Labour make huge gains and Greens scoop seats at Thanet’s district election 2019

Some of the Labour Party members celebrating the election gains

Labour made huge gains at the district election, going from five seats to 20, and Greens are on the authority for the first time winning three seats. Independent Ruth Brackstone-Bailey also gained a seat with her vote rising from 230 (2%) in the 2015 election to 776 (15%) in the 2019 poll.

The results mean Cllr Brackstone-Bailey is now the only independent on the council after Suzanne Brimm lost her seat in Birchington South.

Conservatives also increased by three seats to 25 while UKIP were wiped out of the authority and Thanet Independents party won seven seats, a loss of six pre-election places. Party leader Stuart Piper and wife Lynda Piper retained their seats as did Dane Valley councillor Gary Taylor.

New Labour councillor for Margate Central Rob Yates, who was elected alongside Labour’s Helen Whitehead, said:”Today Labour has quadrupled the number of councillors it has and is looking forward to holding the ruling party to account. We are delighted with the result, which has been a real group effort and want to thank the people of Thanet for their support.”

The turnout was 30.15%.

The results mean Conservatives still lead a minority administration with party leader Bob Bayford retaining his seat but Labour now form a large opposition.

There will need to be agreement and alliances for Conservatives to gain a majority on decisions coming before full council.

Prior to the election the council was compirsed of  22 Conservative, 14 Independent and UKIP group, 12 Thanet Independent Councillors, five Labour and two Independents.

Seats won 2019

 The Conservative Party Candidate2538%
 Labour Party2030%
Thanet Independents Party710%
 Green Party39%
 Independent14%

Seats won 2015

 UKIP3336%
 Conservative Party Candidate1831%
 The Labour Party Candidate212%
 Labour Party212%
 Independent Group11%

Find the results by ward here

22 Comments

  1. Amazing results for Helen and Rob!!!!! The stain of UKIP is finally wiped from Thanet. I pray we never ever again have those Alt-Right xenophobes in power again. Well done to the Labour party for putting in the work to claim the seats back! Now let’s win the appeal to keep the stroke unit at QEQM, (Go SONIK), fix the loos by the beach, create opportunities for young people to skill up and turn Thanet into a thriving digital hub of the future (as that is where the jobs are).

    • A lifetime supporter of debate and open politics, what a shame to name UKIP supporters as ‘far right’ (whatever that actually means). I was elected under UKIP in 2015 to TDC and RTC, standing for a Referendum on the EU. True, I did not stay and came back to my Conservative home. But the cross-party working over the past four years, for the Port especially, has been excellent, even there is much still to do. I did not stand again but hope that further cross-party working and goodwill continues to give Ramsgate all the support we need for the future. Best wishes.

    • Without analysing the local election results as much as I would like, my first reaction is Yes! Jolly well done all those new Labour councillors, but a word of warning! There was a very low turnout, maybe because all the xenophobic ex UKIP supporters abstained, and sat on their hands! But be warned they may come back with laughing boy Farage’s new Brexit Party! They are like UKIP a one trick pony, with nothing to offer except their fear of foreigners!

  2. Ruled by an anti-Semite, let’s wait and see how the morons do their ‘best’ for Thanet. The last Labour Administration left Thanet with a £14,000,000 debt. This should never have been forgotten by Thanet voters. Thank heaven they didn’t get total Administration this time. A lot of excellent people were voted off that Council due to Labour LIES.

    • Who is being manipulated and by whom?

      I don’t understand why anybody still wants to vote Tory considering the damage they’ve done.

    • Still “Eh?”
      You spout loads of emotive, but meaningless, words.
      The Tories have well and truly shafted Thanet. You’ve only got to look at the debacle surrounding the Local Plan. Thank goodness the Tories were only in power for a short while. Just imagine the damage they could have wreaked had they had a full term!

    • Where on earth did the figure of £14 million come from? The same place as the claim that the UK pays the EU 350 million a week? Perhaps the Thanet electorate “forgot” about that debt because it never existed.

  3. What do the percentages in the right column of the tables represent ?

    They do not reflect the number of seats, they are not in proportion to the number of seats and nor do they add up to 100% in any event.

  4. Good result in Central Harbour Ward. Well done to Becky Wing, Raushan Ara and Peter Campbell. So glad that tory (JD) didn’t get elected. He can go back on social media now and continue with his vile toxic comments.

  5. Weren’t the Labour Party and Greens supposed to perform badly because they don’t bow down to the great god Brexit enough? Yet it looks like UKIP (the Brexit god’s representatives on earth) are cast into the dustbins of history, while the Tories (Brexit’s creepy congregation) are left scrabbling around to form some kind of “Cut all the Council Services Coalition”.

  6. Well done Kathy Bailes for very fair, clear and concise reporting on the TDC election!

  7. I take it robster your not happy ???? I wonder should you vote for?????? well done labour great result .never mind robster nobster

  8. I think this person needs help! Blaming migrants for their problems is exactly what Hitler did with the Jews! I heard someone on the radio a little while ago complaining “about all these migrants coming over here taking our jobs” Ehhh! How can anyone take a job unless its been offered them? Its the lazy, workshy, hate filled xenophobic people like Turner that make me ashamed to be British! Who forces employers to give jobs to migrants? Who forces landlords to rent out property to migrants? Like I said this man needs help, anyone any ideas where he can get it?

  9. The Brexit referendum has done us all very few favours. But, at least, there may now be an opportunity to discuss some of the consequences of leaving the EU.
    Before the Referendum, a lot of employers just kept quiet, no doubt never thinking that Britain would shoot itself in the foot by leaving. Now, they are beginning to speak up. The farmers who are terrified that they will lose their workforce. The hoteliers and restaurant owners who wonder who will keep their businesses going. The NHS suddenly short of thousands of nurses and doctors and other support staff. Road Haulage companies already reliant on drivers from the Continent. Social Care companies failing to recruit workers in Britain to care for our elderly. And so it goes on.
    There are simply not enough people of working age in Britain. We are having smaller and smaller families. Like most European countries, we are not giving birth to sufficient babies to replace the workers who retire. Nor should we. We are not baby machines to be switched on and off to satisfy the racist fantasies of the “Britain for the British” brigade.
    And forcing us to retire later and later will only act to punish us as we will grow frailer and frailer while still being expected to carry on working.
    Even if we eventually leave the EU, we will continue to import thousands of workers from abroad, maybe casting the net wider , out to countries that aren’t members of the EU like Turkey or Ukraine, or Commonwealth countries like Pakistan or Bangladesh. If not, this country will shrink into a puny economy with poor health and social care,high taxes on a declining workforce to pay for the growing number of retired people. Still, at least we would be as “independent” as North Korea. North Korea doesn’t have much to do with the outside world either.

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