2023 Middlesbrough Council election

2023 Middlesbrough Council election

←  2019 4 May 2023 2027 →
All 46 seats to Middlesbrough Council plus Mayor 24 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	27.8%
First party Second party   Leader Matt Storey Party Labour Independent Last election 34.9%, 20 seats 43.7%, 23 seats Seats before 21 22 [a] Seats won 25 15 Seat change 5 8 Popular vote 25,504 16,481 Percentage 46.5% 30.1% Swing 11.6% 13.8%   Third party Fourth party   Leader David Coupe Tom Livingstone Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Last election 11.9%, 3 seats 3.3%, 0 seats Seats before 3 0 Seats won 4 2 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 8,044 3,910 Percentage 14.7% 7.1% Swing 2.8% 3.8%
Winner of each seat at the 2023 Middlesbrough Council election
Mayor before election Andy Preston Independent No overall control Mayor after election Chris Cooke Labour

The 2023 Middlesbrough Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 46 members of Middlesbrough Council and the directly-elected Mayor of Middlesbrough. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control and the mayor was Andy Preston, an independent. The election saw Labour's candidate Chris Cooke win the mayoralty from Andy Preston, and the party also won a majority of the seats on the council. ^[2]

Summary

Council

Following the results, the council moved from no overall control to a Labour majority. ^[3]

2023 Middlesbrough Council election [4]
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	44	25	7	2	5	54.3	46.5	25,504	+11.6
	Independent	39	15	1	9	8	32.6	30.1	16,481	–13.6
	Conservative	29	4	1	0	1	8.7	14.7	8,044	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	14	2	2	0	2	4.3	7.1	3,910	+3.8
	Green	5	0	0	0		0.0	1.6	862	–1.5

Mayor

2023 Middlesbrough Mayoral election ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Chris Cooke	10,956	40.2
	Independent	Andy Preston	10,196	37.4
	Independent	Jon Rathmell	3,102	11.4
	Conservative	John Cooper	2,997	11.0
Majority			760	2.8
Turnout			27,251	28.0
	Labour gain from Independent

Ward results

Acklam

Acklam (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Livingstone	867	48.4	+10.5
	Labour	Sheila Dean*	644	35.9	–2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jon Carey	637	35.5	+15.6
	Labour	Luke Henman	566	31.6	–4.1
	Independent	Eric Polano*	276	15.4	–22.5
	Independent	Peter Welsh	224	12.5	N/A
	Conservative	Keith Barton	134	7.5	–16.3
Turnout			1,792	40.9
Registered electors			4,382
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent
	Labour hold

Ayresome

Ayresome (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Antony High*	611	54.9	+24.1
	Labour	Janet Thompson	457	41.1	+17.3
	Independent	Andrew Hill	344	30.9	N/A
	Conservative	Pam Biswas	236	21.2	+12.1
	Liberal Democrats	Sophie Drumm	107	9.6	+4.7
Turnout			1,112	26.4
Registered electors			4,215
	Labour gain from Independent
	Labour hold

Berwick Hills & Pallister

Berwick Hills & Pallister (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Blades*	451	47.9	+18.5
	Labour	Julia Cooke	416	44.2	+20.8
	Independent	Donna Jones*	391	41.5	–10.4
	Independent	Steven James	346	36.7	N/A
	Labour	Mick Thompson	336	35.7	+13.2
	Independent	Anna Walker	303	32.2	N/A
	Conservative	Alan Blyth	82	8.7	+3.4
Turnout			942	16.6
Registered electors			5,674
	Labour gain from Independent
	Labour gain from Independent
	Independent hold

Brambles & Thorntree

Brambles & Thorntree (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stella Tranter	364	46.0	+17.1
	Labour	Jack Banks	362	45.7	+17.7
	Independent	Graham Wilson*	326	41.2	–8.5
	Labour	Paul McGrath	319	40.3	+16.8
	Independent	Karl Gallienne	256	32.3	N/A
	Independent	Monty Towers	211	26.6	N/A
	Conservative	Peter Longstaff	99	12.5	+4.6
	Green	Rebecca Tyndall	43	5.4	N/A
Turnout			792	13.7
Registered electors			5,781
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Independent hold

Central

Central (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Lewis*	1,053	70.8	+24.3
	Labour	Matt Storey*	925	62.2	+24.8
	Labour	Zafar Uddin*	876	58.9	+15.3
	Independent	Jackie Young	331	22.2	N/A
	Conservative	Peter Bradburn	218	14.7	+7.8
	Green	Ian Sturrock	156	10.5	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Jones	145	9.7	+2.7
Turnout			1,488	21.0
Registered electors			7,100
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Coulby Newham

Coulby Newham (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Branson*	899	45.0	+4.2
	Conservative	Luke Mason	840	42.0	–6.5
	Labour	Jo Nicholson	706	35.3	–15.0
	Labour	Geoff Nicholson	673	33.7	+3.5
	Conservative	Shamal Biswas	566	28.3	N/A
	Independent	Stefan Walker*	544	27.2	N/A
	Independent	Raymond Sands*	214	10.7	N/A
	Green	Barry Jobson	209	10.5	N/A
	Independent	Anna Whitmore	193	9.7	N/A
Turnout			2,000	31.8
Registered electors			6,291
	Labour hold
	Conservative hold
	Labour hold

Hemlington

Hemlington (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jeanette Walker*	620	57.2	+19.0
	Labour	Nicky Walker	577	53.3	+15.5
	Independent	Allan Bell*	207	19.1	–21.5
	Independent	Chris Lovell	181	16.7	N/A
	Conservative	Sajid Hussain	153	14.1	+1.6
	Conservative	Valerie Beadnall	145	13.4	+4.1
	Independent	Howard Thompson	99	9.1	N/A
Turnout			1,083	25.1
Registered electors			4,311
	Labour hold
	Labour gain from Independent

Kader

Kader (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jim Platt*	944	55.1	+6.5
	Independent	Sharon Platt	732	42.8	N/A
	Labour	Vic Walkington	537	31.4	+10.0
	Conservative	Dominic Curtis	284	16.6	–0.4
	Conservative	Catherine Lyon	241	14.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Livingstone	200	11.7	+5.1
Turnout			1,712	39.6
Registered electors			4,319
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

Ladgate

Ladgate (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tony Grainge*	605	67.4	N/A
	Conservative	Luke Hurst	406	45.2	+10.4
	Labour	Tom Mohan	367	40.9	–12.3
	Labour	Gemma Rushton	352	39.2	–3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Sally Middleton	66	7.3	N/A
Turnout			?	30.2
Registered electors			?
	Independent gain from Labour
	Conservative gain from Labour

Linthorpe

Linthorpe (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Philippa Storey*	975	46.7	+11.9
	Labour	Naweed Hussain*	823	55.3	+23.1
	Independent	John King	535	30.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Hamilton	118	6.7	+0.3
	Conservative	George Pugh	116	6.6	–2.1
	Conservative	Oliver Connett	114	6.5	N/A
Turnout			1,762	39.6
Registered electors			4,444
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Longlands & Beechwood

Longlands & Beechwood (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mary Nugent*	647	46.8	+16.3
	Labour	Peter Gavigan	572	41.4	+9.6
	Independent	Joan McTigue*	563	40.7	–19.7
	Labour	Sharon Sewell	491	35.5	+12.0
	Independent	Jacqueline Fovargue	350	25.3	N/A
	Independent	Amjad Hossain	200	14.5	N/A
	Conservative	Nathaniel Tumilty	163	11.8	+1.0
	Conservative	Stephen Smith	156	11.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Nana Livingstone	79	5.7	N/A
Turnout			1,382	20.6
Registered electors			6,705
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Independent hold

Marton East

Marton East (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Dorthy Davidson*	784	52.5	–3.8
	Independent	Jason McConnell	685	45.9	N/A
	Labour	Mark O'Donnell	336	22.5	+9.7
	Conservative	Firas Soudani	295	19.8	+0.1
	Conservative	Peter Symon	261	17.5	–1.4
	Labour	Alma Hellaoui	247	16.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Paul	75	5.0	N/A
Turnout			1,493	31.6
Registered electors			4,732
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

Marton West

Marton West (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ian Morrish	612	37.8	N/A
	Independent	David Jackson	603	37.2	N/A
	Conservative	Andy Murphy-Brown	531	32.8	+23.5
	Conservative	Paul Austin	468	28.9	+20.4
	Labour	Philip Ewan	306	18.9	+9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Joanna Paul	161	9.9	N/A
Turnout			1,619	38.5
Registered electors			4,206
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

Newport

Newport (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Kabuye	919	66.3	+27.5
	Labour	Jill Ewan	911	65.7	+21.4
	Labour	Anne Romaine	856	61.7	+18.0
	Independent	Barrie Cooper*	326	23.5	–18.8
	Green	David Revett	180	13.0	–3.7
	Conservative	Joyce Pugh	174	12.5	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Dinesh Maddula	115	8.3	–2.4
Turnout			1,387	21.8
Registered electors			6,360
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour gain from Independent

North Ormesby

North Ormesby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jan Ryles	224	54.1	+27.3
	Independent	Steve McCulloch	161	38.9	N/A
	Conservative	David Morgan	29	7.0	+3.8
Majority			63	15.2
Turnout			414	22.1
Registered electors			1,902
	Labour gain from Independent

Nunthorpe

Nunthorpe (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Morgan McClintock	712	39.7	+24.0
	Conservative	Mieka Smiles*	687	38.3	+6.2
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Bailey	509	28.4	+20.8
	Conservative	Martin Lyon	397	22.1	+3.0
	Independent	Wade Tovey	367	20.4	N/A
	Independent	Jon Rathmell*	333	18.6	–40.7
	Labour	David Drumm	196	10.9	+3.4
	Labour	Julie McGee	126	7.0	N/A
Turnout			1,795	41.5
Registered electors			4,323
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent
	Conservative hold

Park

Park (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Theo Furness*	1,240	59.3	+19.1
	Labour	Julia Rostron*	1,191	56.9	+12.2
	Labour	Edward Clynch	1,126	53.8	+16.8
	Independent	Chris McIntyre*	460	22.0	–15.1
	Independent	Frances McIntyre	435	20.8	N/A
	Independent	Eddie Ndhlovu	335	16.0	N/A
	Green	Matthew Harris	274	13.1	–18.5
	Conservative	Valerie Symon	264	12.6	–2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jack Stoker	119	5.7	N/A
Turnout			2,092	30.8
Registered electors			6,784
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour gain from Independent

Park End & Beckfield

Park End & Beckfield (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Brian Hubbard*	640	60.5	–13.4
	Independent	Mick Saunders*	609	57.6	–11.3
	Independent	Stephen Hill	568	53.7	–10.3
	Labour	Chris Williamson	328	31.0	+18.5
	Labour	Eddie Dryden	261	24.7	+16.4
	Labour	Jai Caisley	249	23.6	+15.4
	Conservative	Margaret Blyth	82	7.8	+4.6
	Conservative	Ryan Howes	58	5.5	N/A
Turnout			1,057	19.3
Registered electors			5,469
	Independent hold
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

Stainton & Thornton

Stainton & Thornton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Coupe	625	54.0	–26.4
	Labour	Jack McKenna	533	46.0	+26.4
Majority			92	8.0
Turnout			1,158	35.6
Registered electors			3,298
	Conservative hold		Swing	26.4

Trimdon

Trimdon (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Dennis McCabe*	673	48.8	–20.7
	Independent	Christine Cooper	515	37.4	N/A
	Labour	Christina Harris	472	34.3	+22.2
	Labour	James Watson	364	26.4	+15.9
	Conservative	Scott Symon	220	16.0	+8.3
Turnout			1,378	29.2
Registered electors			4,712
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

By-elections

Ayresome

Ayresome: 17 August 2023

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jackie Young	318	36.1	N/A
	Labour	Mick Thompson	294	33.4	−21.5
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Brent	201	22.8	+13.2
	Green	Matthew Harris	32	3.6	N/A
	Conservative	Sajid Hussain	30	3.4	−17.8
	Independent	Jon Rathmell	5	0.6	N/A
Turnout			880	20.9
Registered electors			4,224
	Independent gain from Labour

Nunthorpe

Nunthorpe by-election: 4 December 2025

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Sam Boardman
	Labour	Richard Lewis
	Conservative	Martin Lyon
	Reform	Joanne Rush
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Walker

References

1. Of the 22 independent councillors prior to the election, 10 formed the "Middlesbrough Independent Councillors Association" led by Mick Saunders, 9 formed the "Middlesbrough Independent Group" led by Chris Hobson, and the other 3 were not aligned to any group. ^[1]

1. "Your councillors by party [at 30 March 2023]". Middlesbrough Council. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
2. "Local elections 2023: Labour's Chris Cooke ousts Andy Preston as Middlesbrough mayor". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
3. Lightfoot, Gareth; Arnold, Stuart; Craigie, Emily (6 May 2023). "RECAP: Labour gain control of Middlesbrough Council". TeessideLive. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
4. "Middlesbrough result - Local Elections 2023". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2023.