No Victories For Student Council Hopefuls

None of the three students running in last night’s local elections were successfully elected as councillors.

Conservative candidate Nikesh Pandit and Ashley Walsh from Labour both lost out in the Castle ward, while Green candidate Billy Aldridge missed out in the Newnham ward.

In Castle, Pandit came in fourth place with 173 votes, while Walsh finished in an impressive second, with 330 votes. In Newnham, Aldridge finished fourth, garnering 241 votes.

The result showed an admirable fightback from the Labour man, who was no doubt rocked by his poor showing on The Tab’s Fit Councillor poll.

National events seemed to have shaped the election, with the Liberal Democrats losing ground to Labour. Out of the 14 contested wards, Labour won 8 and the Lib Dems won 4, whilst the Conservatives and an independent candidate took a ward each. Labour took 43% of the vote compared to the Lib Dems’ 26%.

The elections saw the Lib Dems (who had no student running) lose their 10-year grip over the city’s politics, with the council now passing to no overall control. The council will now be made up of 21 Lib Dems, 19 Labour, one Tory and one independent councillor.

The city’s turnout was in line with the poor showing nationally: only 32% could be bothered to vote. There was also a reported increase in ballot spoiling.

With high levels of apathy among students, The Tab wants to know: did you vote?