Election Name: | 2021 Manchester City Council election |
Country: | Manchester |
Type: | parliamentary |
Ongoing: | no |
Party Colour: | Labour Party (UK) |
Previous Election: | 2019 Manchester City Council Elections |
Previous Year: | 2019 |
Next Election: | 2022 Manchester City Council Elections |
Next Year: | 2022 |
Seats For Election: | 32 of 96 seats (One Third) to Manchester City Council |
Majority Seats: | 49 |
Election Date: | 6 May 2021 |
Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
Last Election1: | 31 |
Seats1: | 31 |
Party2: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
Last Election2: | 1 |
Seats2: | 0 |
Seat Change2: | 1 |
Party3: | Green Party of England and Wales |
Last Election3: | 0 |
Seats3: | 1 |
Seat Change3: | 1 |
Leader of Largest Party | |
Posttitle: | Leader of Largest Party after election |
Before Election: | Richard Leese |
Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
After Election: | Richard Leese |
After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
Elections to Manchester City Council were held on 6 May 2021, as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections. They were originally scheduled for 2020 but were suspended for a year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019 Labour had retained its majority on the council, with 93 seats, with the Liberal Democrats led by former MP John Leech increasing the number of opposition councillors to three, but this had fallen back to two in March 2021 when Councillor Greg Stanton defected to the Labour Party.[1]
The following councillors, last elected in 2018, did not stand for re-election:
One councillor from 2018 to 2021, Labour's Emma Taylor, had previously been elected in Ancoats and Beswick and stood this time in a different ward, Sharston.
Two by-elections were outstanding and were held alongside the scheduled elections of 2021: one for the seat of councillor Sue Murphy (Labour, Brooklands, elected 2019), who had died in April 2020,[4] and the other for that of Ken Dobson (Independent, Clayton and Openshaw, elected at a by-election in February 2020), who had resigned from the council in October 2020.[5]
Summary change in vote share compared to the 2019 election. Change in number of seats compared to the composition of the council immediately before the election. Where multiple seats were contested in the same ward due to vacancies the results have been normalised.
After the 2019 election, the composition of the council was:
93 | 3 | |
Labour | LD |
Immediately prior to the election, the composition of the council was:
92 | 2 | 2 | |
Labour | LD |
After the election, the composition of the council is:
94 | 1 | 1 | |
Labour | LD | GP |
Asterisks denote incumbent Councillors seeking re-election. Councillors seeking re-election were elected in 2018, and results are compared to that year's polls on that basis.[6]
On 14 October 2021 councillor Matt Strong resigned from his seat in Chorlton, prompting a by-election that was held on 18 November 2021.[7]
Changes in the table below are relative to the 2019 election.
On 30 November 2021 councillor Marcia Hutchinson resigned from her seat in Ancoats & Beswick, citing allegations of bullying and racism within the Labour group.[8] A by-election was held on 3 February 2022, which was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Alan Good.[9]