Harrow: Labour bows to people's mandate
5:16am Friday 5th May 2006 in Local Politics By Charlie Harris
The Conservative took control of Harrow Council in the small hours of Friday morning, wresting power from the minority Labour administration.
The Tories took seats from Labour and won the only three held by the Liberal Democrats on the outgoing council.
They and Labour also blocked the revival which the LibDems had hoped for following their debacle in the 2002 elections, in which all but three of their candidates were disqualified over irregularities in their nomination forms.
Chris Noyce, the former LibDem group leader, returns to the council, after a break of four years, as his party's sole representative.
At 3am, all but one of Labour's cabinet portfolio holders who were seeking re-election had held their seats.
The exception was Sanjay Dighe, the former deputy leader of the council and the man in charge of the borough's finances, including council tax, who was still fighting for his Kenton West seat.
The Conservatives had taken two of the ward's three seats from Labour, and Councillor Dighe had tied with a Tory for third place.
After four recounts, the returning officer, in consultation with the party agents, decided to call it a night and another recount is due to be held at 10am today (Friday) at the Civic Centre.
The defeated Labour leader of the council, Councillor Navin Shah, who comfortably held his Kenton East seat, blamed the collapse of the LibDem vote for giving the Tories control.
He said if it had held up there would have been another hung council with a good chance of Labour remaining the largest group, ruling with LibDem support.
"We accept the people's mandate with humility," he said.
"We will continue to represent the people's aspirations in opposition.
"Our work isn't finished yet."
The Conservative group leader, Councillor Chris Mote (Pinner South) said: "The general public obviously wanted to see a change and they have got it."
Councillor Noyce: "It is very clear that there has been a backlash against the Government and the Tories have been the beneficiaries."
With the final result in Kenton West still pending, the state of the parties (with their previous seats in brackets) is: Conservative 37, Labour 24, Liberal Democrat 1.
One of the newly elected councillors is Stanley Sheinwald, founder and former chairman of Harrow Council Tax Campaign, who stood for the Conservatives in Hatch End.
For full reports, see next Thursday's printed edition of the Harrow Times.
