Basingstoke elections 2021: Three key takeaways from stats

A total of 54 seats were up for grabs in the newly defined 18 wards and the major parties were all determined to retain control of their key areas, and make gains in battleground seats.

The Conservative party secured a comfortable majority of 33, giving them control of the council.

Labour suffered losses, but also celebrated the election of four brand new candidates.

Now that everyone has had time to digest the results, which you can see in full here, these are three key statistics that show how the council changed on Sunday's results day.

1. One in two votes were for a Conservative

Just over 50 per cent of all votes cast last week were for a Conservative candidate.

Residents were able to vote for up to three candidates in their ward, either voting for all three candidates from the same party or split their vote.

These key statistics show how the council changed last weekend.

This isn’t a surprise considering they picked up just over half the councillors.

But when you take the highest polling candidate from each ward, there are interesting revelations.

The Liberal Democrats received just under 161 fewer votes than Labour, but won half the number of seats.

This suggests the Lib Dems did reasonably well in most wards, whereas Labour did badly in places but well enough in others to win the spots.

2. A big swing away from Labour in town centre

We all love watching the swing-o-meter every election, and here at The Gazette, we are no different.

It reveals some interesting results in the town centre.

Compared with the 2019 elections, Brighton Hill swung from Labour to the Lib Dems by 5.3 per cent, and 6.9 per cent from Labour to the Conservatives in Brookvale and Kings Furlong.

But the biggest swing was in Winklebury and Manydown, where there was a 17 per cent swing from Labour to the Conservatives.

3. Labour aren’t the biggest losers

Whilst nationally the focus has been on Labour, the biggest losers in the elections in terms of the council’s influence actually appear to be the BDI Group. Five out of the six BDI candidates were returned, which is a brilliant result for a group of independent candidates without the backing of a big party in their first ever election cycle.

These key statistics show how the council changed last weekend.

But the BDI Group enjoyed a massive influence on the authority since formation - holding 17 per cent of the seats before the polls.

Now, they hold just nine per cent, almost half the influence they did have.