Milton Keynes Council: Tories make substantial gains

The Conservatives have become the biggest party on Milton Keynes Council after making six gains.

The unitary authority remains under no overall control and it is unclear which party will form an administration.

Prior to the election, Labour held office in a minority administration, something it had done since May 2014.

The Tories have won a huge majority of seats at the first elections for the new unitary Buckinghamshire Council, taking 113 of the 147 up for grabs.

One third of Milton Keynes Council is elected each year for three years, followed by a year without an election.

This year's election saw the Conservatives win four seats from Labour and two from the Lib Dems.

The Tories now have 24 seats on the council, with Labour having 19 and the Lib Dems 13.

Notably, the Tories won Bletchley West from long-standing Labour councillor Nigel Long, and captured Newport Pagnell South - where the controversial Blakelands warehouse proved a major issue - from the Liberal Democrats.

From the moment the Conservatives won the first five seats in MK, including four gains, this was a chastening day for Labour in the New City.

When the final results came in, it was the Tories who ended up with the most councillors and now have the task of trying to form a pact with the Lib Dems having not reached the target of 29 seats for full control.

No party has been in that position since 2006 and, with only a third of councillors being elected at each election in MK, it's hard for that to change.

Among the casualties for Labour was the man previously in charge of the scaled-back £1bn project to regenerate seven council estates in MK, Nigel Long.

The Lib Dems lost Newport Pagnell South, which they'd held since 1980.

If they can form an alliance with the Lib Dems, the Conservatives have promised to look again at a report into the controversial Blakelands Warehouse Development and have a fresh look at that Regeneration Project as well.

The leader of Milton Keynes' Conservatives, Alex Walker, said he was "absolutely delighted".

"We've won in area I have never dreamt of, made huge inroads in Labour heartlands and taken the Liberal Democrats safest seat," he said.

"We will have conversations with the Liberal Democrats. They have to think long and hard about whether they want to continue losing ground in areas they've held for so long because of their partnership with Labour, or whether they want to give us an opportunity."

The Lib Dems hold the balance of power.

"Every door is open. We've got to do what is best for Milton Keynes," said the party's deputy leader Robin Bradburn.

Labour's Emily Darlington said while the Conservatives had a good day, it was "nowhere near good enough to control the council".

She said: "It is disappointing. We've lost some really good councillors.

"The message from the public is 'you need to work together'. That's what the next few days will be about."

This is the first year elections have taken place for the new unitary authority which covers the rest of Buckinghamshire.

The new council replaced Buckinghamshire County Council and the district councils of Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe in April 2020.

Existing councillors were drawn from the county and district authorities, but they had never been elected to the new council in a public vote.

The Conservatives romped home with those 113 seats.

The second largest party, the Lib Dems, have 14 councillors, Labour has four, the Greens have one and there are 14 others.

Votes for the Thames Valley police and crime commissioner will not be counted until Monday.

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