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Wokingham election results: Conservatives lose control of council

BBC The Lib DemsBBC
The Lib Dems gained nine seats in Wokingham to deprive the Tories of a majority

The Conservatives have lost control of Wokingham Borough Council after two decades in charge.

The local authority now has no party in overall control after the Tories lost five seats, the Liberal Democrats won nine, while the Labour party picked up one.

The Conservatives remain the largest party in the constituency, which is held by Tory MP John Redwood.

Labour also held onto Slough Borough Council and Reading Borough Council.

Wokingham Liberal Democrat leader Clive Jones said the Conservatives losing control for the first time in 20 years was significant.

He said: "It's John Redwood's backyard, it's Theresa May's backyard and they've just had a real hammering."

Reacting to the defeat, Conservative leader John Halsall said: "In terms of administration we are very good, however there are tides in the affairs of men and a gale force wind and we got caught in it, it's very sad."

He put the result in the borough, where turnout was 43.67%, down to national political issues, rather local ones.

"There's a war in Ukraine, problems with inflation and there's problems with how people view politicians," he added.

Rob White
Rob White, leader of the Greens, said there was a "really positive" vote for the Greens

In Reading, where Labour increased its majority, its main opponents will now be the Greens rather than the Conservatives.

Jason Brock, the borough council's leader, said it had been a "tense time" but he was "really pleased that residents across Reading have put their faith in Labour to continue running Reading Borough Council".

The Greens added two seats while the Tories lost three. Their leader Rob White said it was "really positive" that they had been voted for "in such large numbers".

Clarence Mitchell, the leader of the Conservative group, said while national issues came up on the doorstep he still believed Boris Johnson was the right leader for the party.

He said: "In an ideal world we would not have had a string of situations… I don't blame Boris wholesale for this at all.

"It was the usual combination of circumstances, coming at the worst possible time just ahead of elections."

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