2023 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election

2023 Oldham Council election

← 2022 4 May 2023 2024 →
All 60 seats on Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	35.1%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Amanda Chadderton Graham Sheldon Howard Sykes Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Seats before 35 9 9 Seats won 32 11 10 Seat change 3 2 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Brian Hobin Party Failsworth Independent Party Independents Seats before 5 2 Seats won 3 4 Seat change 2 2
Winner of each seat at the 2023 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election
Leader before election Amanda Chadderton Labour Leader after election Arooj Shah Labour

The 2023 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council elections took place on 4 May 2023 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. Due to boundary changes all 60 seats on Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council were contested.

Labour lost seats, including that of the leader of the council, Amanda Chadderton, but retained a majority on the council.^[1][2]

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. Oldham was a district of the Greater Manchester 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 Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created in 2011 and began electing the mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.^[4]

Since its formation, Oldham Council has typically been under Labour control or no overall control, with a period of Conservative control from 1978–1980 and Liberal Democrat control from 2000–2002. Labour most recently gained overall control of the council in the 2011 election.

In July 2022 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England made The Oldham (Electoral Changes) Order 2022, officially abolishing all 20 existing wards and establishing 20 new wards with new boundaries. Because of this change all 60 seats on the council, three per ward, were contested.^[5]

The election took place using the plurality block voting system, a form of first-past-the-post voting, 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 starting in 2026 and the third-placed candidate will serve a one year term ending in 2024.^[5]

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

2023 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election[6]
Party		Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	32	3	53.3	46.5	69,794
	Liberal Democrats	10	1	16.7	17.7	26,491
	Conservative	11	2	18.3	17.6	26,453
	Independent	4	2	6.7	14.3	21,393
	Failsworth Independent Party	3	2	5.0	2.1	3,096
	Northern Heart	0	0		1.2	1,762
	Alliance for Democracy and Freedom	0	0		0.5	739
	National Housing Party	0	0		0.1	205
	Freedom Alliance	0	0		0.0	71

Asterisks denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election.

Since the elections, the three elected councillors from Hollinwood were suspended from the Conservative Party^[7] in November 2023, forming the "Oldham Group" party. This has caused the composition of the council to change in November 2023, making the Liberal Democrats the official opposition.