Election Name: | 2023 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election |
Flag Image: | Coat of arms of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.png |
Type: | parliamentary |
Ongoing: | no |
Previous Election: | 2022 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election |
Previous Year: | 2022 |
Next Election: | 2024 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election |
Next Year: | 2024 |
Seats For Election: | All 75 seats on Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council |
Election Date: | 4 May 2023 |
Majority Seats: | 38 |
Image1: | File:David Molyneux.jpg |
Leader1: | [1] |
Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
Last Election1: | 61 |
Seats After1: | 64 |
Seat Change1: | 3 |
Party2: | Independent politician |
Last Election2: | 7 |
Seats After2: | 9 |
Seat Change2: | 2 |
Leader3: | Steven Evans |
Party3: | Conservative Party (UK) |
Last Election3: | 7 |
Seats After3: | 2 |
Seat Change3: | 5 |
Leader | |
Posttitle: | Leader after election |
Before Election: | David Molyneux |
Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
After Election: | David Molyneux |
After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
The 2023 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other local elections in the United Kingdom. Due to boundary changes all 75 seats on Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council were contested.[2]
Labour retained its majority on the council.[3]
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. Manchester was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[4] 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.[5]
Since its creation in 1974, the council has continuously been under the control of the Labour Party.
In December 2022 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England made The Wigan (Electoral Changes) Order 2022, which officially abolished the existing 25 wards and created 25 new wards with different boundaries. Because of this change, all 75 seats on the council, three per ward, are to be contested.[6]
The election took place using the plurality block voting system, a form of first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by three councillors. The candidate with the most votes in each ward will serve a four year term ending in 2027, the second-placed candidate will serve a three year term anding in 2026 and the third-placed candidate will serve a one year term ending in 2024.[6]
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Wigan 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. Residents had until Monday 17 April to register to vote,[7] and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes until 18 April and 25 April, respectively.[8]
As a result of the Elections Act 2022 electors were required to present photographic identification to polling staff in order to cast their vote.[9]
After 2022 election | Before 2023 election | After 2023 election[10] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Seats | Party | Seats | Party | Seats | |||
61 | 61 | 64 | ||||||
7 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
7 | 7 | 9 |
Labour Party | 75 |
Conservative Party | 38 |
Independents | 25 |
Liberal Democrats | 18 |
Leigh and Atherton Independents | 10 |
Reform UK | 3 |
UKIP | 2 |
Green Party | 1 |
Heritage Party | 1 |
Standish Independents | 1 |
TUSC | 1 |
Wigan Independents | 1 |
Vote share % changes are with respect to the 2022 election results.
Incumbent councillors seeking re-election in their ward are marked with an asterisk (*).Turnout percentage changes are all relative to the 2022 turnouts for the respective wards.