He's the son of two staunch Labour voters, whilst his step-father was a trade unionist. So just how did a boy from Bardsley come to win Ashton Hurst for the Conservatives?

Just a few weeks ago, Dan Costello was elected as a councillor, beating former Mayor and Labour councillor Leigh Drennan by 154 votes. 

His win was one of the only seats in Tameside to change hands between the parties, in a seat that has traditionally been hotly contested.

A delighted Dan joined us at the Reporter offices to talk about his election success and becoming a councillor.

Whilst Labour suffered large losses across the country, it wasn’t a picture that was repeated in Tameside - although the Tory share of the vote did increase.

Andy Burnham was also re-elected for a second term as Mayor of Greater Manchester and in Tameside Labour lost only the one seat to the Conservatives.

Although there wasn’t quite the hoped for breakthrough locally, Dan says that the  Conservative Party made plenty of strides in the 2021 local elections.

“There’s a lot of narrative about Labour bucking the trend in Tameside and they did only lose one seat, but we increased our vote share by 10 per cent compared to 2019,” he said.

“Whilst we only won in Hurst, we had a really good result in Audenshaw where we lost by 82, Hyde Godley we only lost by 52 and Dukinfield/Stalybridge we only lost by 13 votes so I think Labour held on if I’m honest rather than bucking the trend.”

It was an election unlike any other, with limited campaigning due to Covid and a temporary pause for the death of The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip.

Dan says that it meant it was more difficult to find out what issues were affecting local people.

“The difficulty then was we weren’t able to get on the doorstep and talk to people. We weren’t able to get people together for community things like a litter pick. Direct campaigning was more difficult.

“We were still able to do some things in the town though, like the market petition and our fight to try and get the market traders some support from the council. 

“There were bigger things we were able to do, but the nitty-gritty of campaigning - on the doorstep having a chat to people - that’s the bit I really enjoy.”

FLASHBACK: The front page of the Tameside Reporter on 13 May. 

Protest

Dan was raised in a house of Labour voters, and jokes that his conservatism could’ve been a teenage protest. He explained to us his values and what brought him to where he is today.

“I always had an interest in politics. I always joke that what got me into the Conservative party was a teenage protest because my parents are very strong Labour voters and my step-dad was historically a trade union member, so I always joke that it was a protest.

“At the 2005 general election, I would’ve been 15 then, was the first time that I started to engage with it and start to read about what the different parties stand for, what are the different ideologies that are at play, what do I agree with. 

“That’s when I was drawn to conservatism as a philosophy really. I believe in this idea that we have equality of opportunity but not equality of outcome, I believe in personal freedoms, having a small state and keeping more of their money to make decisions for themselves. All of that traditional, small-c conservative stuff. That’s really where it started and I guess it snowballed from there.”

Despite being politically active at university, he wasn’t affiliated to any party and only got involved with the local Conservative party after their candidate for the 2019 elections knocked on his door whilst canvassing. The chance meeting put him in touch with the party before he finally joined ahead of the 2020 locals.

Due to the calling of a snap election in 2019, his first experience as a candidate was standing against the now-Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, for the Ashton-under-Lyne seat.

It’s a fight that he admitted he was ‘unlikely’ to win but he enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

He said: “I would like to be an MP in time, but I would like to be Ashton’s MP. That might be unlikely given the political colours that I wear but I’m about improving the local area. 

“I don’t see myself as a career politician particularly. I stood in the generals and we got the best result in 50 years around here, I think largely as a result of Brexit - that was the biggest issue that was coming up on the doorstep then and a general mistrust of the Corbynite mentality and that very hard, socialist agenda. It was a really good result, but Angela did pip us to it.”

Former councillor John Bell congratulated @Tameside_Tories Dan Costello on his win. pic.twitter.com/SaNe3NRblh

— Tameside Reporter (@newsintameside) May 7, 2021

Ashton Hurst has often been a battleground between the Labour and Conservative parties, with the seat changing colours a handful of times during previous elections. Dan believes his success this year was a blend between the picture nationally and his party’s local campaigning.

“There was great support from my team but also great support from Laura Evans and her team, campaigning for the GM Mayor. She spent a lot of time in Tameside and a couple of days in Hurst as well, so it was good to get her face on the doorstep and have some of those conversations about the wider Greater Manchester, not just Hurst or Tameside.

“I think people look at the Government nationally and the way we have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic, particularly the vaccine roll-out, which is an undeniable success and world leading, so that always helps. 

“I think what we do locally has helped as well. If I look at the market petition, all the things that we’ve raised around what we see as Labour’s failures around Tameside over the last four decades or so, I think those messages are starting to get through, so I think it’s a blend of both to be honest.”

In the vote for Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham won every single ward in Greater Manchester, but in the council elections, results were more divided. Dan says this reveals that voters are differentiating between national issues and those that happen locally.

“In places like Hurst, where the Conservatives won, the local message seems to have been different to the wider message and 154 people more voted for me, and I won, but Andy Burnham still won in the mayorals. People on some level differentiated between those two elections. 

“Similarly in other places where we won by many more votes, in Stalybridge South for example and other wards around Greater Manchester where we won by well over 1,000, Andy Burnham still won in the Mayorals, so people are still able to see their local Conservative teams.”

Focus

Dan outlined his first focus as tackling speeding drivers through the Hartshead Estate. He wants to bring residents, police and the council together to agree on measures that will slow drivers down through the state.

“I’ve never pretended to have all the answers, but I’ve made a very clear commitment that it’s going to be high on my agenda to deal with. We have to have the right conversations and get the people involved who know what they’re doing,” he said. 

“Start those conversations with our police team, start them with the relevant council departments and get the residents involved. 

“There is no point in the council and the police designing something that the residents aren’t happy with so it needs to be a collective effort but I’m keen we do something about it because everyone is very worried about it.”

Dan has already been sworn in as a councillor and has begun taking on case work. You can contact him with issues via email at dan.costello@tameside.gov.uk, on Facebook as Councillor Dan Costello and on Twitter @CllrDanCostello. 

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