| Election Name: | 2023 Stafford Borough Council election |
| Country: | Staffordshire |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2019 Stafford Borough Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Next Election: | 2027 Stafford Borough Council |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Seats For Election: | All 40 seats to Stafford Borough Council |
| Majority Seats: | 21 |
| Leader1: | Patrick Farrington[1] |
| Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 22 seats, 48.5% |
| Seats Before1: | 20 |
| Seats1: | 14 |
| Seat Change1: | 8 |
| Popular Vote1: | 20,843 |
| Percentage1: | 36.1% |
| Swing1: | 12.4% |
| Leader2: | Aidan Godfrey[2] |
| Party2: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election2: | 10 seats, 27.2% |
| Seats Before2: | 10 |
| Seats2: | 13 |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Popular Vote2: | 16,764 |
| Percentage2: | 29.1% |
| Swing2: | 1.9% |
| Leader3: | Robert Kenney |
| Party3: | Stafford Borough Independents |
| Last Election3: | N/A |
| Seats Before3: | 8 |
| Seats3: | 7 |
| Seat Change3: | 7 |
| Popular Vote3: | 10,094 |
| Percentage3: | 17.6% |
| Swing3: | N/A |
| Party4: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Last Election4: | 1 seat, 3.0% |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 5 |
| Seat Change4: | 4 |
| Popular Vote4: | 7,704 |
| Percentage4: | 13.4% |
| Swing4: | 10.4% |
| Party5: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Last Election5: | 0 seats, 0.9% |
| Seats Before5: | 0 |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 1,417 |
| Percentage5: | 2.5% |
| Swing5: | 1.6% |
| Party6: | Independent politician |
| Last Election6: | 7 seats, 14.7% |
| Seats Before6: | 1 |
| Seats6: | 0 |
| Seat Change6: | 7 |
| Popular Vote6: | 107 |
| Percentage6: | 0.2% |
| Swing6: | 14.5% |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Patrick Farrington Conservative |
| Before Party: | No overall control |
| After Election: | Aidan Godfrey Labour |
| After Party: | No overall control |
The 2023 Stafford Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Stafford Borough Council in Staffordshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
The council remained under no overall control, but went from being run by a Conservative minority administration to being run by a coalition of Labour, local party the Stafford Borough Independents, and the Greens.
The council had been under no overall control prior to the election, being run by a Conservative minority administration. The Conservatives had won a majority of the seats at the previous election in 2019, but lost their majority in March 2022 when two councillors left the party to sit as independents.[3] Shortly before the election, eight of the nine independent councillors registered as a new localist party called the Stafford Borough Independents.[4] [5] [6]
The council remained under no overall control after the election. The Conservative leader of the council, Patrick Farrington, lost his seat.[7] The Labour group leader, Aidan Godfrey, was appointed the new leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 13 May 2023 with support from the Greens and Stafford Borough Independents, with those three parties each taking positions on the council's cabinet.[8]
The overall results were:[9] |-
The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Stafford Borough Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.[10] The results for each ward were as follows, with an asterisk (*) indicating an incumbent councillor standing for re-election.[11] [4]
Jenny Barron and Ray Barron had both been elected as Conservatives in 2019 but left the party in March 2022 to sit as independents, subsequently joining the Stafford Borough Independents.[3] Seats shown as gains from Conservative to allow comparison with 2019 results.