Sarah Norman, Barnsley Council Chief Executive and Returning Officer for the Barnsley Council local government elections 2022, said: “At the Barnsley Council local government elections count on 5 May 2022, we failed to count a box of postal votes for the Royston Ward.

“The postal votes have now been counted, and the figures have been recalculated. The result has not changed. Dave Webster from the Labour Party is elected for the Royston Ward.

“This discrepancy in the number of votes and the declaration of incorrect figures is not acceptable.

“We’re very sorry that this has happened. We invited the candidates and their agents to the Metrodome this afternoon to explain the situation and express our sincere apologies for any distress that this has caused.

The final figures for the Royston Ward are:

Number of registered electors: 8,724

Total number of ballot papers received: 2,062

Turnout: 23.64%

Spoilt ballots: 24

• Neil Fisher, Independent: 458 (difference 212)
• Jonathan Paul Hood, Liberal Democrats: 132 (difference 79)
• Macaulay Larkin, The Conservative Party Candidate: 363 (difference 196)
• Dave Webster, Labour Party: 1,085 (difference 551)

“We’re making all paperwork and data available to the Electoral Commission and to candidates and agents to inspect. There are clear lessons to be learnt from this, and we’ll make sure we implement these in future election counts.”

You can view all of the local election results for Barnsley on our website.