Following appalling BBC mis-reporting at a national level,
in which a party that lost 82 seats is treated the same as a party that lost 1335 seats,
we find the BBC claiming the Conservatives ‘won’ Dorset Unitary Council.
In fact, the Conservatives barely held on in Dorset – losing Poole/Bournemouth/Christchurch to no overall control, and barely holding onto Dorset Council.
On Dorset Council, there are now 43 Conservative Councillors, and 39 Opposition (29 LibDems, 4 Green, 4 Independent, 2 Labour), with the Conservatives holding just over half the seats (52%).
The Conservatives had a much larger majority on the Council’s predecessor, Dorset County Council, where they held 32 of the 46 seats (70%).
So a Conservative ‘win’ is actually a reduction in the Conservative majority by almost 20%, and a move from control to ‘hanging on by their fingernails’.
Updated:
The BBC spin goes on: How the Conservatives actually lost 46 Councils but the BBC turned it into 44. This also means the Conservatives lost more than the 1,330 Councillors being reported.
By not counting the old Councils – Dorset County, and Poole and Bournemouth Borough Councils – the BBC has discounted loss of control in Poole/Bournemouth/Christchurch, and counted the hold in Dorset Council as a gain……
Debby Monkhouse
