Labour strengthened their majority in Redbridge in the local elections, gaining 15 seats.
Cllr Jas Athwal’s group won a formidable 51 seats, to the Conservatives’ 12.
The Labour group leader retains his position. He and his colleagues were elated.
He said: “I met Jeremy Corbyn last week. I told him, come down to Redbridge, we’re going to win big. He looked at me as if to say, are you sure? I will definitely invite him down now.”
Council leader, Jas Athwal, secured his seat again in Mayfield.
He added: “We’ve got to reflect. We’ve spent four years managing finances, now we need to spend four years delivering for residents.
“I didn’t come into politics to shut things down. I came in to do things.”
The count at Redbridge Sports Hall, Ilford, lasted 11 hours; from 9:30pm last night until 8:30am this morning.
But it wasn’t all good news for Labour. Some seats were incredibly close and hard fought.
Cllr Lloyd Duddridge missed out on a seat in Bridge ward by a fractional 11 votes.
Lloyd Duddridge (pictured far left) missed out on a seat in Bridge by just 11 votes.
Mr Athwal said: “It feels like a defeat.”
The voting was similarly close in Churchfield ward, resulting in another shock departure as Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Gwyneth Deakins also lost her seat.
MPs were at the count supporting their party colleagues. Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North and Mike Gapes, MP for Ilford South were there throughout.
Cllr Athwal thanked all staff, campaigners and party supporters before saying: “I think it’s time I shut up and you all went home and got some sleep.”
For a list of full results by ward, please see our live tweets from last night.
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