Labour has taken control of Bury Town Hall — by drawing straws — in arguably the most dramatic local elections in the borough’s history.

Labour needed to win six seats to seize outright control of the council from the Conservatives and, by 4am last Friday, they had won five, with one result to come for the Ramsbottom ward.

That was only the start of the nail-biting and high tension as two recounts failed to determine a winner and returning officer Mike Kelly sent the counters home at 5am for some sleep. He ordered a third and final recount to take place later that day at 1pm back at Castle Leisure Centre.

Around 1.45pm, nearly 15 hours after the Bury count had begun, it was revealed there was a tie between Labour candidate Joanne Columbine and Tory rival Robert Hodkinson — 1,822 votes each — and Mike Kelly resorted to dusting off the rule book.

It revealed that, under election law, a dead heat had to be decided by a game of chance, like tossing a coin or drawing names from a hat.

In the end, the method of drawing straws from a box was to determine the winner.

Mrs Columbine drew the long straw and won, which not only meant Labour had wrestled the seat from the Tories, but they had snatched an overall majority on the council.

Labour has 26 councillors, the Tories 20 and the Lib Dems five. Afterwards, Mrs Columbine said: “It feels unreal.

“I don’t think in my wildest dreams that, if I did win, it would come down to straws.

“I thought myself originally as the plucky outsider and I’d hoped not to embarrass myself with the result. To win is absolutely amazing.”

Labour leader Cllr Connolly said: “That is one of the best experiences I’ve ever been through in 40 years of politics and one of the worst.

“I spoke to both candidates involved in the drawing of the straws and said that, after months of campaigning and with them both new to politics, it was going to be awful tension for them.”

Labour’s Bury South MP Ivan Lewis said: “This has exceeded all our expectations and the people of Bury have sent a clear message to the Government that they cannot carry on their business as usual. There have been too many cuts.”

Before the election, the Tories were in control of Bury Council, with 23 seats to Labour’s 20 and the Lib Dems’ eight.

The Lib Dems fared badly, losing all three of their councillors sitting in the Prestwich wards.

Long-serving representative, Cllr Wilf Davidson, was ousted from Holyrood ward by Labour’s Gill Campbell.

There was further agony for the Lib Dems in St Mary’s ward when Cllr Richard Baum was defeated by Labour’s Noel Bayley by 573 votes.

The Lib Dems were also trounced in Sedgley ward. Cllr Steve Wright got 843 votes while Labour challenger Alan James got 2,317.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr Tim Pickstone, reflected: “This is not the best set of election results for us and the results reflect a similar situation across the region.

“Prestwich has lost three outstanding councillors, who have been excellent representatives for their areas. I am confident the team can bounce back in the future.”

Labour also ousted the Tories from Radcliffe North ward, with Cllr Stuart Penketh defeated by Peter Bury. They also took control of Elton ward, with Richard Frith defeating Alan Creswell.

Council leader, Tory Cllr Bob Bibby, said: “I was devastated. I thought the outcome of the election didn’t reflect the achievements of my administration.”