Elections 2021: Conservatives tighten grip at Derby City Council

Matthew Eyre won in Oakwood for the Conservatives

The Conservatives have strengthened their power at Derby City Council but failed to secure a majority.

The party gained four extra seats in the local elections to lift their total to 21 out of 51.

This leaves them five short of taking overall control of the authority.

Counting for the two seats in the Darley ward was delayed due to a "verification issue". The Conservatives gained one of the two by just a single vote.

• Local election results across the East Midlands

Counting took place throughout the night at PowerLeague Derby

Conservative leader Chris Poulter said he did not think the result could have gone much better.

"We're delighted. We've made gains and held our own," he said.

"It puts us in a stronger position and it gives us a stronger team."

Chris Poulter said the party had increased its vote share "significantly"

The Conservatives gained a seat from Labour in Mackworth, a seat from an independent councillor - who recently left the party - in Derwent, a seat from a Liberal Democrat in Oakwood and one from another independent councillor in Chellaston.

Of the two seats in Darley, the Tories won one by the single vote with Labour holding the other.

The Tories also held on to four other seats in Spondon, Allestree, Mickleover and Chaddesden.

However, they lost one seat in Boulton to a Reform candidate.

This was a seat they had gained after councillor Dom Anderson, who was elected for Labour in 2016, switched to them in March 2020.

Analysis: Tony Roe, BBC East Midlands political editor

It's been a good night for the Conservatives in Derby.

Their leader in the city, Chris Poulter, says they have done as well as they could have.

They've made gains although not enough to win overall control but he says their hand has been strengthened so they will carry on running things.

He says on the doorsteps people reacted favourably to investment planned locally and the way both the city council and the government has supported people through the pandemic.

Councillor Poulter admitted that the system of only electing a third of the council at a time probably denied the Conservatives a chance to win control for the first time since 1991.

He's personally in favour of changing the system to whole council elections which would give greater continuity.

Labour held four seats in the Sinfin, Abbey, Normanton and the Arboretum wards.

The Liberal Democrats held two seats in the Littleover and Blagreaves wards.

Reform Derby and Reform UK had a mixed set of results, winning as few as 51 votes in one ward, but gaining one seat and holding Alvaston.

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