2018 Watford Borough Council election

The 2018 Watford Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2018 to elect members of Watford Borough Council in England.^[1] This was the same day as other local elections.

Watford was one of the boroughs subject to a trial of voter ID restrictions^[2] requiring the production of polling cards.^[3]

Since the election of the full council in 2016, there had been three by-elections, but the balance of the council remained the same, as they were won by the defending party, in the case of Leggatts Ward by Labour and in the cases of Oxhey and Park by the Lib Dems.

Mayoral Election Candidates

Peter Taylor of the Liberal Democrats retained the Watford majority for the Liberal Democrats on the second count. Prior to the election, the mayor had been Dorothy Thornhill, representing the Liberal Democrats.^[4]

Watford Mayoral Election
3 May 2018
Party		Candidate	First Round		Second Round
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Taylor	13,279	48.7%	15,931	61.6%
	Labour	Jagtar Dhindsa	9, 223	33.8%	9,951	38.4%
	Conservative	George Jabbour	4,787	17.5%	Eliminated

	Liberal Democrat hold

Results summary

Watford Borough Council election, 2018
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Liberal Democrats	9	1	0	1	76.92	43.6	11,957	+1.2
Labour	3	0	1	1	23.1	33.7	9,244	+5.0
Conservative	0	0	0		0	20.9	5,737	-9.9
Green	0	0	0		0	1.0	278	-4.6
UKIP	0	0	0		0	0.8	225	-1.5

Ward Results

An asterisk * indicates an incumbent seeking re-election.

Callowland

Callowland^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Stotesbury	1,044	45.6	12.8
	Labour	Ahsan Khan*	832	36.4	2.8
	Conservative	Anthony Parker	276	12.1	1.4
	Green	Alison Wiesner	137	6.0	7.4
Majority			212	9.2
Turnout			2,289	40.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	5.0

No UKIP candidate as previous (-9.6%)

Central

Central^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Aga Dychton*	930	40.7	0.9
	Labour	Ani Meehan	912	40.0	6.5
	Conservative	Dennis Wharton	300	13.1	3.0
	Green	David Underdown	141	6.2	1.0
Majority			18	0.7
Turnout			2,283	37.2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	3.7

Holywell

Holywell^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Matt Turmaine*	1,402	65.61
	Liberal Democrats	Syed Kazmi	436	20.40
	Conservative	Yasmin Goldsmith	299	13.99
Majority			966	45.21
Turnout			2137	33.38
	Labour hold		Swing

Leggatts

Leggatts^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bilqees Mauthoor*	1,121	50.61
	Liberal Democrats	Joe Inniss	719	32.46
	Conservative	David Ealey	375	16.93
Majority			402	18.15
Turnout			2215	39.01
	Labour hold		Swing

Meriden

Meriden^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Antony Barton	779	43.57
	Labour Co-op	John Dowdle	560	31.32
	Conservative	Linda Topping	449	25.11
Majority			219	12.25
Turnout			1788	31.35
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Nascot

Nascot^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Jane Alexandra Johnson*	1,505	53.41
	Conservative	Binita Mehta-Parmar	725	25.73
	Labour	Edward John Tunnah	509	18.06
	UKIP	David Penn	79	2.80
Majority			780	27.68
Turnout			2818	43.08
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Oxhey

Oxhey^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Maggie Parker	1,432	58.83
	Conservative	Joseph Gornicki	570	23.42
	Labour	Sue Sleeman	432	17.75
Majority			862	35.41
Turnout			2434	46.00
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Park

Park^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Kloss	1,588	51.77
	Conservative	David Fallon	889	28.99
	Labour	Nabila Ahmed	541	17.64
	UKIP	Peter Blogg	49	1.60
Majority			699	22.78
Turnout			3067	48.63
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Stanborough

Stanborough^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Crout*	1,242	62.82
	Conservative	Lola Adedoyin	385	19.47
	Labour	Asma Suleman	350	17.70
Majority			857	43.35
Turnout			1977	35.24
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Tudor

Tudor^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Johnson*	951	44.65
	Labour	Diana Ivory	615	28.87
	Conservative	Darren Harrison^a	564	26.48
Majority			336	15.78
Turnout			2130	40.44
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

^a Darren Harrison was suspended by the Conservative Party after having alleged links to the EDL and other far-right groups. He remained on the ballot as a Conservative candidate.^[6]^[7]

Vicarage

Vicarage^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Nasreen Shah*	1,488	62.13
	Liberal Democrats	Tahair Azam	505	21.09
	Conservative	Michelle Sherman	402	16.78
Majority			983	41.04
Turnout			2395	43.08
	Labour hold		Swing

Woodside

Woodside^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Glen Saffery*	826	43.29
	Conservative	Sarah Hayes	503	26.36
	Labour	Seamus Williams	482	25.26
	UKIP	Ian Green	97	5.08
Majority			323	16.93
Turnout			1908	33.51
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

References

^ "Watford Borough Ward Elections 2018". watford.gov.uk. Watford Borough Council. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
^ Press Association (28 April 2018). "Polling station voter ID plans are deeply flawed, say critics". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
^ Walker, Peter; Weaver, Matthew (3 May 2018). "Anger and confusion as voters turned away during ID trial". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
^ Vote 2018: Watford mayoral election result, from BBC News.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "2018 Watford Borough Ward results". Watford Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
^ Bates, Liz (20 April 2018). "Tory council candidate suspended over alleged links to far-right groups". Politics Home. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
^ Perkins, Anne (21 April 2018). "Tory suspended over alleged links to EDL and white supremacists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018.

[1] "Watford Borough Ward Elections 2018". watford.gov.uk. Watford Borough Council. Retrieved 19 April 2018.

[2] Press Association (28 April 2018). "Polling station voter ID plans are deeply flawed, say critics". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2018.

[3] Walker, Peter; Weaver, Matthew (3 May 2018). "Anger and confusion as voters turned away during ID trial". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2018.

[4] Vote 2018: Watford mayoral election result, from BBC News.

[watford-2018-ward-results-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "2018 Watford Borough Ward results". Watford Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2021.

[6] Bates, Liz (20 April 2018). "Tory council candidate suspended over alleged links to far-right groups". Politics Home. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.

[7] Perkins, Anne (21 April 2018). "Tory suspended over alleged links to EDL and white supremacists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018.

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