2023 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

2023 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
16 out of 48 seats to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council ; 25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	26,836, 32.8%
	Winner of each seat at the 2023 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Leader before election; Tony Kingsbury; Conservative	Leader after election; Paul Zukowskyj; Liberal Democrat ; No overall control

Last updated May 23, 2024

The 2023 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England.^[1] This would be on the same day as other local elections across England.

Prior to the election the Conservatives held a narrow majority of the seats on the council. Out of the sixteen seats up for election, five seats changed party hands, leading to the Conservative Party losing their majority and the council going under no overall control.^[2]^[3] Whilst the Conservatives remained the largest party after the election, a Liberal Democrat and Labour party coalition subsequently took control of the council.^[4]

Summary

Election result

2023 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	4	4	25.0	18	22	45.8	9017	33.8^[5]	3.3
	Liberal Democrats	6	2	37.5	8	14	29.2	6908	25.9	3.7
	Labour	6	2	37.5	6	12	25.0	8239	30.9	1.1
	Green	0		0.0	0.0	0	0.0	2365	8.9	6.3
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0.0	0	0.0	162	0.6^{[lower-alpha 1]}	N/A

Results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.^[6]

Brookmans Park and Little Heath

Brookmans Park and Little Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonathan Boulton*	1,044	61.6	-3.4
	Labour	Graham Beevers	308	18.2	-0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Basford	204	12.0	-3.9
	Green	William Berrington	128	7.6	n/a
Rejected ballots			10	0.6	n/a
Majority			736	43.4	-2.5
Turnout			1694	33.9	-5
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.3

Haldens

Haldens
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Astrid Scott	856	50.6	+0.2
	Conservative	Neil Bradbury	521	30.8	-4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Jason Payne	175	10.3	-4.0
	Green	Lesley Smith	131	7.7	n/a
Rejected ballots			8	0.5	n/a
Majority			335	19.8	+4.7
Turnout			1691	34.5	-1.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	2.4

Handside

Handside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Michal Siewniak	1,403	55.7	+0.5^{[lower-alpha 2]}
	Conservative	Brian Seeger	695	27.6	+0.5^{[lower-alpha 2]}
	Labour	Mbizo Mpofu	253	10.0	-1.1^{[lower-alpha 2]}
	Green	Philip Hopley	154	6.1	-3.8
Rejected ballots			16	0.6	n/a
Majority			708	28.1	n/a
Turnout			2521	46.4	-4.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	0

Hatfield Central

Hatfield Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kieran Thorpe	713	57.2	+4.4
	Conservative	Patrick Short	276	22.2	-11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Edwards	148	11.9	-1.9
	Green	Rody Ribeiro	102	8.2	n/a
Rejected ballots			7	0.6	n/a
Majority			437	35.0	+15.6
Turnout			1246	23.1	-3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	7.8

Hatfield East

Hatfield East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Cathy Watson	712	39.6	-4.5
	Conservative	Caron Juggins*	592	32.9	-5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Muhammed Joglu	388	21.6	+11.2
	Green	Ian Gregory	99	5.5	-1.6
Rejected ballots			9	0.5	n/a
Majority			120	6.7	-12.7
Turnout			1800	32.9	0.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	0.5

Hatfield South West

Hatfield South West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Helena Goldwater	659	43.5	-1.9
	Labour	Vaishali Shah	559	36.9	+5.3
	Conservative	David Perkins	216	14.3	-5.5
	Green	Antony Henn	75	5.0	n/a
Rejected ballots			5	0.3	n/a
Majority			100	6.6	-7.2
Turnout			1514	27.1	-1.6
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	3.6

Hatfield Villages

Hatfield Villages
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rose Grewal	707	43.9	-2.3
	Conservative	Phil Kurland	476	29.5	-10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Brad Taylor	289	17.9	+5.0
	Green	Andreas Kukol	86	5.3	n/a
	Reform UK	Pete Whitehead	48	3	n/a
Rejected ballots			5	0.3	n/a
Majority			231	14.4	+9.1
Turnout			1611	28.2	-1.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	4.2

Hollybush

Hollybush
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Birleson*	723	57.7	-0.1
	Conservative	Abbie Cook	306	24.4	-7.1
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Wilson	113	9.0	-1.7
	Green	Joseph Bristow	98	7.8	n/a
Rejected ballots			12	1.0	n/a
Majority			417	33.3	+7.0
Turnout			1252	25.5	-5.8
	Labour hold		Swing	3.5

Howlands

Howlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jill Weston*	861	54.4	-4.1
	Conservative	Ahmad Chattha	502	31.7	-2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Hillary Skoczylas	103	6.5	-0.5
	Green	Penelope Berrington	102	6.4	n/a
Rejected ballots			14	0.9	n/a
Majority			359	22.7	-1.3
Turnout			1582	30	-4.9
	Labour hold		Swing	0.7

Northaw and Cuffley

Northaw and Cuffley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Michaelides*	1,095	66.3	-1.5
	Labour	Sheila Barrett	255	15.4	-2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Green	151	9.1	-5.5
	Green	Brian Edwards	139	8.4	n/a
Rejected ballots			11	0.7	n/a
Majority			840	50.9	+0.7
Turnout			1651	35.2	+1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.4

Panshanger

Panshanger
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jane Quinton*	728	47.0	+7.7
	Conservative	Liz McAuliffe	441	28.5	-5.6
	Labour	Perry Hewitt	304	19.6	-7.0
	Green	Cheryl Miles	68	4.4	n/a
Rejected ballots			8	0.5	n/a
Majority			287	18.5	+13.3
Turnout			1549	35.2	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	7.4

Peartree

Peartree
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Goldwater	582	44.2	-7.6
	Labour	Tom Green	466	35.4	+2.0
	Conservative	Jeet Dhelaria	167	12.7	+1.1
	Green	Claudia Ferlisi	91	6.9	n/a
Rejected ballots			10	0.8	n/a
Majority			116	8.8	-9.6
Turnout			1316	24.3	-3.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	4.8

Sherrards

Sherrards
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Marsh*	1,020	52.9	-1.5
	Labour	Leo Gilbert	416	21.6	+7.3
	Conservative	Siva Kumar	337	17.5	-6.8
	Green	David Cox	83	4.3	-0.6
	Reform UK	Jack Aaron	69	3.6	n/a
Rejected ballots			3	0.2	n/a
Majority			604	31.3	+1.2
Turnout			1928	44.2	-2.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	4.4

Welham Green and Hatfield South

Welham Green and Hatfield South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Adrienne Nix	613	37.9	-7.7
	Conservative	Teresa Travell	566	35.0	+1.8
	Labour	Linda Mendez	335	20.7	+3.2
	Green	Ian Nendick	50	3.1	n/a
	Reform UK	Shane Scott	45	2.8	n/a
Rejected ballots			9	0.6	n/a
Majority			47	2.9	-9.5
Turnout			1618	31.2	-0.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	4.8

Welwyn East

Welwyn East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Trigg*	849	45.6	-6.7
	Labour	Alan Chesterman	571	30.6	+1.7
	Green	Mary Barton	235	12.6	n/a
	Liberal Democrats	Pashang Fatemi	204	10.9	-8.2
Rejected ballots			12	0.6	n/a
Majority			278	15.0	-8.3
Turnout			1871	35.7	-7.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.2

Welwyn West

Welwyn West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Kingsbury*	934	46.9	-7.5
	Green	Sarah Butcher	724	36.3	+20.2
	Labour	Daniel Carlen	200	10.0	-5.3
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Archer	128	6.4	-7.7
Rejected ballots			6	0.6	n/a
Majority			210	10.6	-27.6
Turnout			1992	41.3	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	13.9

Footnotes

↑ The missing 0.5% of total percentage consists of 145 rejected votes across the wards.
1 2 3 In 2022 Handside had two seats up for election, so these parties' two candidate's average performance is used in calculating the change.

Related Research Articles

Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district with borough status in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Welwyn Garden City. The borough borders Hertsmere, St Albans, North Hertfordshire, East Hertfordshire, Broxbourne, and the London Borough of Enfield.

The 2000 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 6 May 2000 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. Overall turnout in the election was 31.71%, down from 33.09% in the 1999 election.

The 2002 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from the Labour Party.

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The 2004 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.

The 2006 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.

The 2007 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.

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The 2016 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2016 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. All seats were up for election following boundary changes that came into effect that year. Despite a relatively minor drop in their share of the popular vote, the boundary changes resulted in the Conservatives losing several seats on the council, although they still maintained majority control.

Elections to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council took place on 3 May 2018. This was on the same day as other local elections across the United Kingdom. The Conservatives saw a reduction a large reduction in their number of seats, only just hanging on to majority of the council.

Elections to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council took place on 2 May 2019. This was on the same day as other local elections across the United Kingdom. Following the trend of the elections across the UK, the Liberal Democrats made significant gains in the popular vote at the cost of the Conservative Party and Labour. This resulted in the Liberal Democrats gaining two seats from both other parties; enough to cause the Conservatives to lose control of the council for the first time in seventeen years. The period of no overall control would not last long however, with the Conservatives regaining control at the next local election.

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The 1980 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 1 May 1980 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. A third of the council's seats were up for election. Similar to the general trend of the local elections, Labour saw an increase in their share of the vote almost entirely at the expensive of the Conservatives. From this, Labour managed to increase their majority control of the council. This marked the first election in Welwyn Hatfield's local elections that an independent candidate stood for a seat. They came third in the Welwyn South ward, below the Conservatives and Labour but beating the Liberals.

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References

↑ "Notice of Election". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "Local elections 2023: Tories lose Dacorum, Hertsmere, East Herts and Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
↑ "RECAP: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election results 2023 on historic day". Welwyn Hatfield Times. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
↑ Mountney, Dan (19 May 2023). "Labour and Lib Dem joint administration to lead Welwyn Hatfield". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
↑ "Local Election Results 2023 - Welwyn Hatfield". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
↑ "Election Day - Thursday 4 May 2023". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council . Retrieved 11 April 2023.

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[fn0-6] The missing 0.5% of total percentage consists of 145 rejected votes across the wards.

[fn1-8] 1 2 3 In 2022 Handside had two seats up for election, so these parties' two candidate's average performance is used in calculating the change.

[1] "Notice of Election". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.

[2] "Local elections 2023: Tories lose Dacorum, Hertsmere, East Herts and Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.

[3] "RECAP: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election results 2023 on historic day". Welwyn Hatfield Times. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.

[4] Mountney, Dan (19 May 2023). "Labour and Lib Dem joint administration to lead Welwyn Hatfield". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 23 May 2023.

[5] "Local Election Results 2023 - Welwyn Hatfield". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 April 2024.

[7] "Election Day - Thursday 4 May 2023". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council . Retrieved 11 April 2023.

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v t e Council elections in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021
Broxbourne Borough Council	1973 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Dacorum Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
East Hertfordshire District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Hertsmere Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2019 2023
North Hertfordshire District Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
St Albans City and District Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Stevenage Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Three Rivers District Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Watford Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council	1973 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
See also: Wards Boundary changes Middlesex County Council elections