Watford Labour leader reflects on party's election results

Despite failing to take any seats off the Liberal Democrats in Watford at last week's elections, Councillor Nigel Bell appears to be optimistic for what lies ahead for his party in the town.

The Labour party held onto the four seats it was defending on the borough council as well as the North and West Watford county council seats.

In particular, the party has hailed its victory in Callowland.

Dennis Watling beat the Lib Dem candidate Joe Inniss by just ten votes but Cllr Bell says it felt like a "big win" for his party because the last two seats in Callowland had been won by the Lib Dems, including by around 300 votes last time round.

Cllr Bell's colleague, Asif Khan, described Mr Watling's result as "excellent".

Although Labour saw a small increase in the number of votes it received across the town (7,868 votes), the party polled nearly the same amount of votes as the Conservatives (7,312); the latter of which has no representation on the borough council.

Labour polled behind the Conservatives in seven of Watford's 12 wards, including five wards they beat the Tories in the 2019 local elections.

Cllr Bell said he put a bounce in Tory votes in Watford down to the "national situation".

The leader said his main party's focus this year was ensuring it kept its Callowland seat and ensuring it defended its seat in Leggatts.

Labour candidate Richard Smith held onto the Leggatts seat, although the Lib Dems closed the gap in comparison with the 2019 vote.

See more: Full 2021 local election results in Watford

See more: What have we learnt from the 2021 election results in Watford?

Labour's five elected candidates. left to right: Nigel Bell (Holywell & West Watford), Dennis Watling (Callowland), Sara-Jane Trebar (Vicarage), Richard Smith (Leggatts), and Asif Khan (North Watford)

He added: "I would like to thank all those residents of Holywell and West Watford who voted for me in the local elections and gave me the largest majorities in Watford.

"It is an honour to represent West Watford residents and I will do all I can to continue to serve all residents to the best of my ability.

"I would like to congratulate all of my colleagues, including my newly elected colleague for Vicarage, Sara-Jane Trebar, who is already a great community champion having fought so hard for the Farm Terrace allotments.

"It is fitting she replaces the much respected Mo Mills who retired from the council on election day."

Cllr Nigel Bell and newly-elected Labour councillor Sara-Jane Trebar

He added: "Although we didn’t technically pick up a Lib Dem seat across the borough, we have come out of these elections bucking the national trend and renewed and ready to challenge the Lib Dems during the next year."