Lib Dems Triumph as Labour Collapse

2.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 2nd May 2008

With dramatic gains across Northumberland, the Liberal Democrats have emerged as the largest party in for the new Northumberland Unitary authority.

With a collapse in the Labour vote the Libdems made gains in Blyth, Wansbeck, Morpeth and Alnwick. In Tynedale where the Labour Party were completely annihilated Liberal Democrat Neil Bradbury ousted the sitting Labour councillor taking more than half the overall vote. Alan Sharp gained the Haydon and Hadrian ward from the Tories, and in Hexham West, Derek Kennedy retained his seat with an increased majority.

Nick Appleby narrowly missed out in Bywell. The only disappointment was in Ponteland where the two Liberal Democrats lost their marginal seats to the Conservatives.

Councillor Derek Kennedy of Hexham West said

"The Liberal Democrats performance was sensational. We have won 26 of the 67 seats to become the largest group in Northumberland, this is a historical victory. We have taken seats from both Labour and the Tories right across the county.

"We are the only party to represent the people from both the urban and rural areas, as Labour is entrenched in South East Northumberland and the Tories in the rural parts. Lib Dems clearly achieved the highest votes with over 36,000 and the Tories trailing behind us on 29,000 and Labour on 22,000. Neil Bradbury in Prudhoe West, Alan Sharp in Haydon and myself in Hexham West won convincingly and we had strong performances in the likes of Bywell, Corbridge and Stocksfield. With the Lib Dems running Newcastle, we are the party on the rise in the North East of England."

The overall standings for the new authority are (2005 figures in brackets).

Liberal Democrats 26 (14)

Conservative 17 (14)

Labour 17 (35)

Independent 7 (4)