| Election Name: | 2008 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Country: | England |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2007 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2007 |
| Next Election: | 2010 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Next Year: | 2010 |
| Seats For Election: | One third of seats (23 of 63) to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Majority Seats: | 32 |
| Election Date: | 1 May 2008 |
| Party1: | Barnsley Independent Group |
| Seats1: | 10 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Party2: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats2: | 8 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Party3: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats3: | 2 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Majority party | |
| Posttitle: | Majority party after election |
| Before Election: | Labour |
| After Election: | Labour |
The 2008 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in South Yorkshire, England. One third of the council, alongside an additional vacancy in Old Town was up for election. Prior to the election the defending councillor in Penistone West, having earlier defected from Conservative to the Barnsley Independent Group, fought the election as an Independent. The Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]
Before the election it had been thought that the Labour party might lose overall control of the council but they held on by only one seat.[2] [3] They lost two seats to the Barnsley Independent Group but gained one seat from the Liberal Democrats to hold on.[4] The Barnsley Independent Group also lost 1 seat to the Conservatives. Overall turnout was 34.78%.[5]
The losses for the Labour party were blamed on government policies, such as on immigration and the abolition of the 10p income tax band, by the leader of the council, Steve Houghton, who was himself re-elected for Cudworth ward.[6]
This resulted in the following composition of the council:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 33 | 32 | |||
| Barnsley Independent | 20 | 22 | |||
| Conservatives | 5 | 6 | |||
| Independent | 3 | 2 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | 2 | 1 | |||
| Total | 63 | 63 | |||
| Working majority | |||||
+/- figures represent changes from the last time these wards were contested.