Staffordshire election results: Tories hold Newcastle-under-Lyme with seats boost

The election marks the first time the party has an elected majority on the council since the 1970s.

The Conservatives have retained control of Newcastle-under-Lyme Council with an additional two seats.

The Staffordshire borough had been considered a key battleground between the Tories and Labour.

The election, in which all 44 seats were up for election, followed the town's Conservative MP declaring a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

Elsewhere the Tories also retained Tamworth and Cannock Chase councils.

Newcastle-under-Lyme elected its first Conservative MP, Aaron Bell, in 2019 and, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, this election marks the first time the party has an elected majority on the council since the 1970s.

The Conservatives now hold 25 seats and Labour have 19.

Mr Bell submitted a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson in February, citing the so-called Patygate scandal.

The Tories at Tamworth council lost the Mercian seat to an independent candidate

A third of Tamworth Borough Council's 30 seats were up for grabs in the 2022 elections and the Conservatives kept seven, bringing their number of councillors to 25.

Labour held on to two seats, but independent Richard Kingstone gained the Mercian seat from the Tories. In 2021 the Tories won every ward.

The Conservatives also kept control of Cannock Chase where they gained a seat.

The Tories now have 25 councillors in Cannock Chase with Labour on eight, Independent four, Lib Dems two and Green Party two.

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