| Election Name: | 2007 Sunderland City Council election |
| Country: | England |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2006 Sunderland City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2006 |
| Election Date: | 3 May 2007 |
| Next Election: | 2008 Sunderland City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2008 |
| Seats For Election: | One third of 75 seats on Sunderland City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 38 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats Before1: | 58 |
| Seats1: | 17 |
| Seats After1: | 54 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Majority party | |
| Before Election: | Labour |
| Posttitle: | Majority party after election |
| After Election: | Labour |
| Party3: | Independent (politician) |
| Seats Before3: | 3 |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seats After3: | 4 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats Before2: | 13 |
| Seats2: | 7 |
| Seats After2: | 16 |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Party4: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 0 |
| Seats After4: | 1 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
The 2007 Sunderland Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.[1] [2]
Before the election the council had 57 Labour, 13 Conservative, 4 independent and 1 Liberal Democrat councillors. In the period since the previous local elections in May 2006, three councillors had left their parties to sit as Independents: Peter Maddison leaving the Liberal Democrat Group in July 2006, and Bryn Sidaway (Hendon) and George Blyth (Doxford) leaving the Labour Group in November 2006.[3] Blyth's ward colleague Mike Tansey had previously left the Labour Group to sit as an Independent in November 2005, and stood for re-election as an Independent candidate in this election.[4]
25 seats were contested in the 2007 elections with a total of 111 candidates standing.[5] These included a full 25 each from the Labour, Conservative and British National Party, as well as 16 independents, 15 Liberal Democrats, 2 Respect, 2 British First Party and 1 from the United Kingdom Independence Party.
As at the 2006 election this election saw Sunderland have three polling stations open for 10 days before election day in an attempt to make voting more convenient for voters.[6]
The results had Labour stay in control of the council but with a smaller majority.[7] The Conservatives gained 3 seats from Labour in St Chads, Washington East and Washington South to hold 16 seats compared to 54 for Labour.[8] The 2 Conservative gains in Washington were the first time the party had won seats in the town since it became part of Sunderland council.[9] Labour also lost one seat to an independent in Copt Hill, but regained another in Doxford where the sitting independent councillor, Mike Tansey, had originally been elected for the Labour Party.[7] This meant there remained 4 Independents on the council, as well as 1 Liberal Democrat who was not defending a seat in the election.[8] Overall turnout in the election was 34%, up on 32% at the 2006 election.[9]
This resulted in the following composition of the Council:
| Party | Previous Council | New Council | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 58 | 54 | ||
| Conservatives | 13 | 16 | ||
| Independent | 3 | 4 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 75 | 75 | ||
| Working majority | ||||
†Mike Tansey had been elected in 2004 as a Labour candidate, but subsequently left the party to sit as an Independent councillor. The result was technically a hold for Labour although Tansey, the incumbent, lost his seat.