'This is the best result in decades' - Labour leader after victory

There was elation for Labour after they made five gains in the Crawley Borough Council elections.

Before the count on Friday the council had 20 Labour councillors and 16 Conservatives.

After the count, the divide was 25-11.

Council leader Michael Jones said: “I’m absolutely elated. This is the best result in decades.

“This is probably the first time that we’ve made five gains in the history of the borough council. We’ll use this mandate to do even more good for the people of Crawley.

“It’s just amazing. Words almost fail me – which is very unusual.”

READ MORE: Labour wins Adur District Council in local elections

Twelve places were being contested, with only the Furnace Green ward not involved.

There were always going to be a crop of new faces, with six councillors not standing for re-election and two leaving one ward to stand in another.

Of the six who chose not to stand, including Parliamentary hopeful Zack Ali, five were Conservative – and four of those former Tory seats went to Labour.

The turnout was 31 per cent for the local elections and 31 per cent for the Police & Crime Commissioner election.

Conservative leader Duncan Crow said: “Clearly this has been a challenging year and a disappointing set of results in Crawley.

“We are somewhat down today but we are not out. We will be back, holding our heads high.”

The results:

Bewbush & North Broadfield

Robin Burnham (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 119

Tony Johnson (Con) – 416

Michael Jones (Lab) – 920

Arshad Khan (Justice Party) – 38

Holly Rose Smith (Green) – 251

Dan Weir (Heritage) – 50

Labour Hold

16 rejected ballots, 25.03% turnout

Broadfield

Christopher James Ellis (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 133

Kiran Khan (Labour & Cooperative) – 979

Valerie Susan Knight (Con) – 509

Carolina Morra (Heritage) – 174

Labour Hold

21 rejected ballots, 24.59% turnout

Gossops Green & North East Broadfield

Esther Barrott (Lab) – 914

Iain Bradley Martin Dickson (Green) – 191

Anwaera Nazir Perveen (Con) – 557

Debbie Plaister (Heritage) – 82

Mark Laurence Wright (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 26

Labour gain

10 rejected ballots, 38.01% turnout

Ifield

Winifred Norma Catherin Duggan (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 105

Ines Eiva Manning (Green) – 229

Jonathan Robson Purdy (Con) – 688

Beni Yianni (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,046

Labour gain

20 rejected ballots, 28.99% turnout

Langley Green & Tushmore

Shelly Bushnell (Labour & Cooperative) – 772

Alan Hellier (Con) – 414

Karen Mary Sudan (Ind) – 465

Labour hold

24 rejected ballots, 27.32% turnout

Maidenbower

Max Perry (Green) – 614

Matt Pritchard (Lab) – 586

Dominic Patrick Ramsay (Con) – 940

Conservative hold 19

rejected ballots, 31.75% turnout

Northgate & West Green

Alec Miller (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 113

Sue Mullins (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,188

Nicholas Brian Leif Park (Green) – 278

Alison Sara Pendlington (Con) – 641

Labour hold

22 rejected ballots, 28.96% turnout

Pound Hill North & Forge Wood

Paul Charles Castle (Con) – 1,014

Nicholas Richard Hilton (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,236

Neal Douglas Murdoch (Green) – 236

Ben Newman (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 31

Labour gain

13 rejected ballots, 34.32% turnout

Pound Hill South & Worth

Thomas Adam Henry Bidwell (Con) – 1,099

Cyril James Gambrell (Green) – 247

Ruth Jane Gaunt (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 54

Tony Patel (Lab) – 721

Conservative hold

25 rejected ballots, 34.5% turnout

Southgate

Robin David Fitton (Green) – 255

Dipesh Jitendra Patel (Labour & Cooperative) – 924

Simon James Piggott (Con) – 746

Brett Christopher Shattock (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 73

Labour gain

14 rejected ballots, 29.98% turnout

Three Bridges

Kevin Ronald Bonnick (Con) – 809

Muhammed Hanif (Ind) – 93

Timothy Christopher Holt (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 89

Danielle Kail (Green) – 215

Atif Nawaz (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,274

Labour hold 16 rejected ballots, 36.85% turnout

Tilgate

Olu Adeniyi (Labour & Cooperative) – 732

Amanda Louise Brown (Freedom Alliance) – 69

Francis Guidera (Con) – 550

Christopher John Owen (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 33

Simon Russell Thorn (Green) – 120

Labour gain

10 rejected ballots, 33.68% turnout