Stevenage leaders react to local election results
Labour retained power in Stevenage after successfully defending most of their seats in the local council elections.
There were 13 up for grabs in the Hertfordshire town and Labour won nine of them. The party lost seats to the Tories in 2021, but gained two this year.
Labour council leader, Sharon Taylor, said: "We've had a great campaign here, superbly organised... but also, people are telling us, on the doorstep, they are really fed up with the cost of living crisis and wanted to send a message back to Boris Johnson and the Tories."
Conservative group leader, Phil Bibby, said: "We're certainly disappointed losing a couple of seats but bearing in mind that last year we got up to 11, and the year before we were only seven, and when I started as a councillor we were only about three or four, I still think we've got a decent upward trend to take heart from."
