Greens celebrate historic win after taking seat from Labour in Woodhouse Park

As usual, Manchester is a sea of mostly red when it comes to elections. There were 32 seats up for grabs, with Labour retaining 30 wards and the Liberal Democrats keeping one.

The headline of the night was the Greens stealing the seat from Labour in Woodhouse Park 

There was a disappointingly low turnout this year, with some wards dropping as low as 15% 

In Ancoats and Beswick’s transgender Lib Dem candidate, Chris Northwood, failed to be elected. However it was a close call, with Irene Robinson, the Labour candidate, winning by 98 votes. 

Back in February the sitting councillor for Ancoats and Beswick, Marcia Hutchinson, resigned and spoke about bullying allegations in the Labour party.

She claimed that she had been ‘targeted’ and expressed her hope that the new councillor would be able to rectify a ‘toxic culture’.  

But the big story of the day saw the election of Green party candidate Astrid Johnson for Woodhouse Park.

The last time she stood for the council, Johnson got 92 votes, but this time she won the seat with a margin of 150 votes.  

In her acceptance speech, Johnson said: “To get real things done you can only work together. I’m absolutely prepared to work with anybody for the good of the ward I was elected to represent and for the whole of Manchester.

“So you have to ask Labour the question: will they do the same, because Woodhouse Park is still Manchester?”   

She praised the incumbent councillor, Labour’s Sarah Judge, saying: “She has been doing hard work. A lot of people in Woodhouse Park will be disappointed – her general work has been amazing. I personally find the politics where you have an adversary, where you’re pitted against each other, I don’t agree with. I think we need proportional representation.

“Why should a good person be ejected from the council because I happen to have a few more votes?   

“But I’m incredibly humbled and grateful to the residents”.