The1999 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members ofSt HelensMetropolitan Borough Council inMerseyside,England. One third of the council was up for election and theLabour Party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]
After the election, the composition of the council was:
After thelast election in 1998 Labour had 42 seats, theLiberal Democrats had 10 and there were 2Conservatives.[3] However, in January 1999 the Liberal Democrats gained a seat inNewton West from Labour ina by-election.[4]
The Liberal Democrats gained 3 seats from Labour inSutton andBold, Moss Bank and Newton Eastwards to have 14councillors.[5] Meanwhile, the Conservatives also gained a seat from Labour inRainford, to mean that Labour dropped 4 seats in total.[6]Turnout at the election ranged from a high of 33.2% in Rainford to a low of 13.5% inBlackbrook.[6]
Following the election Labour councillor Marie Rimmer became leader of the council again succeeding Mike Doyle, having previously stepped down as leader in 1993.[7]
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 12 | -4 | 66.7 | ||||||
| Liberal Democrats | 5 | +3 | 27.8 | ||||||
| Conservative | 1 | +1 | 5.6 | ||||||
