| Election Name: | 2021 Suffolk County Council election |
| Country: | England |
| Flag Image: | County Flag of Suffolk.svg |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2017 Suffolk County Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2017 |
| Next Election: | 2025 Suffolk County Council election |
| Next Year: | 2025 |
| Seats For Election: | All 75 seats to Suffolk County Council |
| Majority Seats: | 38 |
| Election Date: | 6 May 2021 |
| Leader1: | Matthew Hicks |
| Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Leader Since1: | 11 May 2018 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Thredling |
| Last Election1: | 52 seats, 46.3% |
| Seats Before1: | 48 |
| Seats1: | 55 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 124,969 |
| Percentage1: | 47.6% |
| Swing1: | 1.3% |
| Leader2: | Elfrede Brambley-Crawshaw |
| Party2: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Leader Since2: | 7 May 2019 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Beccles (Retiring) |
| Last Election2: | 3 seats, 6.0% |
| Seats Before2: | 3 |
| Seats2: | 9 |
| Seat Change2: | 6 |
| Popular Vote2: | 39,283 |
| Percentage2: | 15.0% |
| Swing2: | 6.8% |
| Leader3: | Sarah Adams |
| Party3: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Leader Since3: | December 2017 |
| Leaders Seat3: | St John's |
| Last Election3: | 11 seats, 20.7% |
| Seats Before3: | 11 |
| Seats3: | 5 |
| Seat Change3: | 6 |
| Popular Vote3: | 55,973 |
| Percentage3: | 21.3% |
| Swing3: | 0.6% |
| Leader4: | Penny Otton |
| Party4: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Leader Since4: | 7 May 2019 |
| Leaders Seat4: | Thedwastre South |
| Last Election4: | 5 seats, 10.5% |
| Seats Before4: | 5 |
| Seats4: | 4 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 25,885 |
| Percentage4: | 9.9% |
| Swing4: | 3.8% |
| Leader5: | n/a |
| Party5: | Independent (politician) |
| Leader Since5: | n/a |
| Leaders Seat5: | n/a |
| Last Election5: | 3 seats, 4.3% |
| Seats Before5: | 6 |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Seat Change5: | 2 |
| Popular Vote5: | 11,723 |
| Percentage5: | 4.5% |
| Swing5: | 0.2% |
| Leader6: | Victor Lukaniuk |
| Party6: | West Suffolk Independents |
| Colour6: | 6EFFC5 |
| Leader Since6: | May 2017 |
| Leaders Seat6: | Brandon |
| Last Election6: | 1 seats, 0.9% |
| Seats Before6: | 1 |
| Seats6: | 1 |
| Popular Vote6: | 1,959 |
| Percentage6: | 0.8% |
| Swing6: | 0.1% |
| Map2 Image: | UK Suffolk County Council 2021.svg |
| Map2 Caption: | Makeup of council after the election |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Matthew Hicks Conservative |
| After Election: | Matthew Hicks Conservative |
The 2021 Suffolk County Council election took place on 6 May 2021 as part of the 2021 local elections in the United Kingdom.[1] All 75 councillors were elected from 63 electoral divisions, which return either one or two county councillors each, by first-past-the-post voting, for a four-year term of office.
Voters who live in divisions which elect two councillors (12 divisions) are entitled to cast a maximum of two votes, while those living in divisions only electing one councillor (51 divisions) are only entitled to cast one vote.
The council is subject to a Local Government Boundary Commission for England review where it is proposed to reduce the number of councillors from 75 to 70. The recommendations were due to be implemented at this election but has been deferred to the 2025 Suffolk County Council election due to COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
| Party | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 3 | |||
| West Suffolk Independents | 1 | ||
| Total | 75 | ||
| Party | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 6 | |||
| West Suffolk Independents | 1 | ||
| Vacant | 1 | ||
| Total | 75 | ||
In between the 2017 election and the 2021 election, the following council seats changed hands outside of by-elections:
| Division | Date | Previous Party | New Party | Cause | Resulting Council Composition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | Lab | LDem | Grn | Ind | WSI | ||||||
| Gunton | 2 August 2018[3] | Councillor expelled from the party. | 51 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Haverhill Cangle | 21 February 2019[4] | Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. | 50 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Tower | 4 December 2019[5] | Independent Councillor joined Conservatives. | 51 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Carlford | 9 June 2020[6] | Sitting councillor resigned.[7] | 50 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Thedwastre North | 4 December 2020[8] | Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. | 49 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Hoxne & Eye | 9 April 2021[9] | Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. | 48 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 1 | |||
The county saw a marked contrast between its rural and urban areas. The ruling Conservative administration made 8 gains across Bury St Edmund's, Ipswich and Lowestoft, but lost 5 divisions in rural Suffolk that it had won four years earlier and was traditionally stronger. The Green Party replaced Labour as the second largest party, and the latter were subsequently relegated to 5 seats. The Liberal Democrats continued their descent after making losses in 2013 and 2017, with a further loss. The Independents also finished one seat lower than 2017. With 55 seats, the Conservatives were subsequently returned for a fifth term in office and scored their joint second best number of seats (equalling 2009) since the Council was created in 1973.
|-bgcolor=#F6F6F6| colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total| style="text-align: right;" | 289| style="text-align: right;" | 75| colspan=5 || style="text-align: right;" | 260,233| style="text-align: right;" | |-
Matthew Hicks (Thredling) was re-elected leader of the Conservative Group, with Richard Rout (Hardwick) as his deputy.
Andrew Stringer (Upper Gipping) was elected leader of the joint Green, Lib Dem and Independent group, with Robert Lindsay (Cosford) as his deputy.[10]
Sarah Adams (St John's) was re-elected leader of the Labour Group, with Sandy Martin (Rushmere) as her deputy.
Matthew Hicks the leader of the conservative group was duly elected leader of the council and formed a conservative administration.
Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 11,105 | 40.4 | +0.9 | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 6,479 | 23.5 | +14.4 | |||
| 1 | 4,541 | 16.5 | +5.3 | ||||
| 0 | 1 | 3,010 | 10.9 | –2.1 | |||
| 0 | 1 | 2,386 | 8.7 | –13.5 | |||
| Total | 10 | 27,521 | 100.0 | ||||
Division results
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1 | 50,799 | 53.5 | +4.0 | |||
| 3 | 2 | 13,285 | 14.0 | +4.4 | |||
| 1 | 9,552 | 10.1 | ±0.0 | ||||
| 0 | 1 | 20,002 | 21.1 | –1.2 | |||
| 0 | 1,121 | 1.2 | +0.3 | ||||
| 0 | 173 | 0.2 | N/A | ||||
| Total | 24 | 94,932 | 100.0 | ||||
Division results
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 4 | 16,303 | 41.9 | +3.2 | |||
| 5 | 4 | 14,415 | 37.0 | –7.1 | |||
| 1 | 4,408 | 11.3 | –0.8 | ||||
| 0 | 3,651 | 9.4 | +5.1 | ||||
| 0 | 168 | 0.4 | N/A | ||||
| Total | 12 | 38,945 | 100.0 | ||||
Division results
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2 | 14,135 | 44.9 | –4.4 | |||
| 3 | 2 | 6,485 | 20.6 | +5.8 | |||
| 2 | 5,344 | 17.0 | –3.4 | ||||
| 0 | 3,712 | 11.8 | +0.5 | ||||
| 0 | 1,804 | 5.7 | N/A | ||||
| Total | 10 | 31,480 | 100.0 | ||||
Division results
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 2 | 22,781 | 52.5 | +4.0 | |||
| WSI | 1 | 1,959 | 4.5 | +0.7 | |||
| 0 | 7,719 | 17.8 | –0.9 | ||||
| 0 | 6,092 | 14.0 | +10.5 | ||||
| 0 | 3,417 | 7.9 | –3.4 | ||||
| 0 | 1,411 | 3.3 | –5.7 | ||||
| Total | 14 | 43,379 | 100.0 | ||||
Division results
Peter Thompson, elected as a Conservative in 2021, was suspended from the party in April 2023 and resigned from the party the following month to sit as an independent.[11]