| Election Name: | 2003 Manchester City Council election |
| Country: | England |
| Flag Image: | Arms of the City of Manchester.svg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2002 Manchester City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2002 |
| Next Election: | 2004 Manchester City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2004 |
| Seats For Election: | 34 of 99 seats to Manchester City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 50 |
| 3Blank: | Swing (pp)--> |
| Leader of the Council | |
| Before Election: | Richard Leese |
| Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Posttitle: | Leader of the Council after election |
| After Election: | Richard Leese |
| After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats Before1: | 76 |
| Seats1: | 21 |
| Seats After1: | 71 |
| Popular Vote1: | 31,296 |
| Percentage1: | 44.8% |
| Party2: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Seats Before2: | 22 |
| Seats2: | 12 |
| Seats After2: | 27 |
| Popular Vote2: | 25,261 |
| Percentage2: | 36.2% |
| Party3: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Seats Before3: | 0 |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seats After3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 4,528 |
| Percentage3: | 6.5% |
Elections to Manchester City Council were held on Thursday, 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election as well as a vacancy in Benchill, with each successful candidate to serve a one-year term of office, expiring in 2004, due to the boundary changes and 'all-out' elections due to take place in that year. Turnout was down slightly to 22.2%, with Labour retaining overall control of the council. The election saw the Greens winning their first seat, and half a dozen Liberal Democrat gains resulting in Labour's majority being the lowest in twenty years. The three Independent Labour candidates stood as "Independent Progressive Labour".[1] [2]
| Party | Votes | Seats | Full Council | |||||||
| Labour Party | 31,296 (44.8%) | 6.6 | 21 (61.7%) | 5 | 77 (71.7%) | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | 25,261 (36.2%) | 5.5 | 12 (35.3%) | 5 | 27 (27.3%) | |||||
| Green Party | 4,528 (6.5%) | 0.4 | 1 (2.9%) | 1 | 1 (1.0%) | |||||
| Conservative Party | 6,951 (10.0%) | 0.9 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||||||
| Independent Labour | 781 (1.1%) | 0.3 | 0 (0.0%) | 1 | 0 (0.0%) | |||||
| Socialist Alliance | 840 (1.0%) | 0.2 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||||||
| BNP | 219 (0.3%) | N/A | 0 (0.0%) | N/A | 0 (0.0%) | |||||
| Independent | 66 (0.1%) | 0.5 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||||||
| Independent Liberal | 16 (0.0%) | N/A | 0 (0.0%) | N/A | 0 (0.0%) | |||||
| 1 | 71 | 27 |