LABOUR retained control of the council as they held each of their 7 seats up for re-election. They went on to increase their vote share in 10 out of the 11 wards available for re-election.

Despite this, Conservative councillor and council leader Andrew Johnson said that ‘mid tem in a government like this you would expect to lose seats’ and praised his party for retaining all of their available 4 seats, whilst UKIP failed to capitalise on their increase in the vote share from 2015 seeing no gains for the party.

The Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in four wards but finished bottom in each of those they contested.

Jon Clempner, re-elected to the Little Parndon and Hare Street ward, who is also the leader of Harlow Council, said that ‘the funding cuts to local authorities have been ruthless and brutal… but Harlow Council has kept strong control of its finances.’ He went on to say the next few years would be a ‘challenge’ but that the Labour led council sought to continue to ‘achieve great things.’

Johnson rebutted by criticising the Labour party for not capitalising on the perceived unpopularity of the government, saying ‘they should have been picking up seats left, right and centre.’

Local MP, Robert Halfon, called it a ‘good night for Conservatives’ and promised a ‘strong fight’ for ‘hard working families’.

Your Harlow was 100% correct in its predictions of party holds in every ward.