In a shock result which rendered the previously vociferous Labour Twitterati silent last night, City Independent candidate Jackie Barnes won the Springfields and Trent Vale by-election.
The seat formerly held by Sarah Hill until her resignation from the cabinet & the city council was thought to be a safe Labour seat.
The turn out was a disappointing 21.6%, rumour within the Civic Centre was that Labour had called the election to coincide with the start of the summer holiday period hoping that a reduced turn out would increase their share of the vote with support from the party faithful.
Lib Dem candidate Les Porch came third and Conservative candidate Harold Gregory came in a disappointing fourth. Michael Coleman of the BNP trailed in to 7 place behind Independent Gary Elsby.
Jackie Barnes increased her vote from 277 in 2011 to 370 while Labour lost over 50% of their vote with it dropping from 537 in 2011 to 245 last night.
The final count was:
- Barnes (City Ind) 370 votes
- Aumir (Lab) 245
- Porch (Lib Dem) 152
- Gregory (Cons) 109
- Bednarski (UKIP) 105
- Elsby (Ind) 36
- Coleman (BNP) 27
- Wright (TUSAC) 14
- Leat (Dem Nat) 2
The council chamber is still a Labour majority with 33 seats, City Independents now have 8 seats, Conservatives 2 and 1 unaffiliated.