| Election Name: | 2023 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Country: | West Yorkshire |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Election Date: | 4 May 2023 |
| Previous Election: | 2022 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2022 |
| Next Election: | 2024 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Seats For Election: | 17 of 51 seats on Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Majority Seats: | 26 |
| Turnout: | 34.51% (3.0%) |
| Leader1: | Tim Swift |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat1: | Town |
| Seats Before1: | 28 |
| Seats1: | 10, 58.8% |
| Seats After1: | 28 |
| Popular Vote1: | 22,904 |
| Percentage1: | 44.1% |
| Swing1: | -1.1% |
| Leader2: | Steven Leigh |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Ryburn |
| Seats Before2: | 15 |
| Seats2: | 4, 23.5% |
| Seats After2: | 15 |
| Popular Vote2: | 15,208 |
| Percentage2: | 29.3% |
| Swing2: | -3.4% |
| Leader3: | James Baker |
| Party3: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Leaders Seat3: | Warley |
| Seats Before3: | 6 |
| Seats3: | 2, 11.8% |
| Seats After3: | 6 |
| Popular Vote3: | 6,570 |
| Percentage3: | 12.6% |
| Swing3: | +0.8% |
| Party4: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 2, 11.8% |
| Seats After4: | 2 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 6,291 |
| Percentage4: | 12.1% |
| Party5: | Independent politician |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seats After5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 288 |
| Percentage5: | 0.6% |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Tim Swift |
| Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Tim Swift |
| After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
Elections to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other elections in the United Kingdom. Labour retained its majority on 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. Calderdale was a district of the West Yorkshire 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 West Yorkshire Combined Authority was established in 2014 and began electing the mayor of West Yorkshire in 2021.[2]
Calderdale Council was under no overall control with Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour leaders until the Labour Party achieved a majority of seats in the 2019 election, when they gained four seats to hold 28 of the council's 51 seats. In the most recent election in 2022, seventeen seats were up for election. Labour won eleven seats, the Conservatives won 4 seats, and the Liberal Democrats and Greens both won one seat.
Positions up for election in 2023 were last elected in 2019. In that election, Labour won ten seats, the Conservatives won four, the Liberal Democrats won two and independent candidates won one seat. Labour retained its majority on the council at this election.[3]
The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election for three consecutive years and no election in the fourth year.[4] [5] The election used first-past-the-post voting, with wards generally being represented by three councillors, with one elected in each election year to serve a four-year term.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Calderdale aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are 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.
| Party | Councillors | Votes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Of total | Net | Of total | Net | ||||||||
| Labour | 10 | 0 | data-sort-value="" | 22,904 | 44.1% | -1.1% | |||||
| Conservative | 4 | 0 | data-sort-value="" | 15,208 | 29.3% | -3.4% | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | 2 | 0 | data-sort-value="" | 6,570 | 12.6% | +0.8% | |||||
| Green | 1 | +1 | data-sort-value="" | 6,291 | 12.1% | +3.0% | |||||
| Freedom Alliance | 0 | 0 | data-sort-value="" | 366 | 0.7% | +0.5% | |||||
| Independent | 0 | -1 | data-sort-value="" | 288 | 0.6% | +0.4% | |||||
Prior to the election the composition of the council was:
| 28 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Conservative | Lib Dem | G | I |
After the election the composition of the council was:
| 28 | 15 | 6 | 2 | |
| Labour | Conservative | Lib Dem | G |
| valign=centre colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 28 | |||||
| 15 | 15 | |||||
| 6 | 6 | |||||
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 1 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 51 | 51 | ||||
Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk. The results were:[6]