Sunderland Labour leader hopeful of claiming seats back in May council elections after Redhill by-election victory

It comes after Labour’s John Usher was successful in the city council Redhill ward by-election on Thursday evening after receiving 709 votes, 323 more than second place Liberal Democrat candidate Steve Donkin.

Cllr Graeme Miller, city council leader, said the victory bodes well for the party going into May’s local elections, where one third of the local authority’s seats will go to the polls.

Speaking after the by-election count, he said: “People are seeing that Labour are delivering in this city and I think we’ll have a very strong local elections on the back of this fantastic success for Redhill.

“The fact that we’ve got such a strong Labour vote now shows that we’re well placed to take our message to people in May and ask for their support.

“If we continue delivering this sort of performance, and the national vote for Labour stays as strong as it is, I can see us taking seats back in May, and that’s what I’m going to be pushing us to be doing.”

Labour were also successful in last October’s Hetton by-election, holding the seat ahead of the Liberal Democrats by just 27 votes, which the city council leader said was a “line in the sand” for the party.

Cllr Miller, whose Washington South ward seat will be one of those up for election in May, added people on the door are “much happier” seeing Labour again.

He added: “We’re through Brexit, we’re through 2019, we’ve got a different leader, we’ve got a much stronger party.

“In the city the labour council is delivering for people, they can see it, look at the regeneration that’s going on, look what we’re giving people to go and see and do, the buildings they have to work in.”

He added: “I think you’ll find that the Conservatives and the Lib Dems will be very nervous now about how they hold some of their wards, because their majorities aren’t very big.”

However, Niall Hodson, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said the Redhill by-election showed Labour are “really vulnerable to the threat” of his party, adding they “came from nowhere” to come in second place, as they did in Hetton.

Speaking after the by-election count, he added: “It’s clear to us that Sunderland is now a Labour/Lib Dem fight across the whole of the city area and this puts us in a very strong place to take this ward in May.

“They know that they’re fighting on a lot of fronts for May and this is yet another area where they’re going to be vulnerable to a Lib Dem candidate.”

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