Disappointing turnouts for mayor vote

Manchester Town Hall

JUST a quarter of voters turned out in Oldham for the first ever Mayor of Greater Manchester poll.

Election boxes arrived at Oldham Civic Centre last night for verification with 41,302 voting out of an electorate of 160,199 ­- a turnout of 25.78 per cent.

From an overall electorate of two million people there were 573,543 votes cast, a turnout of 29.93 per cent. Salford had the lowest turnout at 25.11 per cent with Trafford the highest at 38 per cent.

The voting slips have been whisked to Manchester Central (formerly the GMex) where the count for each of the 10 districts will be carried out.

Eight candidates will be anxiously awaiting the result, which was due to be announced at the centre later today.

The result will be published on our website www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk, with reaction and stories in Monday's paper.

This election uses the Supplementary Voting System, which gives electors the opportunity to cast their vote for their first and second choice candidates, with more than 50 per cent of the vote needed to win before second choices are taken into account.

Meanwhile, Theresa May's hopes of a General Election victory on June 8 have been boosted after local contests showed Labour suffering losses and the UKIP vote collapsing.

The Conservatives won the West of England metro-mayor contest and gained control of five councils on an encouraging night for the Prime Minister.

Labour's election co-ordinator Andrew Gwynne acknowledged there were "challenges" for his party as it struggled in some of its Welsh heartlands and failed to resist Tory advances in England.

UKIP suffered significant reverses, with voters switching to the Tories in a pattern which could provide a major boost to Mrs May as she hopes to strengthen her grip on power next month.

The Liberal Democrats were having a mixed election, failing to breakthrough against the Tories in the South-West England battleground.

Regain

Labour was dealt a severe blow in the South Wales valleys, with independents taking control of Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil ­- where the final three seats will be declared on June 8 with Labour needing to win them all to regain a majority.

In Bridgend ­- the stronghold of First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones ­- the party lost control.

Mrs May had targeted Bridgend with a campaign visit in an effort to boost the Tory presence in Wales.

Things could get worse for Labour when counting begins in Scotland, with experts forecasting heavy losses for Mr Corbyn's party.