'Labour needs to restart’ - South Tyneside Council leader reacts following disastrous local elections

Councillor Tracey Dixon, the leader of South Tyneside Council, is calling on the Labour Party to “restart” in the borough following a disastrous 2024 local elections night.

Despite performing strongly in other areas of the North East and wider country, Labour lost ten seats in South Tyneside.

Nine of the seats were gained by independent candidates while the other was won by the Green Party.

Speaking straight after the counting, Cllr Dixon put the heavy losses down to the ongoing bin strikes, along with other factors.

She said: “I’m absolutely devastated at what has happened but ahead of this year’s elections there was a perfect storm brewing.

“The waste dispute and other factors have contributed to this year’s elections but as a Labour-led council, we are doing some fantastic things in the borough.

“We are building children’s homes, extra care and community facilities, we’re supporting our most vulnerable and working with businesses.

“It is now about how we get those messages across to the residents of the borough and I think we really need to look at that.

“I think we need to ensure that we are listening to the residents of South Tyneside.”

The deputy council leader, Audrey Huntley, was one of the big casualties of the evening as she lost her Fellgate and Hedworth ward seat to independent candidate, Tony Roberts.

The tough election night led the Council leader to call on the party to “restart” and “work more closely” with the communities in the borough.

Read more: Local elections 2024: Full list of results for South Tyneside

Cllr Dixon commented: “South Tyneside Labour needs to restart, we need to start looking at what has happened and how we can build on that going forward because we have lost some fantastic elected members.

“It is very disappointing but I can ensure the residents of South Tyneside that we have listened to the message that has come across tonight and we need to work more closely with our communities.”

Despite the heavy Labour losses, there was personal success for Cllr Dixon in the 2024 local elections as she retained her seat in the Whitburn and Marsden ward.

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She added: “I have to say that I’m absolutely delighted to be back and re-elected for Whitburn and Marsden.

“A huge thank you to my residents for them putting faith back in me to support them.”

Just six years ago in 2018, the Labour Party held 53 out of 54 seats on South Tyneside Council.

That majority has been chipped away at in the last few years and now in 2024, the new make up of South Tyneside Council is the Labour Party with 28 seats, Green Party with 11 seats and 15 independent candidates.