One of the youngest councillors ever to be elected in the UK has won her seat just a week before she is due to take her A-level exams.
Daisy Blakemore-Creedon, 18, was elected to Peterborough City Council after beating the sitting Tory councillor Andy Coles in the Fletton & Woodston ward.
The Labour candidate said she was “overwhelmed” by the local support when she gained 940 votes to beat her opponent by 282 ballots.
Just one day after her victory, she told The Independent that she had thrown herself into her new role and had already begun to carry out her new duties – despite having to sit exams next week.
“I wasn’t expecting to win as it was quite a short campaign, so I was feeling very overwhelmed when it happened,” she said. “My priorities as a councillor are supporting the community – especially those who are the most disadvantaged.”
At only 18-and-a-half years old, the teenager said she is the youngest sitting Labour councillor and perhaps the youngest across all parties. She hopes to inspire more young people to go into politics and urges them to strive for achievement.
Her political journey began when she was just 10 years old when she would attend protests with her family.
She then went on to join the Labour Party in 2020, aged just 14.
She told The Independent: “It wasn’t until last year that I decided that this is the right time. Austerity was on the rise, we were close to having a recession, and I thought I wanted to be part of this change.”
Speaking of when she decided to run as a candidate for councillor, she added: “People were very supportive – a lot of my friends said this is so good that you’re going into politics and following your dreams.”
Ms Blakemore-Creedon’s win was one of many for the Labour Party in this week’s local elections as the Conservatives faced shocking blows.
Rishi Sunak suffered terrible losses in council elections as the Conservatives lost more than 400 councillors and control of 10 councils.
Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a third term as mayor of London, beating Conservative Susan Hall on Saturday.
Mr Khan secured just over 1,088,000 votes to be re-elected as London mayor, a majority of some 275,000 over his Conservative rival Hall, who secured just under 813,000 votes.
Labour also claimed victory in the West Midlands mayoral election, with their candidate beating Conservative Andy Street in a tight race.
The newly elected mayor, Richard Parker, secured a majority against his opponent, who has served two terms and held office since 2017.
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