Rubbish Party candidate wins seat in local election in UK

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : May 05 2017 | 8:57 PM IST
A candidate from the so-called Rubbish Party, set up on a platform to clean up litter from the streets, won a council seat today in the local elections in the UK.
Sally Cogley has taken the seat in Scotland's Irvine Valley in East Ayrshire, for her party to clamp down on litter, dog fouling, fly-tipping and pollution.
As part of her campaign, Cogley has been organising clean-up events in the local area on the slogan: "Vote Sally for a better Valley."
"Sally aims to make the Irvine Valley a better place to work, live and visit. She is totally committed to the Valley," says the party's website.
She has won one seat in Scotland, putting them exactly the same number of wins as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the last night's local election.
Cogley, who formed the party earlier this year to campaign on cleaning up the area, was selected to the Irvine Valley ward along with the SNP's Elena Whitham and Labour's George Mair.
Her leaflets read: "I am fed up with being expected to accommodate this RUBBISH so I have founded THE RUBBISH PARTY."
Cogley received 784 first preference votes in the ward, more than the mainstream Labour candidate.
The local elections were widely seen as a sign of things to come in the snap general election on June 8, announced by the British Prime Minister Theresa May last month.
The Tories gained over the Opposition Labour party in many of the council seats and confirmed pre-poll forecasts of a Labour battering, largely blamed on the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
The Liberal Democrat results have been mixed, with some gains and some losses.
Butthe biggest losers have been the far-right UKIP, which is set to be completely annihilated after losing every local seat it had under its control.
A total of 4,851 council seats were up for grabs in 88 councils - all of those in Scotland and Wales and 34 in England - five weeks before the general election.
At latest count across the 23 English and Welsh counties that had fully declared results, the Tories had control of 10 authorities and 561 seats, a net gain of 155, while Labour had control of five authorities and 404 seats, a net loss of 125.
The Tories are on course to gain massive ground from the UKIP and Labour.
Many of the councils are yet to begin counting and the complete results are not expected before Saturday.

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First Published: May 05 2017 | 8:57 PM IST

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