2022 Birmingham City Council election

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2022 Birmingham Council election
← 2018 5 May 2022 2026 →
All 101 seats of Birmingham City Council
51 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Ian Ward Robert Alden
Party Labour Conservative
Last election 67 seats, 50.2% 25 seats, 28.8%
 
Leader Jon Hunt Julien Pritchard
Party Liberal Democrats Green
Last election 8 seats, 14.1% 1 seats, 4.4%
Incumbent council control


Labour



The 2022 Birmingham City Council election is due to take place on 5 May 2022. All 101 councillor seats will be up for election. The election will take place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

In the previous council election in 2018, the first all-out elections in Birmingham, Labour maintained its control of the council, winning 67 seats. The Conservatives formed the main opposition with twenty-five seats, with the Liberal Democrats on eight and the Green Party winning a single seat.

Background[]

Result of the 2018 council election

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. Birmingham was a district of the West Midlands metropolitan county.[1] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The West Midlands Combined Authority was created in 2016 and began electing the mayor of the West Midlands from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[2]

Since its formation Birmingham City Council has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control. Councillors have predominantly been elected from the Labour Party, Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. The council has had an overall Labour amjority since the 2012 council election, when they regained control from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition that had run the city since 2004.[3] In the most recent council election in 2018, Labour won 67 seats with 50.2% of the vote, the Conservatives won 25 seats with 28.8% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats won 8 seats with 14.1% of the vote and the Green Party won a single seat with 4.4% of the vote.[4]

The Labour councillor for Oscott Keith Linnecor died in February 2020, having served on the council for 25 years.[5][6] Labour councillors for Billesley and Hall Green North, Lucy Seymour-Smith and Lou Robson, resigned.[7] The former Labour council leader John Clancy also resigned his council seat in Quinton. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all four by-elections were held in May 2021 alongside the local elections across the country including the West Midlands mayoral election. The Labour candidates Katherine Carlisle and Saima Suleman were elected in Billesley and Hall Green North; while the Conservative candidates Darius Sandhu and Dominic Stanford made gains for their party in Oscott and Quinton.[8]

A Liberal Democrat councillor for Yardley East, Neil Eustace, died in September 2021. He had served on the council for 35 years.[9] The Liberal Democrat candidate Deborah Harries successfully defended his seat in the October 2021 by-election.[10]

Council composition[]

Prior to the election[]

Birmingham City council has been controlled by the Labour Party since 2012. The Conservative Party last held sole control of the council in . It was under no overall control from until 2012, run by a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition from 2003 to and by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition from 2004 to 2012.[11]

After 2021 election Before 2022 election
Party Seats Party Seats
Labour 67 Labour 64
Conservative 25 Conservative 27
Liberal Democrats 8 Liberal Democrats 8
Green 1 Green 1

References[]

  1. ^ Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 7. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
  2. ^ "CONSTITUTION OF THE WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY" (PDF). Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Labour gain control of Birmingham and Dudley councils". BBC News. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  4. ^ Rodger, James (8 May 2018). "Every Birmingham local election 2018 result in full". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  5. ^ birminghammail.co.uk (14 February 2020). "Touching tributes to much-loved Birmingham councillor after death". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  6. ^ Cardwell, Mark (29 April 2021). "Oscott by-election 2021 - Social housing and potholes". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  7. ^ Cardwell, Mark (4 December 2020). "Third Brum council seat by-election likely for next year". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  8. ^ Cardwell, Mark (7 May 2021). "Full by-election results in Birmingham". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  9. ^ Cardwell, Mark (6 September 2021). "Tributes paid to 'dynamo' councillor who served for 35 years". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  10. ^ Dare, Tom (22 October 2021). "By-election results means Lib Dems gain an extra seat on the ward". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  11. ^ Neil Elkes (10 May 2012). "Eight years of Conservative-Liberal Democrat rule in Birmingham". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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