| Election Name: | 2024 Coventry City Council election |
| Country: | West Midlands |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2023 Coventry City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2023 |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Election Date: | 2 May 2024 and 20 June 2024 |
| Next Election: | 2026 Coventry City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2026 |
| Seats For Election: | 18 out of 54 seats to Coventry City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 28 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Leader1: | George Duggins |
| Last Election1: | 37 seats, 50.4% |
| Seats Before1: | 37 |
| Seats1: | 17 |
| Seats After1: | 40 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Leader2: | Gary Ridley |
| Last Election2: | 15 seats, 29.5% |
| Seats Before2: | 15 |
| Seats Needed2: | 13 |
| Seats2: | 3 |
| Seats After2: | 12 |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Party3: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Leader3: | Stephen Gray |
| Last Election3: | 2 seat, 9.3% |
| Seats Before3: | 2 |
| Seats3: | 0 |
| Seats After3: | 2 |
| Map Size: | 375px |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | George Duggins |
| Before Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| After Election: | TBD |
| After Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
The 2024 Coventry City Council election was held predominately on 2 May 2024 alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day,[1] with one ward's election additionally being held a month later on 20 June 2024. The results mirrored Labour's strong showing across the country, taking three seats from the Conservatives and increasing their comfortable majority on the council.
Originally the Labour-held seat in Radford ward was meant to be contested on the same day as the other wards, but was delayed to 20 June 2024[2] due to the death of the ward's Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate a week before the election.[3] [4] The incumbent Labour councillor Mal Mutton unoffically remained in the seat between 4 May and 20 June 2024 before being re-elected. This was counted by the council as part of the local election rather than as a by-election.
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. Coventry was a district of the West Midlands metropolitan county.[5] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The West Midlands Combined Authority was created in 2016 and began electing the mayor of the West Midlands from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former West Midlands metropolitan county.[6]
Coventry Council has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control since it was established. Labour most recently gained control of the council in the 2010 election, when they gained six seats at the expense of the Conservatives and Socialist Alternative.[7] Labour continued to make gains to consolidate its majority on the council in the 2011 and 2012 elections, since when the party's position has remained stable. In the most recent election in 2023, Labour won 13 of the seats up for election with 50.4% of the vote, the Conservatives won four seats with 29.5% of the vote, and the Greens won one seat with 9.3% of the vote. Labour maintained its majority on the council.[8]
Seats up for election in 2023 were last elected in 2021. This election was originally scheduled for 2020, but was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In that election, Labour won thirteen seats and the Conservatives won six seats.[9]
The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.[10] [11] The election will take place by first-past-the-post voting, with wards being represented by three councillors, with one councillor elected in each ward each election year to serve a four-year term.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Coventry aged 18 or over will be 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 will take place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election. People voting in this election in Coventry only vote for a councillor in the ward they reside.
| After 2023 election | Before 2024 election | After 2024 election | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Party | Seats | Party | Seats | |||
| 37 | 37 | 40 | ||||||
| 15 | 15 | 12 | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Changes: