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| Chris Emmas-Williams at a previous election count |
One of Labour's particularly disastrous results came in Derbyshire, where Labour lost control of Amber Valley Borough Council. One third of council seats were up for grabs and among those defending their seats was Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams, the leader of the council with 35 years service behind him. Unfortunately for him, Labour lost nine seats to the Conservatives - including his - and thus ceded control of the council to the Tories.
Emmas-Williams was clearly very unhappy with the result and lashed out in an extraordinary interview with the Derby Telegraph: "It’s been a disastrous day for us. At the end of the day we delivered on our promises to people. I thought this election was based on local issues but that’s not been the case. Quite frankly I don’t think I’ve ever been in an election with so much acrimony and so many lies in campaign literature. The voters have let us down. I hope they don’t live to regret it".
Not sure about the voters Chris, but you're going to live to regret making that statement. Blaming them for an election defeat is one surefire way to ensure you keep on losing.
Amber Valley Borough Council (Con GAIN from Lab)
Conservative 13 (+9)
Labour 3 (-9)