Southport journalist Martin Hovden (pictured) writes: The only guaranteed result of this week's Sefton Council elections is that Labour will retain control of the local authority.

Labour currently has 41 councillors while the opposition parties have a total of 23 with two vacancies - and with only 22 borough-wide seats up for grabs on Thursday, there is no way Labour can lose their grip on power.

Last year's local elections were postponed because of Covid. And Thursday's seats were last fought in 2016.

There are a few seats to watch out for in Southport. The Dukes ward, which covers the town centre, is definitely the most interesting with former Liberal Democrat high flyer Tony Dawson fighting to hold onto his seat.

He used to be a full-time assistant to former Lib Dem MP John Pugh from their office in Shakespeare Street and was behind many high profile Lib Dem campaigns in the town. However, on Thursday he is standing as an independent and faces a challenge from his old party in the form of David Newman, who is also standing as the Lib Dem candidate for Metro Mayor.

Very few independents win their old seats and Mr Dawson is likely to split the Lib Dem vote, allowing Tory opponent Mike Prendergast to win. Considering how close Mr Dawson and Mr Pugh used to work together in the past, I wonder who Councillor Pugh is backing?

Also fighting in Dukes is my former Southport Champion colleague Rob Doyle, standing for the Green Party. I can't understand why the Greens don't have more support in Southport. All are agreed our planet is heading for an environmental crisis and yet the Greens can't seem to secure any election traction locally. However, I certainly wouldn't rule them out forever.

Watch out also for the Birkdale result. The seat was won in 2016 by Lib Dem Richard Hands, a former very effective and popular Mayor of Sefton. This time Vic Foulds is waving the Lib Dem flag, but he faces strong opposition from community activist turned Conservative candidate Lee Durkin.

Mr Durkin has spent the past year building up his public profile - seeking out every issue he can find in his ward and then issuing Press Releases plus pictures to our local media. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is reminded of former councillor David Barton. Do I blame Mr Durkin? No, he's ambitious and that's the nature of politics these days, especially with our instant online news services.

Labour has been making great progress in Southport in recent years, gaining seats on the local authority and coming second in the 2019 general election. But has the public's understandable pre-occupation with Covid taken the wind out of their sails? Add to that the party's poor showing in national polls (although they did make some progress in Sunday's polls), plus national leader Keir Starmer's inability to make an impression with voters and you realise they still have a major challenge to secure support.

However, Labour are hoping crisis-prone Prime Minister Boris Johnson plus a never ending series of Tory sleaze allegations will be to their electoral advantage.

Politics is a funny old game.

You'll be voting three times on Thursday – for your local councillor, the Merseyside Police Commissioner and the Liverpool City Region Mayor. Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm.

Whatever your view, make sure you vote.

As I said on another thread nothing will change Labour Politburo will still regard all others as irrelevant and carry on doing what they want to do. The Dowd Dynasty lives on just pay your Council Tax and keep parking in Town and they'll be just as indifferent as they always have been to us woolybacks.

It is about time Sefton St was renamed to try and take away the memory of the last 47 years how about Gullible St .

04/05/2021 11:40 AM Little Londoner says:

Originally Posted by Little Londoner

…Labour Politburo …Dowd Dynasty blah, blah …

Originally Posted by Little Londoner

It is about time Sefton St was renamed to try and take away the memory of the last 47 years how about Gullible St .

The Tories could rename it Sleaze Street which is where they live.

Originally Posted by Nash

The Tories could rename it Sleaze Street which is where they live.

Already have one, it's where bootle town hall is...