As last year, the Liberal Democrats topped the poll in Southport, posting the only gain of the night- Mike Sammon’s victory in Cambridge Ward.

The total votes cast for each party in the seven Southport Wards in the Sefton Council elections were as follows-

Lib Dem 8466 (37.3%)
Lab 7916 (34.9 %)
Tory 4911 (21.6%)
Green 1410 (6.2%)

“This is a vote of confidence in the Lib Dems at local level,” says John Pugh ,opposition leader on Sefton Council , “ and shows that the real contest for the forthcoming General Election in Southport is between Liberal Democrats and Labour.”

To make it more remarkable our campaign has been plagued with injuries. Constituency agent Cllr Lloyd-Johnson was laid out throughout the campaign with complications following a burst appendix, one candidate ended up in A&E, another ended up on crutches and I destroyed my front tooth falling on concrete. Makes you wonder if we hadn’t been so accident prone how much better we could have done! "

Our message that Southport has lost its voice and is losing its heritage clearly has an audience and that is reflected in the voting - particularly in Kew where Dan Lewis campaign for the restoration and re-opening of Southport Pier almost doubled the Lib Dem vote and nearly won the seat. “

Further afield in Church Ward (Crosby) the shock result of the night was the defeat of Sefton Labour Cabinet Member, Paul Cummins by the Green Party candidate, Neil Doolin.