2026 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election

Last updated
2026 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election
County Flag of Greater Manchester.svg
←  2024
7 May 2026 (2026-05-07)
2027 →
20 out of 60 seats to Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
31 seats needed for a majority
  No image wide.svg No image wide.svg No image wide.svg
LeaderArooj ShahHoward SykesKamran Ghafoor
Party Labour Liberal Democrats Oldham Group
Last election27 seats, 29.1%9 seats, 14.2%Did not exist
Current seats27 [1] 99
  No image wide.svg No image wide.svg No image wide.svg
LeaderMax Woodvine
Party Conservative Independent Reform
Last election8 seats, 13.1%14 seats, 38.4%0 seats, 1.1%
Current seats643
  No image wide.svg
LeaderBrian Hobin
Party FIP
Last election2 seats, 1.7%
Current seats2
Incumbent Leader

Arooj Shah
Labour
No overall control [a]



The 2026 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election will take place on Thursday 7 May 2026, alongside other local elections in the United Kingdom. One third of the 60 members of Oldham Council in Greater Manchester will be elected.

Contents

Following the 2024 election, Oldham fell into no overall control. A minority Labour administration was formed which continues to govern.

Background

Labour have traditionally formed the administration of Oldham Council. From its creation in 1973 to 2024, Labour have formed majority administrations apart from the periods between 1994 and 1995, 2000 and 2003 (when the Liberal Democrats became the largest single party), and 2007 and 2011 (having again been overtaken by the Liberal Democrats). [2]

The 2024 election saw Labour lose four seats, and with it their majority on the council. Two independent councillors (both part of the Independent Group on the council) supported the incumbent Labour leader Arooj Shah in a confidence vote, allowing the Labour administration to continue as a minority. [3] Two other groupings of independents existed following the election; the Oldham Group (consisting of ex-Conservatives and anti-Labour independents) [4] and the Royton Independents (consisting of the two independent councillors for Royton South). The Oldham Group has since registered as a political party. [5]

New ward boundaries were used for the 2023 election – this election will be for the councillors who placed second in each of the twenty three-member wards. [6] Labour will be defending eleven seats, the Liberal Democrats will be defending four, the Conservatives will be defending three, independents will be defending one, and the Failsworth Independent Party will be defending one.

Council composition

After 2024 electionBefore 2026 election
PartySeatsPartySeats
Labour 27 Labour 27
Liberal Democrats 9 Liberal Democrats 9
Oldham Group N/A Oldham Group 9
Conservative 8 Conservative 6
Reform 0 Reform 3
FIP 2 FIP 2
Independent 14 Independent 4

Changes 2024–2026:

Summary

Election result

2026 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election
PartyThis electionFull councilThis election
SeatsNetSeats %OtherTotalTotal %VotesVotes %+/−
  Labour 15
  Liberal Democrats 5
  Oldham Group 8
  Conservative 4
  Independent 4
  Reform 3
  FIP 1
  Green 0

Incumbents

WardIncumbent councillorPartyRe-standing
AlexandraShaid Mushtaq Labour
Chadderton CentralNazrul Islam Labour
Chadderton NorthColin McLaren Labour
Chadderton SouthChris Goodwin Labour
ColdhurstAbdul Malik Labour
CromptonLouie Hamblett Liberal Democrats
Failsworth EastNeil Hindle FIP
Failsworth WestPeter Davis Labour
HollinwoodAbdul Wahid Oldham Group
Medlock ValeJunaid Hussain Labour
Royton NorthChristine Adams Conservative
Royton SouthMarie Bashforth Labour
Saddleworth NorthLuke Lancaster Conservative
Saddleworth SouthHelen Bishop Liberal Democrats
Saddleworth West & LeesAlicia Marland Liberal Democrats
ShawHoward Sykes Liberal Democrats
St JamesAngela Cosgrove Labour
St Mary'sAftab Hussain Labour
WaterheadPeter Dean Labour
WernethFida Hussain Labour

Ward results

Alexandra

Alexandra
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Reform Susan Brown
Green Andrea Chaverra Valencia
Liberal Democrats Martin Dinoff
Independent Carol Hardie
Oldham Group Shabir Hussain
Labour Shaid Mushtaq
Northern HeartAnne Taylor

Chadderton Central

Chadderton Central
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Katie Gloster
Green Suleman Hussain
Labour Nazrul Islam
Conservative Iryna Kantorova
Reform Alexander Lomas
Independent Mohammed Razon

Chadderton North

Chadderton North
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Reform Jon Ford
Conservative Darren Lyon
Labour Colin McLaren
Liberal Democrats Prem Raghvani
Green Paul Singleton

Chadderton South

Chadderton South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Green Stephanie Beverley
Conservative Stephen Davenport
Oldham Group Muhammad Irfan
Reform Rob Jackson
Labour Kyle Phythian
Liberal Democrats Brian Witt

Coldhurst

Coldhurst
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Mohammed Abu Taleb
Independent Mohammed Ali
Labour Abdul Malik
Green Tayba Nazir
Liberal Democrats Keith Pendlebury
Reform Elaine Whittingham

Crompton

Crompton
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Latif Choudhary
Independent Shaun Duffy
Independent Alicia Dunne
Liberal Democrats Hazel Gloster
Reform Peter Hanlon
Conservative Darren Lord
Green Chris Mills

Failsworth East

Failsworth East
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Barbara Beeley
Reform Andrew Brooks
Green Laurraine DeMelchor
Conservative Jane Dronsfield
Labour Chris Goodwin
FIP Neil Hindle

Failsworth West

Failsworth West
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Bernard Akin
Liberal Democrats Roger Blackmore
Labour Peter Davis
Green Andrew Jones
FIP Natalie Parren
Reform Mark Ruthven

Hollinwood

Hollinwood
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Saniya Abid
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Adamson
Reform Robert Barnes
Green Callum Holt
National Housing PartyJohn Lawrence
Oldham Group Abdul Wahid

Medlock Vale

Medlock Vale
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Shona Farnworth
Reform Victor Flowers
Green Cameron Gates
Labour Junaid Hussain
Oldham Group Sharoon Zaman

Royton North

Royton North
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Christine Adams
Liberal Democrats Lewis Farnworth
Labour Clint Phythian
Reform Paul Robinson
Green Emily Walker

Royton South

Royton South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Kathryn England
Conservative William Ingston
Green Miranda Meadowcroft
Reform Tony Pinder
Independent Anthony Prince
Liberal Democrats Lynne Thompson

Saddleworth North

Saddleworth North
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Luke Bywater
Green Chris Fielding
Labour Samuel Hollis
Liberal Democrats Michael Powell
Reform Ioan Williams

Saddleworth South

Saddleworth South
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Green George Atkinson
Liberal Democrats Helen Bishop
Labour Archie Duncan
Conservative David Hartington
Reform Christopher McManus

Saddleworth West and Lees

Saddleworth West and Lees
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Green Joe Bardsley
Labour Dave Barter
Conservative Lisa Hartington
Reform Peter Klonowski
Liberal Democrats Alicia Marland

Shaw

Shaw
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Hamid Ali
Reform Steve Eyre
Independent Sarah Howarth
Green Ben Ingham
Conservative Adi Kohli
Independent Lee Navesey
Liberal Democrats Tom Penketh

St James'

St James'
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Angela Cosgrove
Liberal Democrats Roger Hindle
Oldham Group Maqsood Hussain
Green Amir Jhandad
Conservative Tom Noble
Reform Gary Tarbuck

St Mary's

St Mary's
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Oldham Group Sonny Arstan
Reform Ivan Burnley-Davies
Liberal Democrats Joe Gloster
Labour Aftab Hussain
Green Lina Valencia

Waterhead

Waterhead
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Oldham Group Mir Ajawat
Independent Stuart Allsop
Liberal Democrats Alison Bishop
Independent Majid Khan
Labour Ali Salamat
Green Andrew Sinclair
Reform Paul Taylor

Werneth

Werneth
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Mohammed Ali
Labour Fida Hussain
Reform Stuart Illingworth
Oldham Group Rangzib Nazir
Liberal Democrats Rachel Pendlebury
Green Mycul Trelore

References

  1. ↑ Labour minority.
  1. ↑ "Oldham Council Composition: Latest". opencouncildata.co.uk. Open Council Data UK. Archived from the original on 9 February 2026. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  2. ↑ "Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council Election Results 1973-2012" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "Labour narrowly retain control of Oldham Council". BBC News. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  4. ↑ Hall, Charlotte (25 September 2025). "Councillors in The Oldham Group join forces with George Galloway for election". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  5. ↑ "The Oldham Group Party". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  6. ↑ The Oldham (Electoral Changes) Order 2022
  7. ↑ Boothroyd, David. "North Devon Liberals get Instow". LocalCouncils.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  8. ↑ "Reform UK welcomes THREE councillors on Oldham Council". Oldham Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.