Council Leader Terry Fox has given his thoughts on today’s elections results, which saw Labour comfortably remain the largest party on 39 seats:

“This set of elections are a turning point for Labour.

“If the results had been the same as last year, we would have lost many seats – including East Ecclesfield, Walkley and Stocksbridge and Upper Don. Instead we had a complete reversal in these seats – retaining all three.

“We are listening to what residents are telling us and delivering. We know that there is a great deal more to do to support our city and its residents and we’re committed to getting this right.

“We campaigned on a strong message of listening to local voices, delivering clean economic growth, and of helping people through the cost-of-living crisis – which the other parties barely mentioned.

“There are many positives to take forward – we consolidated on last year’s gain of Crookes and Crosspool from the Liberal Democrats, and increased our overall vote share across the city.

“We also fought back against the green surge that some predicted. We held Walkley and sensationally took Nether Edge and Sharrow, overturning a majority of nearly a thousand.

“However we can’t shy away from some disappointments. It is a great shame to lose Josie Paszek – who has served Hillsborough heroically for the last eight years. And in Beighton Julie Gledhill, for the second year in a row, fell less than hundred votes short.

“But overall this gives us a strong platform to build on”