Labour regain control of Hartlepool Borough Council after five-year gap

The party – which fell just three votes short of running the authority at 2023’s poll – won nine of the 12 seats contested across town on May 2.

This means they now have 24 of the 36 seats in the council chamber and can form a majority administration.

Labour group leader Councillor Brenda Harrison, a former music teacher at the town’s English Martyrs School, will become the first female leader of the council.

Speaking after their victory, Councillor Harrison said: “We have tried to get the message across that we are a group and a party which can be trusted in Hartlepool and I think that is what has happened tonight.

"People have decided that they may put their trust in us and hopefully we will deliver for them.”

Since Labour lost overall control in 2019, the authority has been run by various coalitions of Conservative and independent councillors.

The Conservatives won one of May 2’s seats with independent candidates claiming the remaining two.

The results were confirmed at the town’s Mill House Leisure Centre just after 2am.

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