Karl Marx wins Stockport seat for Labour

Councillor Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw has been chosen to represent the area of Brinnington and Stockport Central in landslide victory

A councillor called Karl Marx has been elected for the Labour Party in Stockport.
The politician, whose full name is Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw, has been chosen to represent the area of Brinnington and Stockport Central overnight in the local elections.
Cllr Wardlaw, who appears to share at least some of his name with the philosopher and architect of communism, won a landslide victory with 1,069 votes, 61 per cent of the vote share.
He is among the dozens of successful Labour local candidates overnight across the country, though Stockport council remained in no overall control – with the Liberal Democrats securing the most seats.
Cllr Wardlaw has seen greater success as a Labour candidate, than with his former party, the Green Party.
In 2019, Cllr Wardlaw ran as a councillor for the Green Party and came second to the then-Labour candidate Kerry Waters with just 13 per cent of the vote share.
He has been photographed campaigning with local MP, Navendu Mishra, both for his own re-election and that of Andy Burnham, who is seeking re-election as mayor of Greater Manchester.
Cllr Wardlaw said that he had “reported lots of fly-tipping, potholes and represented residents over a number of other issues” after becoming councillor in May last year.
Overall in Stockport, Labour lost two seats and the Liberal Democrats gained two, while there was no change in the number of independent and Green councillors.
Cllr Wardlaw is a member of the Unite trade union as well as a councillor in the Stockport area, according to his register of interests.
His election comes amid a poor night of results for the Conservative Party, which polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice predicted could see the Tories lose 500 seats.
Labour also won the parliamentary by-election in Blackpool South, which Sir Keir Starmer called a “seismic” victory for the party.