| Election Name: | 2023 Bury Council election |
| Country: | Greater Manchester |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2022 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2022 |
| Next Election: | 2024 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Seats For Election: | 17 out of 51 seats of Bury Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Majority Seats: | 26 |
| Election Date: | 4 May 2023 |
| Turnout: | 34.3% 5.0 pp |
| Leader1: | Eamonn O'Brien |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat1: | St Mary’s |
| Seats Before1: | 28 |
| Last Election1: | 29 seats, 44.6% |
| Seats1: | 11 |
| Seats After1: | 31 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 22,299 |
| Percentage1: | 46.3% |
| Swing1: | 1.7% |
| Leader2: | Russell Bernstein |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Pilkington Park |
| Last Election2: | 12 seats, 34.4% |
| Seats Before2: | 12 |
| Seats2: | 4 |
| Seats After2: | 11 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 14,077 |
| Percentage2: | 29.2% |
| Swing2: | 5.2% |
| Leader3: | Mike Smith |
| Party3: | Radcliffe First |
| Leaders Seat3: | Radcliffe West |
| Last Election3: | 8 seats, 7.7% |
| Seats Before3: | 8 |
| Seats3: | 2 |
| Seats After3: | 8 |
| Popular Vote3: | 3,773 |
| Percentage3: | 7.8% |
| Swing3: | 0.1% |
| Party4: | Independent |
| Leader4: | None |
| Last Election4: | 1 seat, 0.3% |
| Seats Before4: | 2 |
| Seats4: | 0 |
| Seats After4: | 1 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 1,826 |
| Percentage4: | 3.8% |
| Swing4: | 3.5% |
| Leader5: | Cristina Tegolo |
| Party5: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Leaders Seat5: | Holyrood |
| Last Election5: | 1 seat, 6.9% |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seats After5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 2,627 |
| Percentage5: | 5.5% |
| Swing5: | 1.4% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Eamonn O'Brien |
| Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Eamonn O'Brien |
| After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
The 2023 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. One third of seats (17) on Bury Metropolitan Borough Council were contested. Labour retained its control of the council.
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. Bury was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[1] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created in 2011 and began electing the mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[2]
Since its formation, Bury has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control. Councillors have predominantly been elected from the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, with some Liberal Democrat and independent councillors also serving. The council has had an overall Labour majority since the 2011 election.
In the previous election in 2022, where all 51 seats were up for election due to boundary changes, Labour won 29 seats, the Conservatives won 12 seats, Radcliffe First won eight seats, and the Liberal Democrats and an independent won one seat each.[3]
Labour retained control of the council at this election.[4] [5]
The council generally elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.[6] [7] The election was conducted using the first-past-the-post voting system, with each ward electing one councillor.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Bury aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who lived at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.
| After 2022 election | Before 2023 election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Party | Seats | ||
| 29 | 28 | ||||
| 12 | 12 | ||||
| 8 | 8 | ||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1 | 2 | ||||
Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk (*).
Incumbent councillor Spencer Donnelly was suspended from the Labour Party in September 2022 and sat as an independent for the remainder of his term.[8]