Lost majority for Conservatives in East and West Suffolk

The council elections have seen the Conservatives’ overall majority in West Suffolk and East Suffolk disappear, and the Greens win by a landslide in Mid Suffolk.

West Suffolk Council now consists of 26 Conservatives, 19 Independents, 17 Labour, one Liberal Democrat and one Green. That’s a loss of 12 for the Conservatives.

In East Suffolk, 15 from the Conservative group that was 39-strong before today won seats. The Greens overtook them with 16, while Labour got 12, the Liberal Democrats got 11 and the Independents got one.

The Green Party had their minds set on winning Mid Suffolk and the result was decisive – they won four times the Conservative Party with 24 seats. The Conservatives got six and the Liberal Democrats got four.

Lucy Elkin, who became a Green Councillor for Mid Suffolk’s Eye ward, said on Twitter that she’s ‘looking forward to getting on with the job for everyone in Eye’, and thanked voters.

The Greens made gains in three of the five district and boroughs: Mid Suffolk, Babergh – where the party upped its numbers from four to 10 – and East Suffolk, where it increased from five to 16.

Conservative West Suffolk Cllr Richard Rout, who retained his Westgate seat with 785 votes, commented on Twitter: “It’s been the difficult a day we expected for the party, but I’m delighted and humbled to have been re-elected to West Suffolk Council.

“I’m fortunate to represent such a wonderful area and will continue to do all I can to enhance it.”

The elections saw the leader of Mid Suffolk District Council, Conservative Cllr Suzie Morley, lose her seat. Bury St Edmunds Mayor Peter Thompson also lost both his town council and district council seats.