Local Elections: Wirral bucks the trend

Wirral Council's election results showed the borough's politics is more unpredictable than ever.

Labour lost three seats to the Greens in Bebington, Prenton, and Birkenhead and Tranmere.

For years, these seats have been the bedrock of a strong and dominant Labour group on the council which has walked away from many election counts with a majority.

However, this year was very different.

After the party lost its majority in 2019, its heartlands were further eaten into in Thursday's vote.

But unlike other parts of the country, voters are not moving away from Labour to go to the Tories in areas such as Birkenhead, they are moving to the Green Party instead.

Perhaps this shows Wirral's voters are becoming more concerned with environmental issues, or maybe that in wards which Labour has seemingly held forever people felt a change was needed.

This could signal the end of the dominance of the two main parties in Wirral, with the Green Party becoming a very strong group if results such as this are repeated.

In other parts of the borough, the Conservatives were able to move forward, for instance they took Pensby and Thingwall, a seat which has swung between Labour and the Tories in recent years.

However, Labour solidified its hold on Leasowe and Moreton East, a seat the party had been worried about going into the election, and pushed the Tories hard in Wallasey, something very few people expected to happen.

In terms of overall vote share, there was little change from 2019, with Labour posting a solid 40%, leading the Conservatives on 33%, the Green Party on 16% and the Lib Dems on 10%.

But the various movements in wards across the borough show Wirral's voters are changing their minds.

There is far less certainty in Wirral's politics and fewer councillors than ever can be confident about comfortably retaining their seats when voters head to the polls again next year.