COUNTY ELECTIONS: Northampton's Abington & Phippsville is first to declare three Labour wins

Amid a number of wards in West Northamptonshire declaring all-Conservative, one Northampton area is the only so far to score three Labour representatives.

Abington and Phippsville today voted through and through for Labour, electing the area’s former borough councillor Zoe Smith and her colleagues Bob Purser and Walter Wlodek Tarasiewicz.

Under the former county council, the ward was held by Labour’s leader Danielle Stone.

Councillor Zoe Smith said: “We’ve got a great big list of what people feel are the local issues. The fact that there are three of us able to be a really strong team is fantastic.”

Bob Purser added: “It just means we can work together with a unified voice and can represent Abington and Phippsville. The issues are very common across the whole board and the fact that the three of us can be saying ‘this is what Abington and Phippsville are aksing for’ means that we can hopefully make some progress.”

The newly-elected Councillor Tarasiewicz, who as a pharmacist is a key worker, was unable to attend the count to hear he had won.

Bob Purser said it was “too early” to say how Labour was faring in its bid to win control of the council. Councillor Smith meanwhile said: “I think the seats we’ve won is people passing comment on the record of the Conservative administration in both the county and the borough and shows they are read for a change.”

Against the backdrop of areas such as Long Buckby, Sixfields and Bugbrooke declaring three Conservative winners, Abington & Phippsville is the only to announce entirely for Labour.