2023 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election

2023 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election

4 May 2023
17 of 51 seats on Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	34.51% ( 3.0%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tim Swift Steven Leigh James Baker Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Town Ryburn Warley Seats before 28 15 6 Seats won 10, 58.8% 4, 23.5% 2, 11.8% Seats after 28 15 6 Seat change Popular vote 22,904 15,208 6,570 Percentage 44.1% 29.3% 12.6% Swing -1.1% -3.4% +0.8%   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Green Independent Seats before 1 1 Seats won 2, 11.8% 0 Seats after 2 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 6,291 288 Percentage 12.1% 0.6%
Results by ward
Leader before election Tim Swift Labour Leader after election Tim Swift Labour

Elections to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other elections in the United Kingdom. Labour retained its majority on 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. Calderdale was a district of the West Yorkshire metropolitan county. The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority was established in 2014 and began electing the mayor of West Yorkshire in 2021.

Calderdale Council was under no overall control with Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour leaders until the Labour Party achieved a majority of seats in the 2019 election, when they gained four seats to hold 28 of the council's 51 seats. In the most recent election in 2022, seventeen seats were up for election. Labour won eleven seats, the Conservatives won 4 seats, and the Liberal Democrats and Greens both won one seat.

Positions up for election in 2023 were last elected in 2019. In that election, Labour won ten seats, the Conservatives won four, the Liberal Democrats won two and independent candidates won one seat. Labour retained its majority on the council at this election.

Electoral process

The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election for three consecutive years and no election in the fourth year. The election used first-past-the-post voting, with wards generally being represented by three councillors, with one elected in each election year to serve a four-year term.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Calderdale aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are 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 results

Party		Councillors				Votes
			Of total	Net			Of total	Net
	Labour	10	58.8%	0	10 / 17	22,904	44.1%	-1.1%
	Conservative	4	23.5%	0	4 / 17	15,208	29.3%	-3.4%
	Liberal Democrats	2	11.8%	0	2 / 17	6,570	12.6%	+0.8%
	Green	1	5.9%	+1	1 / 17	6,291	12.1%	+3.0%
	Freedom Alliance	0	0.0%	0	0 / 17	366	0.7%	+0.5%
	Independent	0	0.0%	-1	0 / 17	288	0.6%	+0.4%

Council Composition

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

↓

28	15	6	1	1
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	G	I

After the election the composition of the council was:

↓

28	15	6	2
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	G

Party		Previous council	New council
	Labour	28	28
	Conservative	15	15
	Liberal Democrats	6	6
	Green	1	2
	Independent	1	0
Total		51	51

Results

Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk. The results were:

Brighouse

Brighouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brenda Monteith*	1,320	43.9	−11.8
	Labour	Frank Darnley	1180	39.2	+19.9
	Green	Kim Atkinson	251	8.3	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Cockroft	192	6.4	N/A
	Freedom Alliance	Gabriella Paterson	57	1.9	N/A
Majority			140	4.7
Rejected ballots			7	0.23
Turnout			3007	36.43
Registered electors			8,254
	Conservative hold		Swing

Calder

Calder

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Israr Ahmed	2,615	58.8	+4.8
	Green	Alan McDonald	617	13.9	−2.3
	Conservative	Joseph Matthews	555	12.5	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Diana Harris	509	11.4	−3.2
	Independent	Helen Lasham	110	2.5	N/A
Majority			1998	44.9
Rejected ballots			42	0.94
Turnout			4448	48.31
Registered electors			9,207
	Labour hold		Swing

Elland

Elland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Veitch	1,300	47.3	+10.2
	Conservative	Vanessa Lee	781	28.4	−4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Phillips	371	13.5	−3.0
	Green	Barry Crossland	228	8.3	−3.5
	Freedom Alliance	Matthew Leadbeater	60	2.2	N/A
Majority			519	18.9
Rejected ballots			10	0.36
Turnout			2750	31.2
Registered electors			8,815
	Labour hold		Swing

Greetland and Stainland

Greetland and Stainland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sue Holdsworth*	1,240	42.3	−6.9
	Conservative	Alex Greenwood	1077	36.7	+9.5
	Labour	Adrian Horton	422	14.4	+1.7
	Green	Jacquelyn Haigh	183	6.2	−2.9
Majority			163	5.6
Rejected ballots			12	0.41
Turnout			2934	34.7
Registered electors			8,464
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Hipperholme and Lightcliffe

Hipperholme and Lightcliffe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Kirton*	1,661	52.1	−2.1
	Labour	Sam Ackroyd	1,031	32.3	+10.5
	Green	Elaine Hey	353	11.1	−3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Jennie Rigg	128	4.0	−3.7
Majority			630	19.8
Rejected ballots			16	0.5
Turnout			3189	35.1
Registered electors			9,079
	Conservative hold		Swing

Illingworth and Mixenden

Illingworth and Mixenden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Steph Clarke*	1,252	54.6	+14.3
	Conservative	Colonel Padgett	683	29.8	−3.6
	Green	Laura Beesley	132	5.8	−1.3
	Independent	Seán Loftus	118	5.1	−7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alexander Parsons-Hulse	96	4.2	−0.7
Majority			569	24.8
Rejected ballots			13	0.57
Turnout			2294	24.9
Registered electors			9,202
	Labour hold		Swing

Luddendenfoot

Luddendenfoot

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Katie Kimber	1,900	56.3	+11.5
	Conservative	Jill Smith-Moorhouse	820	24.3	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Bampton-Smith	355	10.5	−5.3
	Green	Kate Sweeny	271	8.0	−2.6
Majority			1080	32.0
Rejected ballots			31	0.92
Turnout			3377	42.2
Registered electors			7,995
	Labour hold		Swing

Northowram and Shelf

Northowram and Shelf

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Daniel Wood	2,244	63.0	+52.7
	Conservative	Stephen Baines	1004	28.2	−28.3
	Labour	Khuram Majid	253	7.1	−10.6
	Liberal Democrats	Philip White	54	1.5	−2.2
Majority			1240	34.8
Rejected ballots			7	0.2
Turnout			3562	39.2
Registered electors			9,081
	Green gain from Independent		Swing	+13

Ovenden

Ovenden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stuart Cairney*	1,029	56.9	+13.2
	Conservative	Christopher Matejak	417	23.1	+3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Sean Bamforth	224	12.4	−1.2
	Green	Finn Jensen	126	7.0	−1.4
Majority			612	33.9
Rejected ballots			11	0.61
Turnout			1807	21.45
Registered electors			8,423
	Labour hold		Swing

Park

Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rahat Khan	1,768	57.2	−29.5
	Conservative	Shakir Saghir	568	18.4	+11.8
	Liberal Democrats	Abdul Rehman	545	17.6	+15.4
	Green	Catherine Graham	130	4.2	+0.3
	Independent	Craig Withers	60	1.9
Majority			1200	38.8
Rejected ballots			18	0.58
Turnout			3089	32.6
Registered electors			9,465
	Labour hold		Swing

Rastrick

Rastrick

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Pillai	1,289	43.8	−6.1
	Labour Co-op	Alan Judge	1180	40.1	+12.2
	Green	Matthew Lawson	204	6.9	−4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Francesca Carr	153	5.2	−3.6
	Freedom Alliance	Corinne Henderson	94	3.2	N/A
Majority			109	3.7
Rejected ballots			23	0.78
Turnout			2943	35.51
Registered electors			8,288
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ryburn

Ryburn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Felicity Issott*	1,463	46.0	+17.9
	Labour	David Wager	1101	34.6	+23.5
	Green	Freda Davis	277	8.7	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Samuel Jackson	250	7.9	+4.0
	Freedom Alliance	Michael Ogden	83	2.6	N/A
Majority			362	11.4
Rejected ballots			6	0.19
Turnout			3180	35.8
Registered electors			8,878
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skircoat

Skircoat

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Mike Barnes*	2,285	61.1	+19.1
	Conservative	Peter Hunt	1049	28.1	−2.5
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen Haigh-Hutchinson	200	5.3	−0.5
	Green	Mark Mullany	188	5.0	−0.6
Majority			1236	33.1
Rejected ballots			17	0.45
Turnout			3739	38.99
Registered electors			9,589
	Labour hold		Swing

Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Simon Ashton	1,468	51.0	+10.3
	Conservative	Mark Edwards	852	29.6	−7.6
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Stringfellow	293	10.2	+1.0
	Green	David Booth	244	8.5	−2.6
Majority			616	21.4
Rejected ballots			24	0.83
Turnout			2881	32.89
Registered electors			8,760
	Labour hold		Swing

Todmorden

Todmorden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Silvia Dacre*	1,791	57.6	+12.4
	Conservative	Mark Holmes	530	17.0	+4.9
	Green	Kieran Turner	472	15.2	+2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Wadsworth	271	8.7	−15.1
Majority			1261	40.5
Rejected ballots			48	1.54
Turnout			3112	34.9
Registered electors			8,906
	Labour hold		Swing

Town

Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Tim Swift*	1,116	48.0	+4.1
	Conservative	Anne-Marie Miles	796	34.2	+5.8
	Green	Elliot Hey	250	10.7	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Rosemary Tatchell	151	6.5	+1.6
Majority			320	13.8
Rejected ballots			14	0.6
Turnout			2327	25.9
Registered electors			9,001
	Labour hold		Swing

Warley

Warley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Abigail Carr	1,538	46.6	−6.4
	Labour	Ash Ashfaq	1213	36.8	+5.8
	Conservative	Vishal Gupta	343	10.4	−0.4
	Green	Katie Witham	121	3.7	−0.3
	Freedom Alliance	Martin Davies	72	2.2	N/A
Majority			325	9.9
Rejected ballots			12	0.36
Turnout			3299	36.2
Registered electors			9,105
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing