Politics
Stockport Council has 63 elected members, belonging to five different political groups.
In the 2004 election, all councillors on the council were put up for election at the same time. This election was conducted exclusively by postal voting. Each elector was given three votes, and asked to pick three candidates. The number of votes each candidate received then determined when they would next stand for election.
Elections were then scheduled for 2006, 2007, and 2008.
In the council elections on Thursday 1 May 2008, in which one third of the seats were up for re-election, there were two main changes. In the Cheadle & Gatley ward, incumbent councillor Paul Carter of the Liberal Democrats lost his seat to the Conservative candidate Mick Jones. Similarly in the Brinnington and Central Ward, Labour councillor Maureen Rowles lost her seat to the Liberal Democrat candidate Christian Walker. [7] However, a short time after this election, he chose to serve as an independent councillor, [8] later in the year returned to the Liberal Democrats, [9] and then in 2011 declared himself independent again. [10]
During 2009, which was a "fallow year" (one without scheduled elections), there were three by-elections following the deaths of serving councillors. [11] [12] [13] Subsequently, Labour councillor Anne Graham joined the Liberal Democrat group, bringing them to 36 Councillors out of 63. [14]
On 2 February 2011, Councillors David White, Roy Driver and Anne Graham all resigned from the Liberal Democrat Group. All three cited unhappiness with the national party's involvement with a "Tory-led" government. They formed an Independent Left Group on the Council, whilst awaiting the result of membership applications to the Labour Party, and subsequently joined the Labour Group after the 2011 elections. [14] Driver was not selected for a seat in the May 2011 elections, but unsuccessfully contested Bredbury and Woodley for Labour in May 2012. [15] He was eventually elected as councillor for Reddish North in 2015. [16]
On 21 January 2012, Patrick McAuley, Labour councillor for Manor since May 2011, announced on Twitter that he had resigned from the Labour Party but that he would continue to serve as a councillor; [17] he joined the Liberal Democrat group in December 2012, [18] but quit in April 2016, a month after being re-elected. [19]
In October and November 2014, Labour lost three Stockport councillors, with Brian Hendley, Paul Moss, and Laura Booth all leaving the party. Hendley had been deselected without his knowing, Moss resigned due to house building on Reddish Vale Country Park, and Booth quit over allegations of a "culture of systematic bullying". [20]
Following the 2022 Local Elections, the Liberal Democrats had 28 seats, Labour 24, Conservatives four, Heald Green Ratepayers three, the Greens two, and there were two independent councillors. [21] No party then had overall control, but the Liberal Democrats became the largest group on the council and formed a minority administration, with Mark Hunter as Leader of the Council. [22]
Due to boundary changes, at the 2023 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council election all 63 seats were contested at the same time. The Liberal Democrats gained two seats, taking them to thirty, with Labour on 24. There were also three Greens, three Heald Green Ratepayers, and three from the Edgeley Community Association. [23]
