Council seat recount bid succeeds

7.30.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 7th Jun 2006

An election which gave Birmingham its first British National Party (BNP) councillor is to be recounted. Sharon Ebanks was declared winner of one of the seats in Kingstanding ward in May but it was later realised many of her votes had been double counted.

The votes declared for the BNP were far more than could have been validly cast on the number of ballot papers issued. A High Court judged ordered that a scrutiny and recount of the votes should take place in London on 3 July.

Sharon Ebanks polled 2,310 votes, with Labour's Zoe Hopkins and Catherine Grundy achieving 2,088 and 1,973 respectively. The result ought to have been 1,329 votes for Ms Ebanks, giving Ms Grundy the seat for Labour.

A High Court petition from the Labour Party was served on Ms Ebanks and the city council's returning officer, Stephen Hughes. Ms Grundy's counsel, Gavin Millar QC, told Mr Justice Keith that it was important that the matter was resolved quickly. He said: "The basis upon which she brings her claim is very straightforward. She wants a recount because the count was wrong and she has been told that by the returning officer."

A letter sent on behalf of Ms Ebanks, who did not attend and was not represented, had asked for the result to be "stayed".