Vote Jesmond 2018 – Election night summary

by Ashleigh Smith in Politics

All six city council seat across both Jesmond wards were up for grabs in a rare all-out local election last week that saw 22 candidates battle for votes. Labour won all three seats in South Jesmond and two in North Jesmond, the third being taken by the Lib Dems. JesmondLocal reporters Ashleigh Smith and Thomas Goodall were at the count in Sport Central, Northumbria University to summarise events as they unfolded.

As the counting began, JesmondLocal spoke to South Jesmond Green party candidate Tony Waterston.

The South Jesmond vote was one of the first to be counted and verified, just before midnight.

Announcement that South Jesmond vote has been counted

Labour held their two seats in South Jesmond, with the re-election of current councillors Arlene Ainsley and Felicity Mendelson while Labour’s Judy Pearce picked up the third seat, left empty following the resignation of Kerry Allibhai in December 2017. JesmondLocal got their reaction.

The full South Jesmond results were as follow:

Felicity Mendelson – Labour – 1052 votes (20%)  Arlene Ainsley – Labour – 994 votes (19%)  Judy Pearce – Labour – 902 votes (17%) Alexandra Logan – Liberal Democrat – 319 votes (6%) Clare Andrews – Green Party – 306 votes (6%)Ian MacGilp – Conservatives – 299 votes (6%)Christopher Murray – Conservatives – 292 votes (6%)Max Graham – Conservatives – 284 votes (5%)Tony Waterston – Green Party – 272 votes (5%)Deborah Burns – Liberal Democrat – 251 votes (5%)  Mark Keville – Liberal Democrat – 201 votes (4%) Martin Richard Levy – Communist Party of Britain – 38 votes (1%)

Despite receiving the fewest number of votes, Communist candidate Martin Richard Levy told JesmondLocal: “I’m happy with what we got,. It was twice the amount we expected. We never expected to move mountains but it seems we have found core voters who believe in our message.”

Conservative candidate Chris Murray also gave us his reaction, after receiving 292 of the South Jesmond votes.

North Jesmond candidates had to wait until 1am for their result, which was delayed due to issues with counting.

Labour’s Stella Postlethwaite was re-elected, while the remaining two seats – formerly held by Labour’s Dan Perry and Liberal Democrat Catherine Walker (neither of whom stood for re-election) – were won by Labour’s Wendy Young and Lib Dem Gerry Keating.

When asked for his reaction, the newly elected Keating told JesmondLocal he was disappointed that the Liberal Democrats had not won all three seats. “I’ll be by myself and that will be hard, but I’ve done it many times before.”

The full North Jesmond votes were as follow:

Stella Postlethwaite – Labour – 917 votes (16%)Wendy Young – Labour – 834 votes (14%) Gerry Keating – Liberal Democrat – 822 votes (14%) Alexander Hay – Labour – 746 votes (13%)  David Besag – Liberal Democrat – 725 votes (12%)  Crispin Welby – Liberal Democrat – 707 votes (12%) Kitty Lau – Conservatives 282 votes (5%) James Cowling – Conservatives – 273 votes (5%)  Shehla Khatoon Naqvi – Green Party – 262 votes (5%)  James Bartle – Conservatives – 247 votes (4%)

JesmondLocal spoke with newly elected Labour councillor Wendy Young.

Crispin Welby, Lib Dem candidate for North Jesmond, also spoke of his disappointment. “I thought I was much nearer second or third place than sixth,” he commented.

When asked if he was optimistic for the future of North Jesmond, Welby said: “No, I’m depressed that we haven’t got much closer to control of the council and without control of the council I don’t think much can be done.”