A big thank-you to all of you who took the time and trouble to either vote by post or go out and vote in person in the elections yesterday. The weather was warm and dry and I am sure this encouraged a few more voters to exercise their democratic right.

I commented after a recent visit to Radcliffe West that the result there might be quite close. It was – the Conservative Candidate was just nine votes behind in what has up to now always been regarded as a safe Labour seat. So congratulations to the winning Labour Councillor and commiserations to Samantha Davies who worked very hard and by all accounts fought an excellent campaign.