Labour loses control of Oldham Council but holds 6 others

The Labour party has lost control of Oldham Council after losing seats to Independents, with the local party leader denying this was a result of Sir Keir Starmer's stance on the war in Gaza.

Arooj Shah said the conflict in Gaza was a factor but the loss goes beyond that to toxic politics in the area.

She said Gaza was "clearly an issue for anyone with an ounce of humanity in them" but there had been a "pattern of divisiveness" in Oldham for the last five or six years.

Elsewhere in the region, the party retained overall control of Manchester, Trafford, Rochdale, Bury, Wigan and Tameside.

Live updates: England & Wales local elections 2024

Ms Shah told BBC Radio 4 the pattern in Oldham was "really different".

"Gaza is clearly an issue for anyone with an ounce of humanity in them, but we’ve asked for an immediate ceasefire right from the start."

She added that the "issues and toxicity" in Oldham of recent years had created "a pattern of divisiveness".

"Most Northern milltowns have the same kind of issues," she said.

"We have a rise of independents because people think mainstream parties aren’t the answer."

Oldham Council's meetings have been disrupted by protests since a 2022 report found local children were failed by the agencies meant to protect them from sexual abuse.

The fall-out from the report saw then-leader Amanda Chadderton lose her seat in 2023, a defeat which she partially blamed on an unfounded conspiracy theory about child sexual exploitation.

Ms Shah said the town had also found it "difficult" to deal with the loss of jobs from the closure of a local British Aerospace site and and about £250m of cuts to council funding "over the last 10 years".

In Trafford, Labour retained control gaining two seats from the Conservatives to bring its total councillors to 43.

Labour also held onto Bury Council, winning 31 seats, while the Conservatives trailed with 11.

In Rochdale, Labour retained control but lost two seats to the Workers Party of Britain, which is led by the town's new MP George Galloway.

The party also gained one seat in Manchester, which remains under Labour's control.

Labour's national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden admitted the crisis in Gaza did get raised by voters.

He told BBC Breakfast: "I do think that's been a factor in some places, I don't think there's any point in denying that. It does get raised, and I understand why people have strong feelings about that."

But he added: "In addition to the Middle East issue which you mentioned there are specific very local factors in Oldham which have knocked it out of line with the Labour gains we've been seeing in local elections."

In Stockport, the Liberal Democrats gained two seats but fell one short of a majority so narrowly failed to win overall control of the council.

The party, who already headed a minority administration, took seats from Labour to reach 31 councillors, nine more than Labour.

Independent councillor Scarlett Myler, 19, was returned as councillor for Bryn with Ashton-in-Makerfield North.

She won with 1,512 votes, 658 ahead of the Labour candidate who came second.

Labour is still the overwhelming majority party with 64 councillors.

The party gained Lowton East from the Conservatives but lost Ince to an Independent candidate.

Labour held Tameside easily, but lost three seats, one to the Conservatives.

Bolton Council remains no overall control.

Labour finished two councillors down there. The party lost one to the Greens and another to an Independent.

Hanif Alli, who was elected for the Halliwell ward, is the town's first Green Party councillor.