The 2023 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other elections in the United Kingdom. Due to boundary changes, all 63 seats were contested. Labour retained its majority on the council.

Background

The

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, the West Midlands, and

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

starting in 1974. Manchester was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county. The

Local Government Act 1985 The Local Government Act 1985 (c. 51) is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Its main effect was to abolish the six county councils of the metropolitan county, metropolitan counties that had been set up by the Local Government Act 1972, ...

abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

s. The

Greater Manchester Combined Authority The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members: 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one ...

was created in 2011 and began electing the

mayor of Greater Manchester The mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor, mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the G ...

from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county. Since its creation in 1974, the council has predominantly been controlled by the Conservative Party, with the Conservatives in power between 1973–85, 1988–94, and 2004–2018. The Labour Party was in control from 1996–2002, and from 2018 to the present. The rest of the time were periods of no overall control. In December 2022, the leader of the council

Andrew Western Andrew Howard Western (born 18 March 1985) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford and Urmston since 2022. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformatio ...

was elected as Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston. Western stood down as council leader in January 2023, with Tom Ross subsequently being elected as leader. In June 2022, the

Local Government Boundary Commission for England The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is a parliamentary body established by statute to conduct boundary, electoral and structural reviews of local government areas in England. The LGBCE is independent of government and po ...

made The Trafford (Electoral Changes) Order 2022, which officially abolished the existing 21 wards and created 21 new wards with different boundaries. Because of this change, all 63 seats on the council, three per ward, were contested.

Electoral process

The election took place using the

plurality block voting Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates div ...

system, a form of

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

, with each ward being represented by three councillors. The candidate with the most votes in each ward will serve a four year term ending in 2027, the second-placed candidate will serve a three year term anding in 2026 and the third-placed candidate will serve a one year term ending in 2024. All

registered electors In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...

(

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, Irish,

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

citizens) living in Trafford aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who lived at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.

Election result

Ward results

* Asterisks denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election. * Double asterisk denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election in another ward

Altrincham

Ashton upon Mersey

Bowdon

Broadheath

Brooklands

Bucklow St Martins

Davyhulme

Flixton

Gorse Hill & Cornbrook

Hale

Hale Barns & Timperley South

Longford

Lostock & Barton

Manor

Old Trafford

Sale Central

Sale Moor

Stretford & Humphrey Park

Timperley Central

Timperley North

Urmston

By-elections between 2023 and 2024

References

{{Greater Manchester elections

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...

Trafford Council elections