2019 Portsmouth City Council election

Elections to Portsmouth City Council took place on Thursday 2 May 2019, alongside other local elections across the country. The seats contested in this election were last contested in 2015. The Conservative Party had 8 seats they were defending, the Liberal Democrats 5 and Labour 1 seat. A by-election occurred within the vacant Cosham seat from last years election, due to the sitting Conservative standing down. No party gained a majority from this election, and therefore the council remains under no overall control.

2019 Portsmouth City Council election

← 2018 2 May 2019 2021 →

15 of the 42 seats to Portsmouth City Council[1]
22 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Con
Leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson Donna Jones Stephen Morgan
Party Liberal Democrats Conservative Labour
Leader's seat Milton Hilsea Charles Dickens
Last election 4 (2015) 9 (2015) +1 1 (2015)
Seats before 17 17 5
Seats won 6
(18 total)
7
(16 total)
2
(6 total)
Seat change Increase2 Decrease3 Increase1
Popular vote 13,969 11,886 11,966
Percentage 29.2% 24.9% 25.0%
Swing Increase9.5% Decrease9.4% Increase5.6%

Council control before election

No Overall Control

Council control after election

No Overall Control

Map showing the winner in each ward for the 2019 Portsmouth City Council election

Following the election, the Liberal Democrat minority administration that was formed in 2018 continued in office.[2] Labour abstained on the vote for the council leader, with the Liberal Democrats winning the vote by virtue of being the single largest party.

Background

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Elections to Portsmouth council since 2012 have proven to have volatile and changing results, with eleven of the city's fourteen wards voting for different parties each year.[3] Following the 2018 election in Portsmouth, in which one third of the council was elected, the UK Independence Party lost all of their seats. Gerald Vernon-Jackson became leader of the council.[4]

A Conservative councillor for Cosham who was elected, James Fleming, was forced to resign as he was not attending meetings due to long term sickness. This means that the Cosham ward will have two seats up for election.[5] The Conservatives also faced an internal inquiry during this campaign due to one of their former candidates claiming he was racially abused.[6]

Election results

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Immediately ahead of this election, the composition of the council was:

17 5 17 2 1
Liberal Democrats Labour Conservative I V

After the election result, the composition of the council became:

18 6 16 2
Liberal Democrats Labour Conservative I

As the council is elected in thirds, one councillor for each of the 14 wards are elected each year. All comparisons in seats and swing are to the corresponding 2015 election.

2019 Portsmouth City Council election
Party This election Full council This election
Seats Net Seats % Other Total Total % Votes Votes % +/−
  Liberal Democrats 6   2 40.0 12 18 42.9 13,969 29.2
  Conservative 7   3 46.7 9 16 38.1 11,966 24.9
  Labour 2   1 13.3 4 6 14.3 11,966 25.1
  Independent 0   0.0 2 2 4.8 0 0.0
  UKIP 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 6,664 14.0
  Green 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 2,752 5.8
  NHA 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 344 0.7
  VPP 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 117 0.2
  JAC 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 75 0.2

Results by ward

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Comparisons for the purpose of determining a gain, hold or loss of a seat, and for all percentage changes, is to the last time these specific seats were up for election in 2015. An asterisk indicates the incumbent councillor.

Baffins

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Baffins[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Lynne Stagg* 1,649 45 +15
Conservative Ryan Brent 776 21 −7
UKIP Todd Sweeney 547 15 −7
Labour Kasey Clark 470 13 −2
Green Bob Simmonds 240 7 +2
Majority 873 24 +22
Turnout 3,682 33.1 −30.8
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Central Southsea

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Central Southsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Suzy Horton* 1,760 46 +15
Labour Charlotte Gerada 1,235 32 +16
Conservative Ruben Bell 328 9 −13
Green Eloise Shavelar 268 7 −14
UKIP Michael Nawrot 263 7 −2
Majority 525 14 +5
Turnout 3,854 35.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Cal Corkery 1,023 40 +14
Liberal Democrats Mark Graham 619 24 −1
UKIP Matthew Harvey 504 20 −2
Conservative Ronnie Taffurelli-Hutchings 254 10 −8
Green Sarah Gilbert 168 7 ±0
Majority 404 16 +7
Turnout 2,568 21.5 −24.3
Labour hold Swing 14

Copnor

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Copnor
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert New* 1,064 37 −5
Labour Rumal Khan 658 23 +1
UKIP Bill Haley 541 19 −4
Liberal Democrats Ross Campbell 365 13 +6
Green Ken Hawkins 286 10 +5
Majority 406 14 +5
Turnout 2,914 29.8
Conservative hold Swing

Cosham

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Cosham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lee Mason* 1,082 34
Conservative Matthew Atkins 1,071 34
UKIP George Madgwick 899 29
Labour David Boxall 756 24
Labour Yahiya Chowdhury 627 20
Liberal Democrats Simon Sansbury 427 14
Liberal Democrats Helena Cole 383 12
NHA Veronika Wagner 344 11
Turnout 3,153 31.0
Conservative hold Swing
Conservative hold Swing

Drayton & Farlington

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Drayton & Farlington
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Terry Norton 1,927 55 −11
Labour Rebecca Light 729 21 +3
UKIP Derek Jennings 471 13 N/A
Liberal Democrats Delwar Baig 402 11 +6
Majority 1,198 34 −14
Turnout 3,529 30.1
Conservative hold Swing

Eastney and Craneswater

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Eastney and Craneswater
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Linda Symes 1,406 34.9 −5.1
Liberal Democrats Jennie Brent*[8] 1,003 24.9 +1.9
Labour Luke Evans 910 22.6 +10.6
UKIP Andrew Walters 365 9.1 −4.9
Green Menno Groen 282 7.0 +3.0
JAC Steve Oldfield 53 1.3
Majority 403 10.0 −4.3
Turnout 4,019 41.9 −22.3
Conservative hold Swing

Fratton

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Fratton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Dave Ashmore* 1,141 39 +13
Labour Trevor Morgan 844 29 +9
UKIP Kevan Chippindall-Higgin 395 13 −8
Green Tim Sheerman-Chase 289 10 +3
Conservative Elliot Russell 288 10 −12
Majority 297 10 +5
Turnout 2,957 28
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Hilsea

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Hilsea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Scott Harris* 1,058 39 −6
Labour Sue Castillon 627 22 −2
UKIP Mark Roberts 518 18 −2
Liberal Democrats Peter Williams 380 13 +6
Green Emma Murphy 274 10 +5
Majority 431 17 −2
Turnout 2,857
Conservative hold Swing

Milton

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Milton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Gerald Vernon-Jackson* 1,611 41 +7
Labour Paula Savage 1,036 26 +12
UKIP Jenny Dobson 543 14 −1
Conservative Stephen Gorys 457 12 −13
Green Tamara Groen 276 7 −4
Majority 575 15 +6
Turnout 3,923
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Nelson

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Nelson
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Lee Hunt 1,125 43 +21
Labour Mo Quinn 472 18 −5
UKIP Mike Jerome 456 18 −6
Conservative Lewis Gosling 374 14 −11
Green Duncan Robinson 176 7 +3
Majority 653 25
Turnout 2,603
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing

Paulsgrove

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Paulsgrove
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Gemma New* 966 37 +4
Labour Isabelle Sene 669 26 −6
UKIP Stuart Potter 647 25 −1
Liberal Democrats Iain Sutherland 209 8 +3
Green Robert Wilson 117 4 ±0
Majority 297 11 +10
Turnout 2,608
Conservative hold Swing

St Jude

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St Jude
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Graham Heaney 1,061 33 +18
Liberal Democrats Tracy McClure 851 26 −1
Conservative Timothy Forer 766 24 −10
Green Darren Fry 310 10 −2
UKIP Ian Ducane 245 8 −2
The Justice & Anti-Corruption Party Claudiu-Bogdan Babii 22 1 N/A
Majority 210 7 −1
Turnout 3,255
Labour gain from Conservative Swing 14

St Thomas

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St Thomas
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Chris Attwell 1,366 40 +13
Labour Sumel Chowdhury 849 25 +9
Conservative Terry Henderson 747 22 −10
UKIP Colin Galloway 270 8 −4
Green Rebecca Kingsley-Smith 183 5 −7
Majority 517 15 +10
Turnout 3,415
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing

References

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  1. ^ Alongside the third of the council's 14 seats which are being contested, a by-election is taking place in Cosham for a Conservative standing down.
  2. ^ "Liberal Democrats retain Portsmouth council leadership". BBC News. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. ^ Andrew Teale (28 April 2019). "Long Read: The 2019 Local Elections". Britain Elects. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Lib Dem Gerald Vernon-Jackson wins Portsmouth council leadership". BBC News. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  5. ^ Ben Fishwick (26 March 2019). "Cosham councillor removed from Portsmouth council for not attending meetings". The News (Portsmouth). JPIMedia. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  6. ^ Rajeev Syal (26 April 2019). "Tories and Labour accused of racial discrimination in Portsmouth". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Election results for Baffins". Portsmouth.gov.uk. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Councillor Jennie Brent Joins Liberal Democrats".