South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2004

The 2004 South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2003 reducing the number of seats by 6.^[1] The Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.^[2]

Campaign

Before the election South Tyneside was seen as one of Labour's safest councils in the north east of England with them having 49 of the 60 councillors and they were expected to remain in control of the council.^[3] The Boundary Committee for England had made changes in South Tyneside's wards since the 2003 election and these meant there would be 54 councillors elected from 18 wards, instead of the previous 60 councillors from 20 wards.^[4] The changes abolished All Saints and Rekendyke wards and new ward names included Biddick and All Saints, Hebburn North and Simonside and Rekendyke.^[5]

Labour was the only party who contested all 54 seats that were up for election, with the other candidates being made up of 23 Conservatives, 22 Liberal Democrats, 13 independents, 12 Progressives, 3 British National Party and 1 each from the Green party and the National Front.^[6][7] The independent candidates included 4 former Labour councillors who had quit the party to stand as independents, Mervyn Owen, Tom Defty, Jim Caine and Allen Branley, as well as Allen Branley's wife Jane Branley.^[4]

The election was held with all postal voting, but delays relating to the printers meant that many voters received their ballot papers almost a week late.^[8]

Election result

The results saw Labour defend a reduced majority on the council after winning 35 of the 54 seats.^[9] The independents and Progressives were jointly the largest opposition groups after the election after winning 6 seats each, with the Progressive leader, Jim Capstick, saying that the boundary changes had helped them to win all of the seats in Harton and West Park wards.^[9] The gains for the independents included the former Labour councillors, Tom Defty, who defeated the mayor and wife of the council leader, Linda Waggott,^[10] in Bede ward, and Allen Braley in Westoe ward, who was elected along with his wife Jane.^[9]

Meanwhile, the Conservatives had 3 councillors after the election, the most for decades, after winning all 3 seats in Cleadon and East Boldon ward at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.^[9] Among the Liberal Democrats who failed to be elected in Cleadon and East Boldon was the leader of the party on the council, Jim Selby, but the party did gain one seat in Biddick & All Saints ward.^[10]

Ward results

References

Council elections in Tyne and Wear
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Newcastle City Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Sunderland City Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Tyne and Wear County Council	1973 1977 1981 Abolished
See also: Wards Boundary changes

(2003 ←)   United Kingdom local elections, 2004   (→ 2005)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Unitary authorities	Blackburn with Darwen Derby Halton Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Thurrock Warrington Wokingham
District councils (England)	Adur Amber Valley Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bedford Brentwood Broadland Broxbourne Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Carlisle Castle Point Cheltenham Cherwell Chester Chorley Colchester Congleton Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Daventry Eastbourne Eastleigh Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Exeter Fareham Gloucester Gosport Great Yarmouth Harlow Harrogate Hart Hastings Havant Hertsmere Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Lincoln Macclesfield Maidstone Mole Valley Newcastle-under-Lyme North Hertfordshire Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oxford Pendle Penwith Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Rochford Rossendale Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor Shrewsbury and Atcham South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Lakeland St Albans Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Swale Tamworth Tandridge Three Rivers Tunbridge Wells Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wyre Forest
Welsh councils	Blaenau Gwent Bridgend Caerphilly Cardiff Carmarthenshire Ceredigion Conwy Denbighshire Flintshire Gwynedd Isle of Anglesey Merthyr Tydfil Monmouthshire Neath Port Talbot Newport Pembrokeshire Powys Rhondda Cynon Taff Swansea Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham
Mayoral elections	London
Regional assembly elections	London Assembly
Referendum	Northern England devolution
See also: European Parliament election