5 May 2011 2015 → 13 4 13 4 | 55 13 50 13 8 19 | |
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The 2011 elections to Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council were the first elections to this Council after it had been re-warded into a mixture of single-, two- and three-member wards. They took place on 5th May alongside the United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, 2011. The previous election held for 2008 were based on the old Cheshire County Council electoral divisions each of which returned 3 members. The 2008 elections elected 72 members to serve first on the shadow authority and then, with effect from 1 April 2009, the new Council when it took over responsibility for the delivery of local government services.
Given the re-warding that took place in time for the 2011 elections, direct comparisons between the 2008 and 2011 results are problematic. Superficially the 2011 results give the impression of a dramatic swing to Labour when compared with the 2008 results—however, this is misleading. In 2008 the Labour Party was particularly unpopular, with the local government elections taking place shortly after the '10p tax rate' had been abolished, plunging Labour support to a particular low. This unpopularity, coupled with the then large electoral wards electing 3 councillors per ward, and the first-past-the-post system, very much favoured the then leading party in the opinion polls—the Conservatives—who, in 2008, won a much greater majority than had otherwise been predicted.
The 2011 elections with the re-warding took place one year into the national Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition at a time when support for the Liberal Democrats was at a particular low. Nationally Labour's support had rallied considerably when compared with 2008.
Before the elections in 2011 the majority Conservative party suffered a small number of defections principally almost certainly associated with existing councillors failing to be selected by the party to fight the seat of their choice.
As noted above the Conservatives had reduced in number from 55 to 50 through resignations, defections and withdrawal of the party whip associated with the processes for selection of candidates to fight the 2011 election.
Four political groups that had unsuccessfully put forward candidates in 2008, did not do so in 2011. Several deselected Conservatives stood without the party whip, but there were no other independent candidates.