University votes LIB DEM as Cambridge stays LABOUR

In a fairly unsurprising political result, Cambridge City Council was retained as a Labour seat in the local elections on Thursday, however, the wards that most Cambridge colleges were part of, elected Liberal Democrat councillors.

Town and gown alike hurried to polling stations yesterday to vote, with 15 out of 42 Cambridge wards open. Both Labour and the Lib Dems has successes, as Labour kept seats in East Chesterton, Coleridge, Romsey, Cherry Hinton, Abbey, Petersfield, Arbury and King's Hedges, and won Trumpington from the Lib Dems, for the first time since 1945.

The result was announced at 2:34AM on Friday morning (whilst the last troopers from the Tab Social were stumbling into their Colleges.)

Turnout for the local election in Cambridge stood at 37.8%; this is much lower than 2017's national average of 68.7%. In addition to the 'People who actually live here', students were allowed to register to vote in both Cambridge and their home councils.

Last year Cambridgeshire County Council moved from No Overall Control to a Conservative hold, while the City Council was maintained by Labour. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough elected their first Mayor, James Palmer ; Cambridge City has had an elected mayor since 1207 (although not the same one.)

In a statement on twitter, Council leader Lewis Herbert thanked residents for supporting their 'great city'.

The local election results complements the results of the General Election in Cambridge, where Labour MP Daniel Zeichner took Cambridge from MP Julian Huppert's Lib Dem hold. Zeichner has been out and about with CULC campaigners, in an attempt to increase the student vote:

A wholesome family photo!

If you want to watch a slightly odd video of Zeichner singing the Red Flag to BBC reporter Josh Thomas, feel free to watch here:

Overall, Labour holds 47% of the City Council votes.

The local elections are the first test of political belief in the U.K since the General Election in 2017; at the time of writing Labour now hold 51 Councils nationally, with 1453 councillors elected, and the Conservatives hold 30 Councils, with 877 councillors. The Lib Dems gained 41 councillors and UKIP have lost 92.

Cambridge college wards

The wards covering most Cambridge colleges (Market, Castle, and Newnham) were all won by the Lib Dems. Market ward, which represents the central Cambridge colleges, was won by former Caius medic and University Challenge winner Anthony Martinelli, whilst former CUSU Pres candidate Connor MacDonald got 7% of the votes at Newnham. And If you're curious, the UKIP councillor TabTV interviewed got 2% of the votes – just 93 in all.

Of course, the Tab could have predicted this all along – read the results of the Tab political survey for more cutting analysis.