With another low turnout for the Salford City Mayor election – just 28.76% - incumbent Paul Dennett romped home with 59% of the first preference vote at today's count.
Dennett polled 30,892 votes, while his nearest challenger, the Conservative Party's Arnie Saunders took 12,234 votes. In third came the Green Party's Wendy Olsen with 4,585 votes, followed in fourth by Independent Stephen Ord who polled 1,890 votes.
The full results are...
Stuart Cremins – Republic Party – 1,036
Paul Dennett – Labour Party – 30,892
Stephen Ord – Independent – 1,890
Wendy Olsen – Green Party – 4,585
Jake Overend – Liberal Democrats – 1,716
Arnie Saunders – Conservative Party 12,234
A quite large total of 899 votes were rejected from the count, of which 619 were 'unmarked or void for uncertainty in the first preference vote' (?) and 275 were rejected because people had given more than one candidate a first preference vote. Obviously some work needs to be done explaining the voting system to the electorate...
Meanwhile after the result was declared, Paul Dennett slammed the current Labour Party leadership in a laborious speech and history lesson about the "Radical labour spirit of the labour movement which has been lost, now blurred in decades of cultural distance from communities which our Party once served..."
He added that he finds the current Labour leadership's approach "concerning...
"...It appears that the lessons that has been learned; it is that we must push further away from transformative economic agendas" he said "We must move further away from a radical defender of a great mass of working class people, and also against the structural embedded interests at the top who profit from reducing wages and terms and conditions of employment."
He added that when Keir Starmer was elected leader he promised to learn lessons... "He pledged to bring together the radical manifesto of the Corbyn era with a more professional and politically savvy operation...I ask Keir and our leaders to look, not only to Salford but also to Greater Manchester under the Greater Manchester leadership of Andy Burnham..."
Dennett had opened his speech by saying that "Labour can still reach the people of our city with a message of hope and optimism..."
In response, Robin Garrido, speaking for Conservative mayoral candidate Arnie Saunders, said that "It seems he's making a pitch for the Labour Party leadership!...Watch out local MPs!"
Garrido pointed out that not all the benefits that have come to Salford are via Labour, and have come with support from the Government. He also pointed out that, having been a councillor since 2004, plus a stint in the 1970s, the same issues "plague" the city...
"For fifty years of a Labour run Council, we still end up with some of the worst deprivation in this country" he said "That is disgraceful, that our leaders here seem to think that they've solved all the problems..."
To hear both speeches – click here and scroll to near the end of the video
For the local council election results - click here
For the Greater Manchester Mayor result - click here
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