Tories remain in firm control as UKIP rise delivers just single extra seat on Daventry District Council

The count in the early hours of Friday morning

With only a third of seats (12) up for election this year, and a Tory majority of 23 members, there was no way the Conservatives could lose control of the council this election round.

The tale from this election is the rise of UKIP at the district level.

At the last district council elections in 2012, when all 36 seats were up for election, UKIP fielded only one candidate, who came sixth, and they won no seats.

In the intervening two years, two Tory councillors crossed to UKIP.

In yesterday’s polls UKIP lost a seat in Brixworth to the Conservatives, but gained a seat on Daventry Abbey North from the Tories, and a seat on Daventry’s Drayton ward from Labour, leaving them with one extra councillor and a total of three seats on Daventry District Council.

UKIP came second or first in the 11 wards the party tabled candidates for.

But UKIP’s rise in the share of the vote has delivered them only a single extra seat on DDC, and they remain the council’s third party, trailing far behind the Conservatives.

The Conservatives remain in control with 28 seats.

Labour lost one seat on the council putting their party at four seats. The only Liberal Democrat seat on the authority was not contested this time, leaving them with one seat.

However, in Daventry only one third of voters took the time to go to the polls. On Abbey North (covering the northern part of Daventry) Nigel Carr (UKIP) was elected with 495 votes and only 13 vote majority over the Conservative candidate Gloria Edwards Davidson.