Conservatives hold ELDC - but with a reduced majority

The Conservatives now have 29 seats on the district council, down from 38 before the election.

This included the defeat of several high-profile Conservative members including Neil Cooper (Burgh le Marsh) - who was the chairman of ELDC’s planning committee - and husband and wife councillors Stuart Watson and Pauline Watson, who represented the Tetney ward and Louth Priory & St James ward respectively.

Meanwhile the Labour Party increased their share to seven seats (up from four), including a clean sweep of three Labour victories in the Mablethorpe ward.

The new-look council also consists of 12 Independent councillors, six Skegness Urban District Society councillors, and one Liberal Democrat.

This means that the Conservatives now have a majority of just three seats.

The turnout at yesterday’s election was 30.37% overall, down from 63.62% in May 2015 - however, a reduced turnout was to be expected on this occasion, as it did not coincide with a general election and so fewer people may have been inclined to go out and vote.

This disengagement won’t have been helped by the growing exasperation over Westminster’s handling of the Brexit process, which many Conservative candidates warned had made their campaigning a lot more difficult due to the number of angry residents who may have chosen to cast a protest vote - or not bother voting at all.

To see the full list of results, visit our homepage and click to view our ‘live results’ article which we have updated throughout the day.

• Pick up a copy of next week’s paper for the full results and analysis.