2024 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2024 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election was held on 2 May 2024, alongside the other local elections in the United Kingdom on the same day.[1] No seats changed party at the election, and so Labour retained its majority on the council.[2]

2024 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election

← 2023 2 May 2024 (2024-05-02) 2026 →

15 out of 45 seats to Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
23 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
  Blank Blank
Leader Graham Morgan Kai Taylor
Party Labour Green
Leader's seat Swanside Prescot South
Last election 31 seats, 59.0% 7 seats, 23.2%
Seats before 31 7
Seats after 31 7
Seat change Steady Steady

  Third party Fourth party
  Blank Blank
Leader None Ian Smith
Party Independent Liberal Democrats
Leader's seat Prescot North
Last election 4 seats, 7.9% 3 seat, 7.5%
Seats before 4 3
Seats after 4 3
Seat change Steady Steady

Winner of each seat at the 2024 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election

Leader before election

Graham Morgan
Labour

Leader after election

Graham Morgan
Labour

Background

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Result of the council election when these seats were last contested in 2021
 
Result of the most recent council election in 2023

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. Knowsley was a district of the Merseyside metropolitan county.[3] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was created in 2014 and began electing the mayor of the Liverpool City Region from 2017. The body was given strategic powers covering a region that encompassed the former Merseyside metropolitan county with the addition of Halton Borough Council.[4]

Since its formation, Knowsley has continuously been under Labour control. The Liberal Democrats had become the main opposition party by the late 1990s, and continued to win seats on the council until the 2010 election, when Labour won every seat. Labour continued to win every seat in subsequent elections until the 2016 election, when three Liberal Democrats were elected. The first Green Party councillor was elected to the borough in the 2018 election, with the Green Party winning a further two seats in each of the 2019 election and 2021 election to become the council's main opposition. After the 2023 election, Labour held 31 seats, the Greens held seven, independent councillors held four and the Liberal Democrats held three.[5]

The positions up for election in 2024 were last elected in 2021. That election was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, but was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] In that election, Labour won twelve seats on 55.3% of the vote, the Green Party and independents won two seats each on 23.1% and 9.8% respectively and the Liberal Democrats won one seat on 5.9% of the vote.[7]

Electoral process

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The council previously elected its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.[8][9] However, following a boundary review, all forty-eight councillors will be elected at the same time. The election will take place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by up to three councillors. Electors will be able to vote for as many candidates as there are seats to fill, and the candidates with the most votes in each ward will be elected.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Knowsley 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.

Previous council composition

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After 2023 election Before 2024 election After 2024 election
Party Seats Party Seats Party Seats
Labour 31 Labour 31 Labour 31
Green 7 Green 7 Green 7
Independent 4 Independent 4 Independent 4
Liberal Democrats 3 Liberal Democrats 3 Liberal Democrats 3

Changes 2023–2024:

  • February 2024: Steve Guy (Independent) is disqualified having not attended any council meetings for six months. A by-election is scheduled for 21 March 2024.[10]
  • 21 March 2024: The Whitefield by-election is won by Brian Johns (Independent).[11]

Result

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2024 Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council election
Party This election Full council This election
Seats Net Seats % Other Total Total % Votes Votes % +/−
  Labour 12   80.0 19 31 68.9 16,273 63.1 +4.1
  Green 1   6.7 6 7 15.6 5,388 23.2 -2.3
  Independent 1   6.7 3 4 8.9 2,496 9.7 +1.8
  Liberal Democrats 1   6.7 1 3 6.7 971 3.8 -3.7
  Conservative 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 325 1.3 -0.3
  TUSC 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 224 0.9 +0.4
  Reform UK 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 116 0.4 N/A

Ward results

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The results for each ward were:[12]

Cherryfield

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Cherryfield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Sean Donnelly 1,254 84.1 +10.0
Green Patrick Francis Gilmore 237 15.9 −0.1
Majority 1017 68.2
Turnout 1491 18.8
Labour hold Swing

Halewood North

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Halewood North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alan Flute 1,300 71.8 +3.2
Independent Lili Berry 511 28.2 N/A
Majority 789 43.6
Turnout 1811 22.4
Labour hold Swing

Halewood South

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Halewood South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Edna Finneran 978 50.6 +4.2
Independent Suzanne Harvey 955 49.4 N/A
Majority 23 1.2
Turnout 1933 23.2
Labour hold Swing

Northwood

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Northwood
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Matthew Rawlinson 1,004 73.1 −9.4
TUSC Neill Dunne 224 16.3 N/A
Green Russell Greenway 146 10.6 −6.9
Majority 780 56.8
Turnout 1374 15.5
Labour hold Swing

Page Moss

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Page Moss
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Ken McGlashan 1,010 67.0 +0.3
Green John Carine 419 27.8 −5.5
Conservative Ruth Shuk Fun Lee 78 5.2 N/A
Majority 591 39.2
Turnout 1507 17.0
Labour hold Swing

Prescot North

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Prescot North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Ian Smith 971 49.7 −2.2
Labour Tommy Grierson 891 45.6 +0.3
Conservative Peter Stanley Leadbeater 91 4.7 −0.9
Majority 80 4.1
Turnout 1953 21.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Prescot South

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Prescot South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Green Graham Wickens 1,029 60.0 −9.1
Labour Diane Sedman 686 40.0 +9.1
Majority 343 20.0
Turnout 1715 23.3
Green hold Swing

Roby

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Roby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Megan Dever 1,383 59.2 +11.5
Green Carmen Escalante-Callejo 953 40.8 −8.2
Majority 430 18.4
Turnout 2336 30.3
Labour hold Swing

Shevington

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Shevington
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Aimee Wright 1,150 80.4 −5.7
Green Cathy Connolly 281 19.6 +5.7
Majority 869 60.8
Turnout 1431 17.6
Labour hold Swing

St Gabriels

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St Gabriels
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chantelle Lunt 923 52.0 +8.2
Green Crispin Evans 852 48.0 −6.8
Majority 71 4.0
Turnout 1775 24.8
Labour hold Swing

St Michaels

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St Michaels
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joan Lilly 1,154 83.4 +5.2
Green James Brian Taylor 230 16.6 −5.2
Majority 924 66.8
Turnout 1384 19.9
Labour hold Swing

Stockbridge

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Stockbridge
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lynn O’Keeffe 1,086 83.1 +3.5
Green Paul Ryan 221 16.9 −3.5
Majority 865 66.2
Turnout 1307 15.3
Labour hold Swing

Swanside

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Swanside
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Graham Morgan 1,595 82.3 +1.1
Green Jade Escalante-Callejo 259 13.4 −5.4
Conservative William George Finnan 83 4.3 N/A
Majority 1336 68.9
Turnout 1937 25.8
Labour hold Swing

Whiston and Cronton

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Whiston and Cronton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Terry Byron 1,026 51.9 +4.0
Green Michael Antony Rutland 761 38.5 −13.6
Reform UK Adam Heatherington 116 5.9 N/A
Conservative Olusoji Arosanyin 73 3.7 N/A
Majority 265 13.4
Turnout 1976 26.0
Labour hold Swing

Whitefield

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Whitefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Steve Smith 1,030 55.3 N/A
Labour Co-op Louise Harbour 833 44.7 −7.8
Majority 197 10.6
Turnout 1863 23.1
Independent hold Swing

References

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  1. ^ "Notice of election | Knowsley Council". www.knowsley.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  2. ^ Thorp, Liam; Haygarth, Dan; Jessett, Elliot (2 May 2024). "Knowsley Council local elections 2024 live results in full as they happen". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  3. ^ Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 7. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
  4. ^ "Establishment of a Combined Authority for the Liverpool City Region" (PDF). 21 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  5. ^ Thorp, Liam; Rand, Lisa (2023-05-04). "Knowsley Local Elections 2023: Results live as they happen". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  6. ^ "Coronavirus: English local elections postponed for a year". BBC News. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  7. ^ Thorp, Liam; McKeon, Christopher (2021-05-07). "Knowsley Council 2021 election results as they happen". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  8. ^ "Local government structure and elections". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  9. ^ "Election Timetable in England" (PDF).
  10. ^ Teale, Andrew (2024-03-21). "Previewing the four local by-elections of 21st March 2024". Britain Elects. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  11. ^ "The Whitefield Ward by-election result is now in with Brian Johns (Independent) elected as Borough Councillor". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  12. ^ "Local election results 2024". Knowsley Council. Retrieved 2024-05-05.