| Election Name: | 2023 South Kesteven District Council election |
| Country: | Lincolnshire |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2019 South Kesteven District Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Next Election: | 2027 South Kesteven District Council election |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Seats For Election: | All 56 seats on South Kesteven District Council |
| Majority Seats: | 29 |
| Leader1: | Kelham Cooke |
| Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 40 seats, 53.3% |
| Seats Before1: | 38 |
| Seats After1: | 24 |
| Seat Change1: | 16 |
| Popular Vote1: | 10,450 |
| Percentage1: | 30.0% |
| Swing1: | 23.3% |
| Party2: | Independent politician |
| Last Election2: | 11 seats, 19.2% |
| Seats Before2: | 13 |
| Seats After2: | 22 |
| Seat Change2: | 11 |
| Popular Vote2: | 12,527 |
| Percentage2: | 36.0% |
| Swing2: | 16.8% |
| Party3: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Last Election3: | 0 seats, 3.8% |
| Seats Before3: | 0 |
| Seats After3: | 4 |
| Seat Change3: | 4 |
| Popular Vote3: | 3,906 |
| Percentage3: | 11.2% |
| Swing3: | 7.4% |
| Party4: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Last Election4: | 2 seats, 3.3% |
| Seats Before4: | 3 |
| Seats After4: | 4 |
| Seat Change4: | 2 |
| Popular Vote4: | 2,844 |
| Percentage4: | 8.2% |
| Swing4: | 4.9% |
| Party5: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election5: | 3 seats, 5.6% |
| Seats Before5: | 2 |
| Seats After5: | 2 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 4,528 |
| Percentage5: | 13.0% |
| Swing5: | 7.4% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Kelham Cooke |
| Before Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Richard Cleaver Independent |
| After Party: | No overall control |
The 2023 South Kesteven District Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 56 members of South Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
The council was under Conservative majority control prior to the election. The Conservatives remained the largest party after the election but lost their majority. Both the Conservative leader, Kelham Cooke, and deputy leader, Adam Stokes, lost their seats.[1]
A coalition of some of the independent councillors and the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour formed to take control of the council, narrowly beating a rival coalition of the Conservatives and some of the other independents to form an administration by one vote at the council's subsequent annual meeting on 18 May 2023. Independent councillor Richard Cleaver therefore became leader of the council, defeating the new Conservative leader, Graham Jeal.[2]
The overall results were as follows:[3] |}Four seats were elected unopposed, all of which were taken by Conservatives.
The results for each ward were as follows, with an asterisk (*) indicating an incumbent councillor standing for re-election.[4] [5]
Dean Ward represented Grantham St Wulfram's ward prior to the election.
Judy Stevens was elected as a Conservative in 2019 but stood as an independent in 2023.
Charmaine Morgan had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in 2022.[6] Seat shown as independent gain from Labour to allow comparison with 2019 result.
Bob Broughton had been elected in 2019 as a Conservative but stood in 2023 as an independent.
Seat change compared to 2019 election; one of the seats had been won by an independent at a by-election in 2021.
Richard Cleaver represented Stamford All Saints prior to the election.
Seat change compared to 2019 election; the Conservative elected in 2019, Matthew Lee, had left the party in 2022 and sat the remainder of his term as an independent.[7] He did not stand for re-election. Jane Kingman had represented Bourne Austerby prior to the election.
Seat change compared to 2019 election; Murray Turner had won the seat at a by-election in December 2022.
This by-election was triggered by the death of Conservative councillor Ray Wootten.[8] [9]