2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election
17 of 34 seats on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council; 18 seats needed for a majority
	Map showing the results of the 2021 NBBC election
Council control before election; No overall control;	Council control after election ; Conservative Party;

The 2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election was held on 6 May 2021 as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections and alongside elections for Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Half of the borough council seats were up for election and the results provided the Conservative Party with a majority on the council, with the party winning all but two seats up for election.^[1]

Background

Nuneaton and Bedworth operates a divided election cycle. Each ward is represented by two councillors who each serve staggered four year terms.^[2] The result is that seventeen members of the borough council are elected every two years. The seats contested in this election were originally scheduled to be facing election in 2020 but these elections were postponed (alongside all local and national elections in the UK) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the 2018 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election, the Conservative Party gained nine seats, including eight from the Labour Party. As a result, Labour lost control of the council and it had no overall control going into the election. Prior to the election, the Conservative Party had not won a majority on the borough council since the 2008 election.^[3]

Results

Half of the council's 34 seats were contested in the election. At the last election, the Labour Party won twelve of these seats, the Conservative Party won four and the Green Party won one. Conservative candidates won a total of eleven seats from Labour incumbents, providing them with overall control of the Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Labour held only the Abbey ward while the Green incumbent retained his seat in Weddington.

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	15	10	88.2	9	24	70.6	19,380	58.2	+25.5
	Labour	1	10	5.9	6	7	20.6	8,749	26.3	-14.0
	Green	1		5.9	0	1	2.9	4,467	13.4	+2.4
	TUSC	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	193	0.6	New
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	34	0.1	New
	Independent	0		0.0	2	2	5.9	457	1.4	+1.0

Council composition

As a result of winning eleven seats, the Conservative Party secured a majority on the borough council. Prior to the election, Nuneaton and Bedworth had a Labour-led administration despite no single party having overall control of the council.

After 2018 election			Before 2021 election			After 2021 election
Party		Seats	Party		Seats	Party		Seats
	Labour	17		Labour	17		Conservative	24
	Conservative	16		Conservative	13		Labour	7
	Green	1		Independent^[b]	3		Independent^[b]	2
				Green	1		Green	1

Party reaction

Local members of the Conservative Party celebrated the result.^[4] Marcus Jones, the Conservative MP for Nuneaton, described being 'absolutely ecstatic' over 'a brilliant night with fantastic results'.^[3] Kris Wilson, who became the Conservative leader of the borough council after the election, positioned the results in the broader political context of Conservative gains in traditional Labour-voting areas. Referencing the 'red wall', he said 'I think we have seen that red wall crumble here in Nuneaton and Bedworth too, people want change, people have been out and voted for it'.^[4] After losing her seat in the Wem Brook ward, Labour council leader Julie Jackson pledged that the party would respond: 'we will fight and we will be back out there listening hard to the good people of Nuneaton and Bedworth'.^[5]

Ward results

Changes shown compared to the 2016 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election, when these seats were last contested. Swing figures are calculated between the winning candidate and the candidate in second place. Turnout figures do not include spoiled ballots.

Abbey

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Abbey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jill Sheppard	886	48.0	7.1
	Conservative	Louisa DiGirolamo	680	36.9	19.2
	Green	Sophie Bonner	278	15.1	7.7
Majority			206	11.1
Turnout			1,844
	Labour hold		Swing	13.1

Arbury

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Arbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clare Golby	1,212	67.4	24.1
	Labour Co-op	Joe Bevan	463	25.7	10.0
	Green	Margaret Morrissey	98	5.4	0.2
	Independent	Katrina Slomczynski	26	1.4	1.4
Majority			749	41.7
Turnout			1,799
	Conservative hold		Swing	17.0

Attleborough

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Attleborough
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Baxter-Payne	980	51.5	13.3
	Labour	June Tandy	401	21.1	17.7
	Independent	Kieran Brown	377	19.8	19.8
	Green	Laurel Brindley	110	5.8
	Reform UK	Robin Howard	34	1.8	1.8
Majority			579	30.4
Turnout			1,902
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	15.5

Barpool

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Barpool
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jack Kennaugh	917	55.8	25.9
	Labour Co-op	Paul Edwards	538	32.7	14.5
	Green	Theresa Brookes	135	8.2	3.0
	Independent	Alan Baxter	54	3.3	3.3
Majority			379	23.1
Turnout			1,644
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	20.2

Bede

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Bede
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Hammersley	982	61.3	40.9
	Labour	Bill Hancox	621	38.7	17.8
Majority			361	22.6	N/A
Turnout			1,603
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	29.3

Bulkington

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Bulkington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ljubisa Cvetkovic	1,727	80.1	43.4
	Labour	Alan Lewis	428	19.9	21.0
Majority			1299	60.2	N/A
Turnout			2,155
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	32.2

Camp Hill

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Camp Hill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Cooper	737	53.4	35.7
	Labour	Ian Lloyd	449	32.6	16.1
	Green	Laura Hulme	151	10.9	5.6
	TUSC	Paul Reilly	42	3.0	0.0
Majority			288	20.8	N/A
Turnout			1,379
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	25.9

Exhall

In 2016, the Exhall ward elected two councillors in the same election. For this reason, directly comparing results is not possible.

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Exhall
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Lee Downs	1,183	59.7
	Labour	Helen Sinclair	606	30.6
	Green	Merle Gering	128	6.5
	TUSC	Margaret Hunter	65	3.3
Majority			577	29.1
Turnout			1,982
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Galley Common

Daniel Gissane was elected as a Conservative candidate in Galley Common in the 2016 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election but left the party to sit as an independent alongside the Nuneaton Community Independents.^[6] He did not stand for re-election.

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Galley Common
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mandy Tromans	1,118	62.8	26.1
	Labour	Eric Amaechi	511	28.7	5.4
	Green	Spring Vernon	151	8.5	3.8
Majority			607	34.1
Turnout			1,780
	Conservative hold		Swing	15.8

Heath

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jasbir Singh	1,232	65.8	31.3
	Labour	Robert Copland	639	34.2	18.0
Majority			593	31.6	N/A
Turnout			1,871
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	24.7

Kingswood

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Kingswood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brett Beetham	793	55.3	33.4
	Labour	Kathleen Price	530	36.9	12.3
	Green	Max Wilson	80	4.7	0.9
	TUSC	Catherine Mosey	32	2.2	0.6
Majority			263	18.4	N/A
Turnout			1,435
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	22.9

Poplar

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Poplar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Susan Markham	1,052	59.0	31.3
	Labour	Danny Aldington	605	33.9	38.4
	Green	Alice Twyman	126	7.1	7.1
Majority			447	25.1	N/A
Turnout			1,783
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	34.8

Slough

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Slough
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Walsh	1,188	67.7	25.0
	Labour	John Swift	422	24.0	7.0
	Green	Ian Morrissey	92	5.2	5.2
	TUSC	Maximilian McGee	54	3.1	3.1
Majority			766	43.7
Turnout			1,756
	Conservative hold		Swing	16.0

St. Nicolas

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: St. Nicolas
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeffrey Clarke	1,536	52.3	4.2
	Green	Michele Kondakor	1,113	37.9	0.8
	Labour	Abiola Olaifa	287	9.8	5.0
Majority			423	14.4
Turnout			2,936
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.7

Weddington

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Weddington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Keith Kondakor	1,520	49.7	5.7
	Conservative	Kamaljeet Thiara	1,223	40.0	8.8
	Labour	Brian Walmsley	314	10.3	3.1
Majority			297	9.7
Turnout			3,057
	Green hold		Swing	7.2

Wem Brook

Due to the extremely close nature of the result, the Wem Brook ward ballots were subject to two re-counts.^[7]

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Wem Brook
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Scott Harbison	703	44.8	18.7
	Labour	Julie Jackson	699	44.6	18.2
	Green	Jeremey Millen	167	10.6	4.7
Majority			4	0.2
Turnout			1,402
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	23.5

Whitestone

2021 Nuneaton and Bedworth Council election: Whitestone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julian Gutteridge	2,117	85.8	27.2
	Labour	Jack Bonner	350	14.2	4.5
	Green	Michael Wright	318	12.9	7.7
Majority			1767	71.6
Turnout			2,467
	Conservative hold		Swing	15.9

By-elections

Bar Pool

Bar Pool: 25 November 2021
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jamie Hartshorn	508	55.3	−0.5
	Labour	Abi Olaifa	215	23.4	−9.3
	Green	Andrew Heritage	196	21.3	+13.1
Majority			293	31.9
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	4.4

Footnotes

^ Wilson's seat was not up for election in this cycle.
^ ^a ^b Elected as Conservatives but sitting as Nuneaton Community Independents.

References

^ "Election results 2021". Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
^ "Election timetable" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b BBC News (8 May 2021). "Elections 2021: Conservatives take control of Nuneaton and Bedworth council". Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b Harrison, Claire (7 May 2021). "'The red wall has crumbled in Nuneaton and Bedworth' say election-winning Conservatives". CoventryLive. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ Harrison, Claire (7 May 2021). "Labour pledge to fight to win back voters in Nuneaton and Bedworth after dramatic election loss". CoventryLive. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ "Councillors by Name". Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
^ Harrison, Claire. "Coventry and Warwickshire local elections - all of the results as they happened". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2021.

[1] Wilson's seat was not up for election in this cycle.

[ind-5] Elected as Conservatives but sitting as Nuneaton Community Independents.

[NBBC-2] "Election results 2021". Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.

[Election_timetable-3] "Election timetable" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[BBC_News-4] BBC News (8 May 2021). "Elections 2021: Conservatives take control of Nuneaton and Bedworth council". Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[Red_wall-6] Harrison, Claire (7 May 2021). "'The red wall has crumbled in Nuneaton and Bedworth' say election-winning Conservatives". CoventryLive. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[Labour_pledge-7] Harrison, Claire (7 May 2021). "Labour pledge to fight to win back voters in Nuneaton and Bedworth after dramatic election loss". CoventryLive. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[8] "Councillors by Name". Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Retrieved 7 May 2021.

[Coventry_Telegraph-9] Harrison, Claire. "Coventry and Warwickshire local elections - all of the results as they happened". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2021.

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