See main article: Burnley Borough Council elections.
The 2019 Burnley Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Burnley Borough Council in England.[1] This election was held on the same day as other local elections. One third of the council was up for election, and each successful candidate will serve a four-year term of office, expiring in 2023. These seats were last contested in 2015.
In 2017, four members of the local Liberal Democrats (including Charlie Briggs and Mark Payne) left the party over its stance on Brexit, to form the Burnley and Padiham Independent Party.[2] However in early 2019 Christine White (elected in 2016) stepped down following a complaint from a resident, prompting a by-election in the Rosehill with Burnley Wood ward which was won by Peter McCann of the Liberal Democrats.[3] After the 2018 election, Bill and Margaret Brindle (both Coalclough with Deerplay ward) who had been sitting on the council as independents after also splitting with the local Lib Dems, joined the Labour group.[4]
Following the election Labour lost control of the council and a coalition of all the other parties formed a new executive with Charlie Briggs returning to the role of Council leader to replace Mark Townsend.[5]
After the election, the composition of the council was:
| Party | Seats | ± | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 5 | |||
| 8 | 2 | |||
| 5 | 2 | |||
| 4 | 1 | |||
| 3 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 1 | |||
| 1 | - | |||
| Source: The Guardian[6] | ||||
Overall result compared with 2018. [1]