Suffolk County Council election, 2005

Elections to Suffolk County Council were held on 5 May 2005. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2001 reducing the number of seats by 5. The Conservative party gained control of the council from no overall control.

The ruling Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition had become increasingly unpopular following a number of significant council tax rises. The opposition Conservatives were successful in highlighting this to their benefit.

Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour endured heavy losses to the Conservatives in rural areas, but they performed better in urban Suffolk. The Conservatives failed to gain a single seat in Ipswich and Lowestoft, for example.

Election result

Suffolk Local Election Result 2005
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	45			+15	60.0	39.2	131,719	-2.8
	Labour	22			-12	29.3	27.8	93,370	-6.5
	Liberal Democrat	7			-6	9.3	26.3	88,238	+4.6
	Independent	1			-2	1.3	2.9	9,491	+1.3
	Green	0			0	0	2.2	7,454	+1.9
	UKIP	0			0	0	1.6	5,304	+1.5

Ward results

Aldeburgh and Leiston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Ward	2,091	41.1
	Labour	Joan Girling	1,671	32.9
	Liberal Democrat	Lisabeth Hoad	1,325	26.1
Majority			420	8.2
Turnout			5,087	56.0

Beccles (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Bee	3,104
	Labour	John Taylor	2,757
	Labour	Alan Thwaites	2,714
	Conservative	Kenneth Sale	2,255
	Liberal Democrat	Frances Mitchell	1,280
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Mitchell	1,139
	Green	Graham Elliot	822
	Green	Liam Carroll	383
Turnout			14,454	63.7

Belstead Brook

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Anne Pollard	1,875	43.8	-18.2
	Conservative	John Browne Cave	1,497	35.0	-3.0
	Labour	Janet Norden	909	21.2	+21.2
Majority			378	8.8	-15.2
Turnout			4,281	64.3	+2.7

Bixley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Russell Harsant	1,972	48.8
	Labour	Martyn Green	1,051	26.0
	Liberal Democrat	Gareth Jones	1,022	25.3
Majority			921	22.8
Turnout			4,045	70.6

Blackbourn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joanna Spicer	2,902	56.0
	Labour	Alison Fairgrieve	1,132	21.8
	Liberal Democrat	Margaret Fossati	878	16.9
	UKIP	Philip Huckett	273	16.9
Majority			1,770	34.2
Turnout			5,185	77.2

Blything

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raeburn Leighton	1,807	38.1
	Liberal Democrat	John Slater	1,539	32.4
	Labour	David Jeremy	892	18.8
	Independent	Donald Tricker	508	10.7
Majority			268	5.7
Turnout			4,746	60.7

Bosmere

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Julia Truelove	1,640	33.1
	Conservative	John Pratt	1,453	29.4
	Labour	James Higgins	779	15.7
	Independent	Michael Turner	648	13.1
	Independent	Ian Mason	428	8.7
Majority			187	3.7
Turnout			4,948	68.5

Brandon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Bishop	1,895	53.3
	Labour	Pamela Brown	964	27.1
	Liberal Democrat	Catriona Pilborough	464	13.1
	UKIP	John French	233	6.6
Majority			931	26.2
Turnout			3,556	55.0

Bridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Mangar	1,567	47.8
	Conservative	Nadia Cenci	1,014	30.9
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Richardson	698	21.3
Majority			553	16.9
Turnout			3,279	53.1

Bungay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Morris Rose	2,061	41.5
	Labour	Lynn Derges	1,361	27.4
	Liberal Democrat	Wendy Curry	1,052	21.2
	Green	Lorna Kerrison	488	9.8
Majority			700	14.1
Turnout			4,962	68.8

References

• 2005 Suffolk election result
• Suffolk County Election 2005