| Election Name: | 2021 Newcastle City Council election |
| Country: | Tyne and Wear |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2019 Newcastle City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Next Election: | 2022 Newcastle City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
| Seats For Election: | 28 out of 78 seats to Newcastle City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 40 |
| Election Date: | 6 May 2021 |
| Leader1: | Nick Forbes |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 54 seats, 38.4% |
| Seats Before1: | 54 |
| Seats1: | 18 |
| Seats After1: | 52 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 31,471 |
| Percentage1: | 39.2% |
| Swing1: | 0.9% |
| Leader2: | Nick Cott |
| Party2: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Last Election2: | 20 seats, 23.4% |
| Seats Before2: | 20 |
| Seats2: | 6 |
| Seats After2: | 20 |
| Popular Vote2: | 15,673 |
| Percentage2: | 19.5 |
| Swing2: | 3.9% |
| Leader4: | N/A |
| Party4: | Independent politician |
| Last Election4: | 3 seats, 6.2% |
| Seats Before4: | 3 |
| Seats4: | 2 |
| Seats After4: | 3 |
| Popular Vote4: | 5,628 |
| Percentage4: | 7.0% |
| Swing4: | 0.8% |
| Leader5: | Jason Smith |
| Party5: | Newcastle Independents |
| Last Election5: | 1 seats, 5.1% |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats5: | 2 |
| Seats After5: | 3 |
| Seat Change5: | 2 |
| Popular Vote5: | 5,498 |
| Percentage5: | 6.8% |
| Swing5: | 1.7% |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Council control | |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
| Before Election: | Nick Forbes |
| Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Nick Forbes |
| After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat1: | Arthur's Hill |
| Leaders Seat2: | Fawdon & West Gosforth |
The 2021 Newcastle City Council election took place on 6 May 2021 to elect members of Newcastle City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections across the United Kingdom.[1]
One-third of the seats were up for election, with two wards (Byker and Chapel) electing two councillors in by-elections.[2]
In the previous council election in 2019, the Labour Party maintained it's control of the council, holding 54 seats after the election. There were twenty Liberal Democrat councillors, three independent councillors and one Newcastle Independent councillor.
The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Newcastle was a district of the Tyne and Wear metropolitan county.[3] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The North of Tyne Combined Authority was created in 2018 and began electing the mayor of the North of Tyne from 2019, which was given strategic powers covering a region covering some of the same area as the former Tyne and Wear metropolitan county, as well as Northumberland.[4]
Since its creation, Newcastle has variously been under Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative control. The Liberal Democrats held a majority of seats on the council from 2004 until 2011, when Labour gained enough seats to control the council. Nick Forbes became leader of the council. Labour continued to gain seats until the 2019 election, when the party lost two seats but continued to have an overall majority.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England produced new boundaries for Newcastle ahead of the 2018 election, meaning that the 2018 elections were all-out, with all councillors being elected before returning to electing by thirds. Candidates up for re-election in 2021 are those who came second in each ward in 2018.