The Conservatives have retained their hold on Thurrock Council despite Labour gaining three seats across the borough.

Of the five new Thurrock Independent majorities prior to the vote, only one of the former UKIP councillors, MEP Tim Aker, retained his seat in Aveley and Uplands, with 1037 votes.

Graham Snell, who led the Thurrock Independents throughout the election period, lost his seat in one of the biggest upsets of night, coming last out of four candidates with 177 votes, allowing Conservative Elizabeth Rigby to take the top spot with 804 votes.

Labour overtook the Thurrock Independents as the second largest party in the council, taking advantage not only of the former UKIP party to gain four seats, but also overtake the Conservative Mayor Tunde Ojetola in the South Chafford polls with Labour candidate Abbie Akinbohun taking the victory.

The new Councillor Akinbohun said: “I couldn’t have asked for anything more - I’m so happy I cannot believe it.

“The campaign has been really tough because I’ve been in competition with the mayor which has been a big challenge for me, but I kept trying anyway and worked the hardest I could, and we ended up with the victory.”

Thurrock Labour represented the largest growth on the night, with four seats gained (three from Thurrock Independents, one from Conservatives), with the Conservatives coming in with a gain of one seat from the Thurrock Independents, who were faced with a loss of four seats.

The Conservatives may not have taken a seat back from Labour, however Councillor Gledhill did voice his delight at retaining both his Little Thurrock Rectory seat and overall party control of the council.

He said: “It’s obviously a good result for the Conservatives, we essentially gained one seat - we gained two but unfortunately lost Councillor Ojetola in South Chafford. While it is obviously a shame, having that one extra seat in the council will make all the difference to us.

“We have made some very clear promises, promises that we are already delivering on.

“We will be continuing with the ‘clean it, cut it, fill it’, making sure that not only do we have a balanced budget but we do so without it raising tax to the maximum, and make sure that this council goes from strength to strength.”

Despite holding a total of 17 seats after the 2016 local elections before switching to the Thurrock Independent’s in January 2018, candidates standing as UKIP failed to gain a single seat.

The lowest voter turnout of any ward across Thurrock was Labour seat Tilbury St. Chads, with just 22.58% of residents visiting the polls, whilst the highest voter turnout was found in Conservative-held The Homesteads ward with 38.48% of residents voting.

Thurrock Council now has 20 Conservative seats, 17 Labour, and 12 Thurrock Independents.