‘More work to do’ to win majority in 2015 says Miliband

Ousting Peter Davies as Doncaster’s elected mayor lifted Labour yesterday after a day which saw the party make solid if not spectacular inroads.

In North Yorkshire, Labour returned to seven seats, the number it held before the last elections in 2009 when it was engulfed in turmoil.

The pattern was repeated nationally with the party securing 291 councillors, the same number it lost in 2009.

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The results will raise questions over whether Labour is making the progress it needs to secure a majority at Westminster in 2015.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the party made “good gains” but acknowledged there was “more work to do”.

“This is reflected in the vote for Ukip and the two thirds of people who didn’t vote,” he said.

“These elections show many people have lost trust in David Cameron’s ability to change Britain. But our task is to win the trust of the people we haven’t yet persuaded that Labour can make the difference.”

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In 2009, Labour was just a few votes from disappearing from North Yorkshire County Council altogether and for the past four years Brian Marshall has been its sole representative.

Wins in the Selby and Scarborough districts of Selby Barlby, Sherburn in Elmet, Woodlands, Northstead, Falsgrave and Stepney and Eastfield and Osgoldby mean Labour is just now one behind the Liberal Democrats and Independents.

North Yorkshire Labour chairman Roy Hutchings said: “I thought we might win six seats and we won seven. There were a couple of disappointments in Selby that we didn’t get.

“The Conservatives have clearly got an overall majority so they will largely get their way but I hope there will now be more scrutiny, particularly from Labour.”

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In addition to winning Nottinghamshire County Council from the Conservatives, Labour took control of Derbyshire where no party previously had a majority.

However, Labour fell short in Lancashire where it been widely expected to win.

The party held power in the county for 28 years until the Conservatives triumphed in the last elections in 2009.

Labour fell four short of the 43 it required so the county is now under no overall control.

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Labour group leader Jennifer Mein insisted it was a “wonderful result”. She said: “I am not sure I expected to gain control. I am absolutely delighted with what we have got.

“We have more than doubled the number of councillors now. We have gone from 17 to 39.”