Luton election results paint a mixed picture

LUTON: Local elections in Luton have painted a mixed picture. The mixed results come on a bad polling performance for Labour as it retained one seat but lost one to the Liberal Democrats.

Labour’s Umme Ali won the High Town Ward seat with 717 votes. Conservative candidate Shakaina Khan received 327 votes. Other candidates were Green Party’s Lyn Bliss, Lib Dems’ Nigel John Marshall and Communist Party of Britain’s Markus Keaney. The turnout was about 23 per cent of a total electorate of 6,531 with 1,484 total verified votes being cast.

The seat was left vacant since the resignation of councillor Rachel Hopkins, who had become Labour MP for Luton South in 2019. A by-election was due to take place in May 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus.

Labour lost its seat to the Liberal Democrats in the Round Green ward election, which was held after councillor Mark Rivers resigned, according to the Luton Council. In the election, Lib Dems’ Steve Moore won with 1,041 votes while Labour candidate Fatima Begum got 910 votes. The other candidates were Green Party’s James Cullinane, independent candidate Marc Scheimann and Conservative Phil Turner. The turnout was 31 per cent, while total verified votes cast were 2,704 out of a total electorate of 8,698. It should be noted that Luton Council is currently run by the Labour Party. Therefore, the result for Round Green ward is a setback for Luton’s ruling party.