Derby election results: Conservatives lose ground to Labour

Turnout for voting in Derby this year was just over 31 per cent

The Conservatives remain the largest party in Derby, but with fewer councillors and still without overall control.

The Tories lost two seats, while Labour gained three and the Liberal Democrats lost one.

Derby City Council now has 18 Conservatives, 16 Labour, eight Lib Dems, six Reform councillors and three independents.

Turnout for voting this year was 31.5 per cent.

In total, Labour won seven seats, the Tories took five, Lib Dem two, and Reform two, with one independent elected.

It is the last time the city council will elect just a third of its members, with 17 of 51 seats contested this year.

The leader of Derby's Conservatives, Chris Poulter, said: "I guess overall it's disappointing. We came into this election hoping to probably at least hold our own.

"We ran a fantastic campaign... we hoped the residents would back us on that. We've made a few losses but we can certainly come back from that and go again."

"We noticed a significant drop in the turnout virtually across the city. We suspect that was a lot of our voters who didn't want to vote for anybody else but were discontented, maybe with the national picture."

Analysis

By Georgia Roberts, BBC Radio Derby political reporter

A mixed picture for the parties here in Derbyshire. The Conservatives lost ground to Labour in Derby, but took seats from them in Amber Valley.

They remain the biggest single party in Derby with 18 seats - down three, while Labour are up three on 16. The Reform Party remains on six, after a disappointing showing for Labour in the two Reform wards up for election, traditional red territory where they hoped to claw back ground.

The result means the council remains in no overall control, with the Conservatives likely trying to continue to lead a minority administration. Their leader admitted the results were "disappointing", blaming voter apathy and mid-term blues.

Labour - who were never going to retake the council completely tonight, with just a third of seats up - say this is the beginning of the tide turning in their favour in Derby. Key marginal wins like Darley are a particularly bright spot for them.

Next year, with all council seats up for grabs, they will be hoping to build on a promising performance here and launch an all-out assault on the losses of recent years.

Baggy Shanker, leader of the Labour group, said it had been a good night for the party, increasing its vote share as well as the number of councillors.

"I'm really happy with the performance - it's a really good set of results which we will continue to build on.

"We've had no losses and had three gains in Derby North, an area with a Conservative MP."

He added that he was open to talks with the other parties about a coalition, but it was too early to discuss which.

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