The Conservatives made gains in the local elections to become the largest party on Bolton Council. This now means the Conservatives hold 20 seats to Labour's 20. Additionally, the Conservatives won the popular vote with a total vote share of 30,255 compared to Labour on 27,520.
Bolton Conservatives will now hold talks with other political parties in the council to form agreement which could see the Conservatives continue to run the council.
Cllr David Greenhalgh, Leader of the Conservative Group, said:
Welcome aboard to our new councillors, Cllr Sam Rimmer (Astley Bridge), Cllr Stuart Hartigan (Breightmet), Cllr Andrea Taylor-Burke (Little Lever and Darcy Lever), Cllr Andrea Finney (Westhoughton North and Chew Moor) and Cllr Chris Hill (Westhoughton South), who join Cllr Hilary Fairclough (Astley Bridge), Cllr Jackie Radcliffe (Bradshaw), Cllr Nadim Muslim (Bromley Cross), Cllr Toby Hewitt (Hulton) and Cllr Andy Morgan (Heaton and Lostock) in our winning candidate line-up.
A huge thank you to all our candidates who fought so hard. Wesley Macardle got within 152 of making history and becoming the first Conservative councillor in Tonge with The Haulgh since the 1970s, and Finlay Stanley missed out in Horwich and Blackrod by just 16 votes.
Massive increases to the Conservative vote by Malik Muzafar Nazar (Great Lever), Fred Khan (Harper Green), Shafi Patel (Rumworth), Joan Johnson (Smithills), Hannah Wright (Horwich NE), Siraj Patel (Crompton) and Malaika Dean (Halliwell).
And a final thank you to Mark Cunningham ( Kearsley) who came across to our party and had a very creditable result. We know you will be back soon stronger, Mark.
Thank you to everyone who supported us today, and the faith you have put in us. We will not let you down.
