LOCAL ELECTIONS: THE Conservatives were today preparing to take control of Swindon Council following a dramatic election victory over Labour.
The Tory group is now the largest party on Swindon Council and was last night just one seat and 29 votes away from winning overall control of the authority.
But council leader Kevin Small (Lab, Western) remained tight-lipped about whether his Labour group would relinquish overall control to the Tories, who gained six seats and are now the majority party.
That will ultimately be decided at the next meeting of the council on Friday, May 16 when Coun Small, who has only been leader of the council for six months, is likely to concede defeat and hand control to Conservative leader Mike Bawden (Old Town and Lawns) who will become the fourth leader in a year.
The shock of the night came when the lead member for education and Walcot councillor for three years, Chris Eley, lost his Walcot seat to Laura Holiday (Con).
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