KARL MARX WINS STOCKPORT SEAT FOR LABOUR
A councillor called Karl Marx has been elected for the Labour Party in Stockport.
The politician, whose full name is Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw, was chosen to represent the area of Brinnington and Stockport Central in Thursday’s local elections.
Cllr Wardlaw, who shares at least some of his name with the philosopher and architect of communism, won a landslide victory, gaining 1,069 votes – 61 per cent of the vote share.
He is among the dozens of successful Labour local candidates across the country, although Stockport council remained in no overall control – with the Liberal Democrats securing the most seats.
Cllr Wardlaw has seen greater success as a Labour candidate than with the Green Party, his former party. In 2019, he ran as a councillor for the Greens and came second to the then-Labour candidate Kerry Waters, with just 13 per cent of the vote.
He has been photographed campaigning with Navendu Mishra, the local MP, for both his re-election and that of Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.
Cllr Wardlaw said the had “reported lots of fly-tipping, potholes, and represented residents over a number of other issues” since becoming councillor last May.
Overall in Stockport, Labour lost two seats and the Liberal Democrats gained two, while there was no change in the number of independent and Green councillors.
The election of Cllr Wardlaw, who is a member of the Unite trade union, comes amid a poor night for the Conservative Party, which polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice predicted could see the loss of 500 seats.
Labour also won the parliamentary by-election in Blackpool South, which Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, described as a “seismic” victory.
2024-05-03T10:35:27Z dg43tfdfdgfd
