The 2007 Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Redcar and Cleveland Unitary Council in England. The whole council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]
At the last election in 2003 Labour lost their majority on the council, after winning 23 seats, compared to 15 for the Liberal Democrats, 13 Conservatives and 8 independents.[2] A coalition between the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and independents then took control of the council.[3]
In 2004 a Labour councillor for Guisborough, and former deputy leader of the party, Keith Pudney, became an independent,[4] before becoming a Liberal Democrat in 2005.[5] However, also in 2005, Labour gained a seat in Westworth from an independent at a by-election.[6] A final change came in February 2007 when David Tomlin resigned from the Labour party after being convicted for falsely claiming benefits.[7] This meant that before the 2007 election Labour had 22 seats, the Liberal Democrats 16, Conservatives 13, East Cleveland Independents 2, the Independent Group 5 and 1 independent,[8] with the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and the 2 East Cleveland Independents forming the administration, while Labour and the other independents were in opposition.[9]
In total 160 candidates stood for the 59 seats that were being contested at the election.[8] The council already had the best female representation of any council in North East England with 30 women councillors and 75 of the candidates were female.[9] The candidates comprised 50 from Labour, 42 Liberal Democrats, 37 Conservatives, 4 British National Party and 27 various independents.[9] Meanwhile, 7 sitting councillors stood down at the election, Christopher Beadle, Keith Blott, Bill Goodwill, Barbara Harpham, Keith Pudney, Alma Thrower and David Tomlin.[8]
Labour made a net gain of 6 seats, to go to 28 seats on the council, 2 short of a majority.[10] The gains came at the expense of the Liberal Democrats who dropped 3 to 13 seats and the Conservatives who were down 2 to 11 seats.[10] 7 independents were also elected, 4 in the Independent Group, 1 Loftus Ward Independent, 1 East Cleveland and Guisborough Independent and 1 East Cleveland Independent.[10]
Following the election the Labour group leader, George Dunning, became the new leader of the council, after Labour got the support of 2 independents, Mike Findley and Mary Lanigan.[11]