2023 Bury Council election

4 May 2023
17 out of 51 seats of Bury Metropolitan Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	34.3%
First party Second party   Leader Eamonn O'Brien Russell Bernstein Party Labour Conservative Leader's seat St Mary’s Pilkington Park Last election 29 seats, 44.6% 12 seats, 34.4% Seats before 28 12 Seats won 11 4 Seats after 31 11 Seat change 3 1   Third party Fourth party   Leader Mike Smith Cristina Tegolo Party Radcliffe First Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Radcliffe West Holyrood Last election 8 seats, 7.7% 1 seat, 6.9% Seats before 8 1 Seats won 2 0 Seats after 8 0 Seat change 0 1
The winner of each seat by party in the 2023 Bury Metropolitan Council Election
Leader before election Eamonn O'Brien Labour Leader after election Eamonn O'Brien Labour

The 2023 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. One third of seats (17) on Bury Metropolitan Borough Council were contested. Labour retained its control of the council.

Background

The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Bury was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county.^[1] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created in 2011 and began electing the mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.^[2]

Since its formation, Bury has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control. Councillors have predominantly been elected from the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, with some Liberal Democrat and independent councillors also serving. The council has had an overall Labour majority since the 2011 election.

In the previous election in 2022, where all 51 seats were up for election due to boundary changes, Labour won 29 seats, the Conservatives won 12 seats, Radcliffe First won eight seats, and the Liberal Democrats and an independent won one seat each.^[3]

Labour retained control of the council at this election.^[4][5]

Electoral process

The council generally elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.^[6][7] The election was conducted using the first-past-the-post voting system, with each ward electing one councillor.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Bury aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who lived at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.

Council composition

Results

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council[8]
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	11	+3	64.7	20	31	60.8	22,299	46.3
	Conservative	4	-1	23.5	7	11	21.6	14,077	29.2
	Radcliffe First	2	0	11.8	6	8	15.7	3,773	7.8
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0	3,193	6.6
	Liberal Democrats	0	-1	0	0	0	0	2,627	5.5
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,826	3.8
	English Democrat	0	0	0	0	0	0	241	0.5
	Reform UK	0	0	0	0	0	0	105	0.2
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0	0	37	0.1

Asterisks denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election.

References