LABOUR in Stevenage bucked the national trend and was not affected by the problems which have been plaguing the Government. The party remains firmly in control of the borough council. The number of seats held by each party remains uncharged – Conservative

LABOUR in Stevenage bucked the national trend and was not affected by the problems which have been plaguing the Government.

The party remains firmly in control of the borough council. The number of seats held by each party remains uncharged - Conservatives have three seats, Labour 32 and Liberal Democrats four.

Council leader Brian Hall said: "We hear all the time by national papers telling us we're on the decline but in the elections in Stevenage we had an 11 per cent swing to Labour from the Tories and Lib Dems.

"It was 6.8 per cent from Lib Dem and 4.2 per cent to Labour from the Conservatives, and we kept all our seats. It was a very good day for us in that we bucked the national trend with our results.

"I thought with recent events we might lose two or three seats but we did extremely well and held the seats. We were polling higher than we were canvassing."

Graham Clarke, Conservative spokesman, said: "I was slightly disappointed with the election results. I wasn't surprised that Labour wasn't affected by the problems covered in the national press because of the high number of postal votes in the area meant votes were back before the coverage."

Lis Knight, who retained her Manor seat, for the Lib Dems told The Comet: "I was concentrating on my campaign and I was very pleased with my result. I received a positive reaction from the public on the doorstep but I think the party was disappointed we didn't do better across Stevenage."

The overall turnout was 39 per cent.