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The 2011 Carlisle City Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

Before the election Labour were the largest party on the council with 23 seats, compared to 22 Conservatives, 5 Liberal Democrats and 2 independents.^[3] However the Conservatives ran the council in alliance with the Liberal Democrats.^[3] At the election one councillor stood down, Labour's Mary Styth, who had held Belle Vue ward.^[3]

18 seats were contested at the election, with Labour standing in all 18 seats, the Conservatives in 17, the Green Party in 8, Liberal Democrats 7, UK Independence Party 4, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 4, British National Party 2 and the Communist Party in 1 seat.^[3] The candidates in Morton ward included Conservative Judith Pattinson, who was attempting to return to the council she had left in 2004, and the former Labour mayor John Metcalfe, who was standing as a Communist.^[3]

There were also going to be 6 independent candidates,^[3] however the former Conservative councillor for Belah, Alan Toole, withdrew on 5 April.^[4] The other independents included Andrew Hill, a campaigner against the redevelopment of the Sands Centre in Carlisle, and husband and wife Jonathan and Julia Devlin.^[3] Jonathan Devlin had been Conservative councillor for Lyne since 2007, but stood as an independent after the Conservatives began looking for other candidates to stand for the seat.^[3]

Campaign

A big issue at the election were the cuts being made by the national Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, with Labour saying the Liberal Democrats in particular would suffer as a result.^[5] Other local issues included a redevelopment at Carlisle Lake District Airport and a proposed new housing estate in Crindledyke.^[5]

Labour targeted Castle ward, which the Liberal Democrats held, and where Labour had come close at the 2010 election.^[5] However the Conservatives hoped to challenge Labour in Belle Vue and Yewdale wards.^[5]

Election result

Only one seat changed parties, with Labour gaining the only seat the Liberal Democrats had been defending, in Castle ward.^[2] This meant that Labour remained the largest party on the council with 24 councillors, but without a majority as the Conservatives remained on 22 seats, the Liberal Democrats had 4 and there were 2 independents.^[2]

The Liberal Democrats suffered a substantial drop in the share of the vote, with the party coming fifth in Currock ward and third in Morton, a seat the party had previously held.^[2] The Liberal Democrats said they had suffered as a result of entering the coalition government nationally, while the Labour group leader, Reg Watson, saw the results as giving Labour "a good chance" to take control at the 2012 election.^[2]

Following the election, Conservative Mike Mitchelson was re-elected as leader of the council by 26 votes to 25.^[6] Meanwhile, Joe Hendry became the new leader of the Labour group on the council taking over from Reg Watson,^[7] while the 2 independent councillors joined in an Independent group.^[8]

Carlisle local election result 2011^[1]^[9]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	10	1	0	+1	55.6	43.3	12,102	+6.9%
Conservative	8	0	0	0	44.4	37.9	10,586	-1.6%
Liberal Democrats	0	0	1	-1	0	6.0	1,671	-7.5%
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	4.5	1,251	+2.2%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.8	1,074	+0.6%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	563	+1.3%
TUSC	0	0	0	0	0	1.2	347	-0.3%
BNP	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	299	-1.8%
Communist	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	51	+0.2%

Ward results

Belah^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trish Vasey	1,033	49.2	−8.5
	Labour	Karen Gallagher	664	31.6	−10.7
	Independent	Andrew Hill	401	19.1	+19.1
Majority			369	17.6	+2.2
Turnout			2,098	42.2	−28.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Belle Vue^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jackie Franklin	912	55.4	+12.5
	Conservative	Stephen Higgs	734	44.6	+10.2
Majority			178	10.8	+2.3
Turnout			1,646	34.2	−25.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Botcherby^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terry Scarborough	720	50.0	+17.4
	Independent	Mike Middlemore	432	30.0	−14.4
	Conservative	Shaidat Danmole-Ellis	287	19.9	+2.3
Majority			288	20.0
Turnout			1,439	30.5	−24.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Burgh^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Collier	556	57.5	−16.8
	Labour	Robin Pearson	222	23.0	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Gee	114	11.8	+11.8
	Green	Dallas Brewis	75	7.8	+7.8
Majority			334	34.5	−14.1
Turnout			967	55.7	+12.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Castle^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Whalen	549	42.4	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Farmer	438	33.8	−1.2
	Green	Neil Boothman	135	10.4	+3.5
	TUSC	Joanne Beaty	90	6.9	+6.9
	BNP	Ben Whittingham	84	6.5	+6.5
Majority			111	8.6
Turnout			1,296	29.3	−24.5
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Currock^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Abdul Harid	829	57.1	+7.1
	Conservative	Kevin Reynolds	325	22.4	−2.8
	BNP	Mike Ward	123	8.5	+1.9
	TUSC	Brent Kennedy	104	7.2	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Terence Jones	71	4.9	−9.8
Majority			504	34.7	+9.8
Turnout			1,452	31.2	−24.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Dalston^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicola Clarke	1,108	49.1	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats	William Wyllie	500	22.2	−12.1
	Labour	Grant Warwick	478	21.2	+3.0
	UKIP	Robert Dickinson	170	7.5	+7.5
Majority			608	27.0	+13.9
Turnout			2,256	47.2	−27.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Denton Holme^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh McDevitt	913	57.9	+2.4
	Conservative	Barbara Eden	332	21.1	−9.4
	UKIP	Michael Owen	101	6.4	+6.4
	Liberal Democrats	David Wood	96	6.1	+6.1
	Green	Lynn Bates	75	4.8	+4.8
	TUSC	Amanda Jefferies	60	3.8	−5.4
Majority			581	36.8	+11.9
Turnout			1,577	32.4	−26.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Harraby^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Cyril Weber	1,125	66.8	+16.5
	Conservative	Hannah Dolan	558	33.2	+0.7
Majority			567	33.7	+15.9
Turnout			1,683	33.9	−27.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Irthing^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Syd Bowman	444	55.6	−2.5
	Independent	Julia Devlin	177	22.2	+22.2
	Labour	Beth Furneaux	177	22.2	+5.3
Majority			267	33.5	+0.4
Turnout			798	48.8	−26.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Longtown and Rockliffe^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Mallinson	637	55.2	+11.5
	Labour	Robert Dodds	323	28.0	+14.9
	UKIP	Elizabeth Parker	147	12.7	+12.7
	Green	Ian Brewis	46	4.0	+4.0
Majority			314	27.2	+20.9
Turnout			1,153	33.8	−30.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lyne^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judy Prest	496	63.1	−20.6
	Independent	Jonathan Devlin	158	20.1	+20.1
	Labour	Gerard Champney	132	16.8	+0.5
Majority			338	43.0	−24.4
Turnout			786	48.5	+7.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Morton^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Bell	1,104	59.5	+22.0
	Conservative	Judith Pattinson	337	18.2	+0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Deborah Clode	219	11.8	−23.3
	BNP	Gillian Forrester	92	5.0	−0.2
	Green	Elaine Bromley	51	2.8	+2.8
	Communist	John Metcalfe	51	2.8	+2.8
Majority			767	41.4	+39.0
Turnout			1,854	39.3	−27.0
	Labour hold		Swing

St. Aidans^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reg Watson	704	43.3	−1.1
	Conservative	Stewart Blake	471	29.0	−0.5
	Green	John Reardon	368	22.6	+2.1
	Independent	Tony Carvell	83	5.1	+5.1
Majority			233	14.3	−0.6
Turnout			1,626	34.5	−23.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Stanwix Rural^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Bainbridge	1,010	64.0	+3.3
	Labour	Lee Sherriff	306	19.4	+1.1
	UKIP	Carol Weaver	145	9.4	+9.4
	Green	Charmian McCutcheon	116	7.4	+7.4
Majority			704	44.6	+5.0
Turnout			1,577	42.6	−29.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Stanwix Urban^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacquelyne Geddes	1,156	50.0	−3.5
	Labour	Kevin Parker	947	41.0	+7.0
	Green	Richard Hunt	208	9.0	−3.5
Majority			209	9.0	−10.5
Turnout			2,311	48.2	−27.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Upperby^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ann Warwick	743	56.0	+5.1
	Conservative	Georgina Clarke	257	19.4	−2.1
	Liberal Democrats	James Osler	233	17.6	−3.0
	TUSC	Daniel Thorburn	93	7.0	+7.0
Majority			486	36.7	+7.3
Turnout			1,326	32.5	−23.8
	Labour hold		Swing