Iain re-elected as councillor for Cheadle and Gatley

by Lib Dem team on 4 May, 2018

Iain writes:

A big thank you to everyone who supported me, and to my opponents for a good campaign. It was looking close but we worked very hard in the last few days and it paid off.

Congratulations also to Lib Dem Helen-Foster Grime who won in Cheadle Hulme South, and Labour’s David Meller, who won Cheadle Hulme North by just two votes.

Across Stockport, Labour remain the largest party with the Lib Dems a close second. It’s most likely that Labour will continue running Stockport Council. Thanks to the election of two Green councillors in Trafford, the Conservatives lost control and Labour are now the largest party their too – by just one seat.

Nationally the elections were good for the Lib Dems who gained more seats than any other party, and more councils too. The Lib Dems gained control of four councils across England.

Cheadle & Gatley

Election Candidate Party Votes %
 Iain Roberts Liberal Democrats 2281 47%
 Jon Shaw The Conservative Party Candidate 1420 29%
 Colin Owen Labour Party 1047 22%
 Karl Wardlaw Green Party 99 2%

UKIP did not stand in 2018 – they got 7% in 2016.

   22 Comments

22 Responses

  1. DR C says:

    “HUH”!… so the electorate must be happy with paying the highest Council Tax in GM? and with a councillor who sees nothing wrong with that??- so glad tha made the move to Cheshire East last year! ?

  2. David Taylor says:

    Iain, not long before you’ll be the only Lib Dem councillor in Stockport, the yellow’s now blended to form an orange but not long before all we see is red. No before its too late, lets work to reduce the council tax bill to make in comparative with the rest of greater manchester.

    • DR C says:

      No need for that – just move south! ?

      • Alan says:

        Well I doubt you’re a doctor as suggested by your avatar but if you have indeed moved the don’t bother us any more with your right wing crap

        • DR C says:

          Tha may no longer live in the constituency but there are friends who do and Tha does look-in regularly.
          Glad to have moved though – if mugs like you are symptomatic of the majority electorate remaining there!

  3. John h says:

    Congratulations. All that hard work paid off, a well deserved victory.

  4. Jane says:

    Move south? North West is all red!

    • DR C says:

      You obviously do not know the Northwest! – Cheshire East Council (inc. Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilmslow and Knutsford) is most definitely TRUE BLUE country – and it costs less!! (Council Tax wise).

  5. Bruce says:

    Well done Iain – convincing win (not I voted for you – didn’t vote for anyone actually as I had family down and I forgot! Shame on me)

    • John Hartley says:

      Hey Bruce. Seems like there was a lot of Tories forgot. I’d assume they’re wondering just how they managed such a dismal performance.

      Hey Iain. Good result. Well deserved. I imagine your Cheadle Hulme North colleagues are wonderng what went wrong.

      John

  6. Frederick kenny says:

    Cheshire east band d us 1404 pa while it’s over 1800 pa in Stockport, the increase in percentage terms was also lower. Such an annual saving from taxed income is quite a lot and makes Cheshire east look better value than Stockport.

    • DR C says:

      There were/are flats in Gatley which are no better/bigger than mine, for sale around the same price as mine AND one that is far cheaper (-£15K) and smaller (in The Aspens) and are in Band B, mine (in Cheshire East Council area) is in Band A – and that is in an already lower taxed council area!

    • Stuart Thompson says:

      Taxed income is not the only factor contributing to quality of life. I remember travelling through the former East Germany on my way to a scientific conference in Berlin in 1986. The East Germans I spoke to told me that they were not short of money or essential services but there was a shortage of desirable commodities in the shops especially quality foods from tropical countries. After reunification, many could pay cash for vehicles and enterprising tradesmen became mobile and soon increased their earnings.

      In Britain today, despite increased income, public transport has been drastically cut, greatly increasing congestion and journey times. Even users of taxis have to allow times for journeys that are well in excess of the times required a generation back. I would willingly pay more taxes if these were used to provide public transport to the standard prevailing in other North European countries.

      Stockport is especially disadvantaged for public transport, even in comparison with London which received preferential treatment when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. I visited London frequently around this time and noticed that substantial improvements were made even in many suburban areas.

      The Liberal Democrat’s representing our area on Greater Manchester’s transport authority have been trying to get our needs given higher priority for several years. In particular, Cheadle congestion would be greatly improved if Metrolink could be routed along the line through Cheadle to Stockport, with a branch linking us to the airport.

      I am pleased to see that the Labour party’s leaflet for the recent election also expressed the urgent need for a Metrolink connection. Because new transport developments in Greater Manchester must compete on a committee that has a high proportion of Labour members, and are influenced by a Labour Mayor, I wrote to a prominent LibDem politician in London for advice. He recommended forming a liaison with members of the Labour Party to add weight to our case.

      Some members of the LibDems are reluctant to work closely with Labour. However, I see no problem provided that collaboration is for a
      specific purpose. I know talented and responsible members of the Labour Party who I consider would participate responsibly in such a collaboration. Unfortunately, spurred on by the Daily Mail, there is still a tendency for the average Labour Party member to be portrayed as a clone of Arthur Scargill, which is ludicrous.

      I appeal to all members of the LibDem and Labour parties in the Stockport area to use their best efforts to collaborate with each other to promote Metrolink in this area. It should be recognised from the start that this is a collaboration, and that both parties should benefit from the publicity if it is successful.

      • Frederick KENNY says:

        Stuart makes some good points – so we have what appears a very unfair allocation of transport funds (e.g.no Metro Links, bus services being stopped / downgraded (X57)) and still paying in a lot to TfGM and indeed a lot in Council Tax generally.

        Cant we pull out of this Manchester centric TfGM organisation and spend our own funds on ourselves?

  7. Paula Isherwood says:

    Congratulations Iain. You deserved to win.

  8. GB says:

    Forget a tram line – too complex, too expensive and too slow..

    Concentrate on reopening Cheadle’s closed railway station! This .will provide the quickest journey time to major destinations for the least cost.

    Establish a shuttle bus service to Parr’s Wood for those wishing to use Metrolink.

    • John Allwork says:

      Or as I have suggested before, extend the 42 bus route from Parrs Wood, via Gatley lights and Cheadle back to Parrs Wood. One every 20 minutes would be enough.

  9. Alan says:

    Well done Iain you’re a hard working councillor who delivers within the constraint of what local Government can do – not always easy – and more to do always but at least the invisible Blue didn’t get in!

    • DR C says:

      But because of mugs like you Alan who fall for the Councillors patter – Cheadle and Gatley residents will most certainly have to pay a high price – the highest Council Tax in GMC !
      Before Stocky turned Yellow it had the second lowest Council Tax in the GMC area – at oneself has the comfort of knowing it is YOU who will pay the price !! “MUG”.

  10. Jeff says:

    Lower Council Tax just means more cuts to services for vulnerable prople eg closing Citizens Advice bureaux and cutting social care for the disabled and elderly. I’d rather pay more tax and live in a decent caring society rather than adopt the Tory selfish attitude thanks.

    • DR C says:

      ? well you will certainly be paying for the ‘privilege’ of living there ! – more fool you !!

  11. Stewart Bale says:

    Iain
    Well done.
    I do think the council tax position needs looking at.
    Stewart

Leave a Reply to GB

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>