Election fever hit the mainland yesterday, or did it? According to nationwide reports, the average turnout of voters was quite low.
However, enough people turned out to instigate change at one of our neighbouring councils, Southampton.
If this will affect the Island is explored below.
The Conservative majority plummeted after losing ten seats and dropping to just sixteen.
Labour however, gained eleven seats and now have a total of thirty, giving them overall control of the council.
The Liberal Democrats lost one seat, now holding only two.
Will it affect IW council job share?
The subcontracting of some Isle of Wight council jobs to Southampton council, or ‘job sharing‘ as it was labelled at the time, was arranged when both Southampton and the Island’s councils were controlled by Conservatives.
One political party – one shared philosophy.
Whether the change of Southampton’s leadership to Labour
will have any impact on this, or indeed the Solent LEP remains to be seen.
Pompey remains Lib Dem
In Portsmouth the Liberal Democrats remain in overall control of the council with twenty-six seats. The Conservative hold twelve and Labour four.
Update 10:11: Minor changes to headline and copy
Image: Martin Bamford under CC BY 2.0
