LABOUR bolstered its ranks in Oldham with two new councillors in former UKIP seats.

They have now increased their total to 47 seats – a majority of 39 over the main Liberal Democrat opposition. The Tories doubled their total on the council to four.

This election was something of a test for Labour, who were keen to win the former UKIP seats.

Leader Jean Stretton, who held her Hollinwood seat with 1,198 votes, said the result showed that people continued to “trust us with looking after this borough and its future”.

“We have done very well, I’m very pleased with the result. We’ve made made gains and we’ve had some good results in wards that we didn’t win,” she said.

“It’s been a fantastic night for Labour. Certainly in my time it’s by far the biggest Labour majority I can remember.

“Of course we have bucked the national trend, not that I rejoice in that but it appears that here in Oldham, Labour has been trusted with the votes of local people and I am very grateful to them for that.”

The party managed to wrestle Failsworth West from Independent and former UKIP councillor Warren Bates with their candidate Peter Davis, who was the clear winner with 1,076 votes.

He said it was his “positive campaign” that had helped to clinch the result.

A sanguine Mr Bates said he knew he had been “murdered” in the election, but that it was “very difficult” to stand as an independent in a Labour stronghold.

“I’m getting on a bit now and it’s a bonus to wake up every morning at my age”, he added.

Valerie Leach took Saddleworth West and Lees for Labour, which had been held by the borough’s only UKIP councillor, Peter Klonowski, who did not stand again.

Labour also comfortably kept seats in Chadderton Central and Hollinwood that had belonged to councillors Sue Dearden and Brian Ames, who both died earlier this year and were contested as by-elections.

But it was the borough’s Tories who would produce the upsets on the night with wins in Saddleworth North and Saddleworth South, doubling their number in the council chamber to four.

Conservative Jamie Curley ousted long-term Liberal Democrat councillor John McCann, while parish councillor Pam Byrne took the seat vacated by Labour councillor Nikki Kirkham.

Mr Curley said that green belt issues and the prospect of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework had more impact than national Conservative policies.

He said: “People are up in arms about over-development. I don’t think that people voted along party lines, they voted over what we have saying for the last 12 months about issues like the Spatial Framework.”

For the Liberal Democrats, this election was an opportunity to consolidate and bulk up their opposition benches but they ended up walking away with one fewer seat, down to eight councillors.

Defeated John McCann said he didn’t think people ‘appreciate’ the hours of work that councillors put in to their roles.

He added the thing he would miss most was trying to get “decent new schools for Saddleworth”, and he would continue to campaign for the building of a new high school in Diggle.

The total turnout for Oldham was 30.59 per cent, down three per cent from 2016.

The highest turnout was in Saddleworth South with 40.49 per cent, while Hollinwood ward saw the lowest number with less than a quarter of the population turning out to vote.