A Labour Party candidate has won one of the three Stoke Gifford seats on South Gloucestershire Council, meaning that the Conservatives no longer hold all the ward’s seats for the first time in many years.
The ward was guaranteed at least two new members after Tory incumbents Brian Allinson and Ernie Brown chose not to defend their seats.
Topping the poll this time was Labour’s David Addision with 1530 votes, with a healthy margin over the sole defending incumbent Keith Cranney (Conservative, 1440 votes) followed by Neel Das Gupta (Conservative, 1379 votes) in third place.
The other Conservative candidate, Tony Griffiths, was beaten into fourth place, followed by the other two Labour candidates and, finally, the three Liberal Democrat candidates.
Despite only winning one seat, Labour’s total vote count in the ward narrowly topped that of the Conservatives, by 4177 to 4168. Labour’s share of the vote was 39 percent (up from 27 percent in 2019) with the Conservatives also on 39 percent (down from 47 percent). The Liberal Democrats had 23 percent this time (up from 20 percent).
Turnout in the Stoke Gifford ward was 35 percent, up from 31 percent in 2019.
For further details of the local results, see our 2023 District Election page.
No overall control
Overall in South Gloucestershire, the Conservatives have lost a total of ten seats, meaning they no longer command an overall majority on the 61-seat council. They have ended up with 23 councillors – down by 10 from the last elections in 2019 – with 36 percent of the vote. This is two points above the Liberal Democrats who won 20 seats, an increase of three, from a 34 percent vote share, while Labour went up from 11 to 17 members and received 24 percent of the vote, with one Independent.
A notable loss for the Conservatives was Steve Reade who, as Cabinet member with responsibility for transport, fronted the troubled Gipsy Patch Lane railway bridge replacement project and the abandoned Ring Road throughabout proposals.
All the South Gloucestershire results in detail: District Elections 2023 (SGC)
Results for the town and parish elections, including Stoke Gifford Parish Council, are expected later on Friday. Look out for a further article on the Journal website in due course.
