South Tyneside Council leader reacts to disastrous local election results

Cllr Tracey Dixon, the leader of South Tyneside Council, has reacted to a disastrous night for the Labour Party in the borough.

Transcript

00:00Okay Tracy so obviously not the night you were warning, talk us through it.

00:03Absolutely you know I'm absolutely devastated what's happened but this year's election there

00:08was actually a perfect storm brewing obviously with the waste dispute and then there was other

00:12factors which has contributed to this year's elections but you know as a council and a

00:17Labour-led council we are doing some fantastic things in this borough you know we're building

00:21children homes so we can keep our children in the borough, we're building extra care facilities

00:25with community facilities attached, we're supporting our most vulnerable, we're working

00:29with our businesses with the pledge you know so it's about how we get those messages across

00:34to the residents of the borough and I think we need to really look at that and see how we can

00:38get our communication out there but I think we need to ensure that we are listening to the

00:43residents of South Tyneside. Ten seats lost tonight, where does South Tyneside Labour go from here?

00:48South Tyneside Labour needs to restart, we need to start looking at what's happened and how we

00:53can actually build on that moving forward because we have some fantastic elected members, we've got

00:58we've lost some fantastic elected members and it is very very disappointing but I can assure the

01:02residents of South Tyneside we've listened to the message that's come across tonight and we need to

01:07work more closely with our communities. Now obviously maybe a bit disastrous for the party but

01:12obviously a successful night for yourself, retained your seat, how do you feel to be able to be

01:15elected once again in your ward? Yes you know I have to say I'm absolutely delighted to be back

01:19and re-elected for Whitburn and Marsden and that's a huge thank you to my residents for

01:22them putting faith back in me to support them.