Live updates and results from the Oldham Local Election count 2026

The results are in, and this is the end of our live news updates this morning.

From the team at the Oldham Evening Chronicle, thank you for joining us.

And finally, the Waterhead results: 

Labour lost another seat to Reform  

Mir Ajawat (OLDHAM GROUP) 980
Stuart Allsopp (IND) 132
Alison Caroline Bishop (LIB DEM) 266
Majid Khan (IND) 54
Ali Aqeel Salamat (LAB) 954
Andrew Peter Sinclair (GREEN) 394
Paul Taylor (REFORM) 1459

There seems to be some disagreement over the - now confirmed - 16 invalid votes as a result of the misprint. Candidates are demanding to see the erroneously printed votes

Last ward coming up now, should have the results in a few moments.

We're approaching the ninth hour of this election count and we're still waiting for one result in Waterhead - the area where there was an issue with misprinted votes.

Executives are gathered in the centre of the room and appear to be discussing what will happen next

In Saddleworth South, the Lib Dem's have held their seat by just two votes

George Simon Atkinson (GREEN) 344
Helen Louise Bishop (LIB DEM ) 1594
Archie Ross Duncan (LAB) 602
David Hartington (CON) 417
Christopher John McManus (REFORM) 1592

It is believed that Saddleworth South has been recounted four times now.

Saddleworth West & Lees

Lib Dems have lost their seat as well to Reform

Joe Bardsley (GREEN) 238
Dave Barter (LAB) 279
Lisa Hartington (CON) 143
Peter Klonowski (REFORM) 1808
Alicia Marland (LIB DEM) 1636

Saddleworth North

Conservatives have lost their seat to Reform

Luke Bywater (CON) 488
Chris Fielding (GREEN) 330
Samuel Jacob Hollis (LAB & CO-OP) 432
Michael Robert Thomas Powell (LIB DEM) 1289
Ioan Williams (REFORM) 1752

Just had five declarations back-to-back, expecting the remaining few soon.

Hollinwood

The Oldham Group loses the seat to Reform 

Saniya Abid (LAB) 866
Elizabeth Adamson (LIB DEM) 164
Robert Barnes (REFORM) 1472
Callum Holt (GREEN) 359
John Lawrence (NATIONAL HOUSING PARTY OLDHAM PEOPLE FIRST) 58
Abdul Wahid (OLDHAM GROUP) 772

Royton North

Conservative loses seat to Reform 

Christine Adams (CON) 569
Lewis Farnworth (LIB DEM) 169
Clint Phythian (LAB) 586
Paul Robinson (REFORM) 2502
Emily Walker (GREEN) 412

St Mary’s

Labour loses seat to the Oldham Group 

Sonny Shah Arstan (OLDHAM GROUP) 2554
Ivan Burnley-Davies (REFORM) 368
Joe Gloster (LIB DEM) 110
Aftab Hussain (LAB) 1465
Lina Maria Valencia (GREEN) 321 

Crompton

Lib Dem loses to Reform

Latif Choudhary (LAB) 227
Shaun Michael Duffy (IND) 79
Alicia Dunne (IND) 232 
Hazel Gloster (LIB DEM) 1036
Peter Hanlon (REFORM) 1773
Darren Lord (CON) 153
Chris Mills (GREEN) 215

Werneth

Labour has narrowly HELD 

Mohammed Imran Ali (IND) 864
Fida Hussain (LAB) 1748
Stuart Illingwoth (REFORM) 247
Rangzib Nazir (WORKERS PARTY/OLDHAM GROUP) 1602
Rachel Pendlebury (LIB DEM) 102
Mycul Trelore (GREEN) 364

Provisional results are currently being discussed; we hope to bring you the results of the remaining wards in the coming minutes.

Chadderton North ward results: 

Turnout: 47.27%​

Jon Ford (Reform) 2107 (Elected)​
Darren Lyon (Con) 285​
Colin McClaren (Lab) 948​
Prem Raghvani (Lib Dem) 141​
Paul Alexander Singleton (Green) 502​

Reform gain yet another seat.

Shaw ward results:

Turnout: 47.11%​

Hamid Ali (Lab) 336​
Steve Eyre (Reform) 1555 (Elected)​
Sarah Howarth (Ind) 177​
Ben Jack Ingham (Green) 253​
Adi Kohli (Con) 53​
Lee Navesey (Ind) 175​
Tom Penketh (Lib Dem) 955​

Reform gain another seat.

Failsworth East ward results:

Turnout: 44.16%​

Barbara Ann Beeley (Lib Dem) 60​
Andrew Barry Brooks (Reform) 2050 (Elected)​
Laurraine DeMelchor (Green) 369​
Jane Dronsfield (Con) 101​
Chris Goodwin (Lab & Co-op) 474​
Neil Hindle (Failsworth Ind) 430

Reform gain another seat.

Provisional results are coming thick and fast now, meaning the remaining results are expected to come in quickfire flurries. (The end of the count is in sight)

Independent GAIN Coldhurst from Labour

Turnout - 45.92%

Mohammed Abu Taleb (Ind) - 1892

Mohammed Ali (Ind) - 133

Abdul Malik (Labour) - 1471

Tayba Nazir (Green) - 464

Keith Pendlebury (Lib Dems) - 128

Elaine Whittingham (Reform) - 473

Medlock Vale ward results:

Turnout: 40.47%​
Shona Farnworth (Lib Dem) 198​
Victor Flowers (Reform) 983​
Cameron Lee Gates (Green) 432​
Junaid Hussain (Lab & Co-op) 1283 (Elected)​
Sharoon Zaman (Oldham Group) 777​

Labour holds onto this seat.

Chadderton Central ward results: 

Turnout: 44.72%​

Katie Helen Gloster (Lib Dem) 149​
Suleman Hussain (Green) 456​
Nazrul Islam (Lab) 1215 (Elected)​
Iryna Kantorova (Con) 88​
Alexander David William Lomas (Reform) 1015​
Mohammed Razon (Ind)  892​

Labour holds onto this seat.

Medlock Vale ward results:

Turnout: 40.47%​
Shona Farnworth (Lib Dem) 198​
Victor Flowers (Reform) 983​
Cameron Lee Gates (Green) 432​
Junaid Hussain (Lab & Co-op) 1283 (Elected)​
Sharoon Zaman (Oldham Group) 777​

Labour have also clung on in Chadderton Central with their candidate Nazrul Islam by 200 votes

Dear Editor,

I'm so disgusted by petty gutter politics and name calling which have been in evidence during the run up to the local election that, for the first time in many years, I haven't voted. Like many people, I just don't feel engaged with the whole process, and unfortunately there isn't a box on the form to say that I don't trust or want any of the candidates.

I'm not interested in silly squabbles and pathetic point scoring. What I want is for the parties to pull together and act like adults for the good of the whole community. Get the roads and pavements fixed, clamp down on the fly tippers who are ruining so many places, work on providing activities for young people so they aren't causing trouble because they're bored.

As a proud Oldhamer, I'm ashamed that Oldham seems to have become a national disgrace, and is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons.

More than 1,000 people across Greater Manchester were asked to rate their trust in political institutions, with a third reporting low or no trust in their local council. Trafford, Oldham and Wigan recorded some of the highest levels of distrust, while Manchester was the only borough where high trust ratings outnumbered low ones.

That's 4 Labour seats lost so far in Oldham. One senior source described the unfolding situation as a 'total Reform wipeout', with three of the seats going to Nigel Farage's party.

In some areas like Failsworth West, the Green Party may have split the left block in half - with Green's Andrew Jones gaining 507 and longstanding Lab coun Peter Davis getting 584. This further paved the way for Reform's landslide

Reform GAIN St James' from Labour

Turnout - 39.5%

Angela Cosgrove (Labour) - 576

Roger Hindle (Lib Dems) - 158

Maqsood Hussain (Oldham Group) - 22

Amir Jhandad (Green) - 284

Tom Noble (Conservative) - 209

Gary Tarbuck (Reform) - 1938

And another result for Reform. The group have taken Failsworth West from Labour with 1,300 vote lead. The ward goes to Mark Christopher Ruthven.

The result for Failsworth West is as follows:

Bernard Akin, Conservative Party: 88

Roger Blackmore, Liberal Democrats: 95

Peter Davis, Labour Party: 584

Andrew Jones, Green Party: 507

Natalie Parren, Failsworth Independent Party: 205

Mark Ruthven, Reform UK: 1,878

Rejected/ void: 10

Turnout: 42.61%

Can't stop to chat, but clearly chuffed about his landslide victory.

Councillor Zaheer Ali says he's very pleased to have new colleague in Alexandra. "It's been a tough fight against Reform," he said. "And we knocked out (Labour) coun Shaid Mushtaq, who's held that seat for 12 years."

The Alexandra ward result is as follows:

Shabir Hussain, The Oldham Group: 1,552

Shahid Mustaq, Labour: 989

Susan Brown, Reform UK: 689

Andrea Valencia Chaverra, Green Party: 228

Martin Alexander: Lib Dem: 85

Carol Hardie, Independent: 46

Anne Taylor, Independent: 29

Rejected/ void: 14

Turnout: 45.01%

The Oldham Group Party GAIN Alexandra from Labour, which is another loss for them.

First result in; Reform gains Royton South

The first result, for Royton South ward, is as follows:

Tony Hinder, Reform UK: 1922

Kathryn Jane England, Labour Party: 645

Miranda Meadowcroft, Green Party: 368

William Hingston, Conservative Party: 267

Anthony Price, Independent: 143

Lynne Christine Thompson, Liberal democrats: 144

Rejected/ void: 10

Turnout: 44.8%

The first result is in here... Reform GAIN Royton South from Labour.

At least 15 votes cast in the Waterhead ward in Oldham will not be counted after a ballot paper printing error was discovered shortly after polls closed.

The issue involved Shaw ward candidates reportedly being printed on some Waterhead ballot papers.

It is believed that election officials identified the problem on Thursday evening after polling stations had closed.

Oldham Council confirmed an investigation is now underway to establish how many ballot papers were affected and whether the result could be impacted.

A spokesperson for Oldham Council said:

“We are aware of an issue affecting some ballot papers in the Waterhead ward.

“An investigation is underway to determine the extent.”

The authority has not yet confirmed the total number of affected ballots.

Under election rules, if the final result is close enough for the number of discounted votes to affect the outcome, a re run of the election could be required.

No further details have yet been released about how the misprint occurred or whether additional wards were affected.

Images are now appearing online of Kamran Ghafoor's vehicle on Union St in Oldham which has been smashed up this evening during the election count.

Credit: Facebook

The results are expected soon.

Earlier in the week, we published an article on 'toxic politics' in Oldham with the ‘toxic atmosphere’ and ‘divided communities’ in the build-up to the local elections; you can recap it by visiting the article.

Click Here to view the article.

The snacks have now arrived and are looking quite healthy.

Verification is currently underway, with all of the ballot boxes at The Loom.

At present, Labour is currently the largest group with 27 councillors, followed by the Liberal Democrats and the Oldham Group on nine each. The Conservatives hold six seats, Reform UK has three councillors, while the Failsworth Independent Party, Royton Independents and the Independent Group each have two. There is also one independent councillor.

20 seats are up for grabs tonight. Labour holds a minority control of the council here in Oldham, tonight they defend 11 seats, with a mixture of other parties and independents defending the other nine.

The Council haven't confirmed when the results are expected to be declared, but we expect that it will be into the early hours of the morning around 3am.

This is the first time that The Loom has been used for Elections, following the grand opening a few weeks ago.

The Polls have now closed and we're expecting the ballot boxes to arrive soon for the verifications to start for this evenings local count.

Good Evening, welcome to our live blog of the election coverage. We'll be bringing live updates throughout the night, as we get them.