The 2006 Basingstoke and Deane Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of

Basingstoke and Deane Basingstoke and Deane is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England. Its primary settlement is Basingstoke. Other settlements include Bramley, Tadley, Kingsclere, Overton, Oakley, Whitchurch and the village of Deane, some ...

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Council in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. After the election, the composition of the council was: *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

30 * Liberal Democrats 15 *

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

12 *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Background

At the previous election in 2004 the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

were the largest party on the council with 28 seats, but the council was run by an alliance between the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

and

parties who had led the council for the previous 11 years. Between them the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties had 28 seats, while the balance was held by 4 Independents. Between 2004 and 2006 one of the independent councillors, Ian Powney, joined the Liberal Democrats. However he resigned from the council before the election, along with his fellow Liberal Democrat Gill Nethercott. This meant 22 seats were contested in the 2006 election, with 2

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

s in Popley East and Whitchurch.

Campaign

As well as the 2 councillors who had resigned from the council before the election, a further 3 Conservatives councillors stood down at the election, Alan Denness, Andy Hewitt and Michael Ross. Candidates in the election included candidates from the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

for the first time in Basingstoke and Deane, as well as the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties and 1 Independent. In the run up to the election the national Conservative leader

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

visited

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

to campaign for his party in the local election.

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives gain 2 seats to hold half of the seats on the council. The Conservatives gained Basing from the Liberal Democrats and

Winklebury Winklebury and Manydown is a large suburb located two miles north-west of central Basingstoke in the UK. Until the late 1960s Winklebury was a collection of small holdings but Basingstoke's growth as a London Overspill town saw the area become ...

from Labour. Meanwhile, Labour regained Popley East from the Liberal Democrats, after the former

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Ian Powney stood down at the election. This meant the governing Liberal Democrat and Labour alliance was reduced to 27 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on 15 and Labour on 12, while independents remained on 3 seats. Following the election the Conservatives took control of the council after winning the vote for council leader by 30 votes to 26. Conservative John Leek became the new leader of the council after 2 of the 3 independents

abstained Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with ...

, along with 2 Labour councillors, the new

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Tony Jones and Sean Keating. One of the independents who abstained, David Leeks, became a member of the new council

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, while the third independent had backed the continuation of the previous Liberal Democrat and Labour administration.

Ward results

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2006

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2006 English local elections 2000s in Hampshire