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Conservatives narrowly beat Labour to win back control of Gravesham council

It was double celebrations for Gravesham Conservative supporters as the party won the constituency and control of the council in the space of 24 hours.

Adam Holloway had won the Gravesham seat by a majority of more than 8,000 in the early hours of Friday morning and the council followed, although the victory was less severe.

Gravesham Conservatives won the council by two seats, with 23 seats to Labour's 21.This equated to 42% of the vote, Labour 44% and Ukip 10%, Green 4% and independent got less than 1% off the vote - all three latter parties won no seats.

People counted votes for the Gravesham council election in The Woodville, Gravesend
People counted votes for the Gravesham council election in The Woodville, Gravesend

Prior to the election Gravesham council had been one of only two Labour-led councils in Kent, the other was Thanet which was won by Ukip. It is now not known whether party boss John Burden, will resign from his post.

However, Mr Burden did retain his seat in the Northfleet North ward with 1,787 votes.

Leader of the Conservatives and now leader of the council, John Cubitt said the victory symbolised a "fresh start" for the borough.

He said: "I'm delighted with the result, of our candidates I said we had quality. We have a 19-year-old councillor who is the youngest councillor ever and we have the first Sikh female councillor in Gravesham. We will serve Gravesham well in the future."

The election stayed true to tradition and saw the 18 wards swing between Labour and Tory candidates.

Although, there was a real threat sustained by Ukip this year, in particular for the Singlewell ward where first time candidate Tina Brooker missed out by just 22 votes.

Ms Brooker said she would be back.

She said: "It was a really good campaign. I was a bit disappointed, but then again that quite a respectable score. I'll definitely stand again."

Singlewell also experienced a landmark moment when Tory candidate Jordan Meade, 19, became the youngest person in Gravesham council history to be elected.

The youngster won, one of the three seats with 1,265 votes.

It was a long day for many of the candidates and their supporters, the majority of which stumbled into the count room bleary eyed after being up for the general election the night before.

However, throughout the day there was a strong attendance with unsuccessful parliamentary candidates Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Lab) and Sean Marriott (Ukip), both turning out to support their colleagues.

Mr Marriott failed to win a seat in his ward of Meopham North while Mr Dhesi announced he would not be standing for council election, earlier during his parliamentary campaign.

Adam Holloway also attended to support his Tory colleagues.

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