieve this, which would give the Conservatives control of the council for the first time in 8 years.[5] The election was a high profile one with the Conservative leader, William Hague, campaigning in the area on the Monday before the election.[6]
A major issue in the election was the number of refugees in the town, which was estimated at up to 2,000.[6] The Conservatives said that the area had become a "dumping ground" and called on all asylum seekers to be detained upon entry into the country.[6] However Labour accused the Conservatives of "playing the race card"[6] and reported a Conservative leaflet to the Commission for Racial Equality.[7]
Other issues included Conservative plans to build a new bypass to ease traffic within the town.[4] Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties defended their record of investing £50 million in the town during their period in control of the council, while keeping council tax rises down, with the latest council tax level the second lowest in Essex.[4]
Election result
The results saw the Conservatives gain control of the council with an 11-seat majority after winning over 57% of the vote.[6] They gained 3 seats each from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats[6] with defeated councillors including 3 members of the executive, Nigel Baker, Stephen George and Chris Mallam.[8] These defeats meant that Labour failed to hold any of the seats they had been defending, while the Liberal Democrats only managed to hold on to 2 seats.[9] Overall turnout in the election was just above the national average at 30%.[6]
Following the election Charles Latham became the new Conservative leader of the council and announced they would scrap planned bus lanes and abolish charges for social care services.[10][11]
Southend-on-Sea Local Election Result 2000[2][12] |
Party |
Seats |
Gains |
Losses |
Net gain/loss |
Seats % |
Votes % |
Votes |
+/− |
|
Conservative |
12 |
6 |
0 |
+6 |
85.7 |
57.4 |
21,567 |
+11.2% |
|
Liberal Democrat |
2 |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
14.3 |
23.0 |
8,625 |
-0.9% |
|
Labour |
0 |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
0 |
17.5 |
6,564 |
-11.7% |
|
UKIP |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.5 |
579 |
+1.5% |
|
Cliffs Pavilion Area Residents' Parking |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.4 |
146 |
+0.4% |
|
Green |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
78 |
+0.2% |
Ward results
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]