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2023 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council election

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All 60 seats to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Nick Peel Martyn Cox Roger Hayes Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Seats before 19 26 5 Seats won 26 17 6 Seat change 7 9 1   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Horwich and Blackrod First One Kearsley Farnworth and Kearsley First Seats before 2 2 3 Seats won 6 3 2 Seat change 4 1 1
Winner of each seat at the 2023 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council election
Leader before election Martyn Cox Conservative No overall control Leader after election Nick Peel Labour Party No overall control

The 2023 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. Due to boundary changes, all 60 seats on Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council were up for election.

The council remained in no overall control following the election, however the Labour Party, with the support of Horwich and Blackrod First and One Kearsley, were able to displace the Conservative Party's minority administration and install their group leader Nick Peel as the new leader 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. Bolton was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county. 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.

In December 2022 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England made The Bolton (Electoral Changes) Order 2022, which officially abolished all 20 existing wards and established 20 new wards with new boundaries. Because of this change all 60 seats on the council, three per ward, were contested.

Pre- election composition

Electoral process

The election took place using the plurality block voting system, a form of first-past-the-post voting, with each wards being represented by three councillors. The candidate with the most votes in each ward will serve a four year term ending in 2027, the second-placed candidate will serve a three year term ending in 2026 and the third-placed candidate will serve a one year term ending in 2024.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Bolton 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.

Results

2023 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council election
Party		Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	26	7	43.3	40.4	76,906
	Conservative	17	9	16.7	32.7	62,117
	Liberal Democrats	6	1	10.0	9.8	18,636
	Reform UK & Bolton for Change	0	0		4.9	9,296
	Horwich and Blackrod First	6	4	10.0	4.8	9,182
	One Kearsley	3	1	5.0	2.0	3,814
	Green	0	0		1.8	3,388
	Farnworth and Kearsley First	2	1	3.3	1.6	3,043
	The Independent Choice	0	0		0.9	1,621
	Little Lever & Darcy Lever First	0	0		0.7	1,246
	Westhoughton First Independents	0	0		0.4	742
	Northern Heart	0	0		0.1	218
	Independent	0	0		0.0	30

Asterisks (*) denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election.

Astley Bridge

Bradshaw

Breightmet

Bromley Cross

Farnworth North

Farnworth South

Great Lever

Halliwell

Heaton Lostock and Chew Moor

Horwich North

Horwich South and Blackrod

Hulton

Kearsley

Little Lever and Darcy Lever

Queens Park and Central

Rumworth

Smithills

Tonge with the Haulgh

Westhoughton North and Hunger Hill

Westhoughton South

By-elections

Kearsley

A by-election was held on 16 November 2023 following the resignation of Paul Heslop on 2 October 2023.

Kearsley: 16 November 2023

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Farnworth and Kearsley First	Tracey Wilkinson	1,081	66.0	+42.5
	Labour	Jackie Schofield	365	22.3	+8.2
	Reform UK	Dale Gregory	121	7.4	+1.2
	Conservative	Malaika Dean	38	2.3	–6.9
	Green	Alan Johnson	18	1.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Cooper	15	0.9	–0.1
Majority			716	43.7	N/A
Turnout			1,640
	Farnworth and Kearsley First gain from One Kearsley		Swing	17.2

Westhoughton North and Hunger Hill

A by-election will be held on 16 November 2023 following the resignation of Bernadette Eckersley-Fallon on 2 October 2023.

Westhoughton North and Hunger Hill: 16 November 2023

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Deirdre McGeown	959	41.5	+11.3
	Conservative	Andrea Finney	665	28.8	–0.7
	Labour	Karen Millington	440	19.0	–1.2
	Westhoughton First Independents	Jack Speight	118	5.1	–5.3
	Reform UK	Jeff Armstrong	101	4.4	–0.7
	Green	Wendy Shepherd	28	1.2	–3.4
Majority			294	12.7
Turnout			2,315
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	6.0

References

1. Tooth, Jack (17 May 2023). "Bolton Council leader confirmed as Nick Peel at town hall". The Bolton News. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
2. "Local elections 2023: Labour replace Tories as Bolton's biggest party". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
3. Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 7. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
4. "The Greater Manchester Combined Authority Order 2011". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
5. ^ "The Bolton (Electoral Changes) Order 2022". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
6. "Statement of Persons Nominated". Bolton Council. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
7. ^ Gee, Chris (4 October 2023). "Party leader quits and two of his colleagues join Labour in turbulent week for Greater Manchester council". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 October 2023.

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• 2023 English local elections
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