2023 Election Special: Wirral’s local council election results

The 2023 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election took place yesterday, Thursday 4 May. 

Prior to the local elections, Wirral Council was governed by a minority administration of Labour Councillors.

The move to whole council elections will mean that from this year the council elections will be held once every four years, rather than previously being held in three out of every four years. The change comes after councillors passed a resolution to change to whole council elections.

This is the first election that has seen voter ID implemented. The UK Government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo ID when voting at a polling station.

This new requirement applied for the first time in England at the local elections on Thursday 4 May 2023. From October 2023 it will also apply to UK General elections.

Wirral Council is Merseyside’s most politically diverse, with Labour aiming to regain overall control after running the council with a minority administration since 2019.

But, the Greens could throw a spanner in the works and will be hoping to make further inroads in Labour seats in the more urban areas of Wirral and the Lib Dems have been campaigning hard in some of the Tory heartlands on the more rural and suburban areas on the west side of the M53.

Since it was created in 1973, the council has switched between being controlled by the Labour Party and the Conservatives, as well as being under no overall control.

The LDRS reported that Cllr Janette Williamson, the local authority’s Labour leader, said, “I am really pleased with our performance today, I have to say and we came so close in so many Conservative seats. It’s been a great night for us.”

The LDRS further reported that Cllr Cleary, leader of the Green group said, “We’ve gained new councillors in Bromborough, Bebington and Rock Ferry so we are disappointed about Seacombe but on balance, it’s a massive positive result for us to win in three new wards.”

Following the declarations, Dame Angela Eagle MP (Wallasey) said, “This has been a day of good news up and down the country – Labour is now the largest party in local government for the first time since 2002.

“Today, we’ve taken seven seats from the Tories in the Wirral, and have 13 Labour councillors out of 18 in Wallasey. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the volunteers across the Wirral for their hard work in this campaign. 

“It’s clear the country is sick and tired of over a decade of Tory incompetence, chaos and neglect. Our deeply out of touch Prime Minister has failed to tackle the cost of living crisis –  the country is ready for the better Britain Labour will provide. “

Seat count after the 2023 elections:

The council remains in ‘no overall control’ – Turnout 36%

Party	Seats won	% of votes
Labour	30	41%
Conservative	17	25%
Green Party	13	22%
Liberal Democrats	6	11%
Freedom Alliance	0	< 1%
Independent	0	< 1%
Reform UK	0	< 1%
Yvonne Nolan	0	< 1%
National Housing Party	0	< 1%

Following is a full list of Wirral candidates. • italics denote the sitting councillor before the 2023 elections • bold denotes the winning candidate

Bebington – GRN/GRN/GRN

Bidston and St James – LAB/LAB/LAB

Birkenhead and Tranmere – GRN/GRN/GRN

Bromborough – GRN/GRN/GRN

Clatterbridge – CON/CON/CON

Claughton – LAB/LAB/LAB

Eastham – LDEM/LDEM/LDEM

Greasby, Frankby and Irby – LAB/LAB/LAB

Heswall – CON/CON/CON

Hoylake and Meols – CON/CON/CON

Leasowe and Moreton East – LAB/LAB/LAB

Liscard – LAB/LAB/LAB

Moreton West and Saughall Massie –

New Brighton – LAB/LAB/LAB

Oxton – LDEM/LDEM/LDEM

Pensby and Thingwall – LAB/LAB/LAB

Prenton – GRN/GRN/GRN

Rock Ferry – LAB/LAB/GRN

Seacombe – LAB/LAB/LAB

Upton – LAB/LAB/LAB

Wallasey – CON/CON/LAB

West Kirby and Thurstaston – CON/CON/CON

Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Green	Karen Brenchley	463	4%
Green	Barbara Burton	498	4%
Liberal Democrats	Ross Campbell	469	4%
Liberal Democrats	John Cresswell	670	5%
Conservative	Jeff Green	1859	14%
Conservative	Jenny Johnson	1884	14%
Labour	Paula Kenny	1433	11%
Labour	Mary MacEwan	1388	11%
Conservative	Simon Mountney	1820	14%
Liberal Democrats	Peter Reisdorf	634	5%
Labour	Elizabeth Watkins	1307	10%
Freedom Alliance	Pat Whearty	133	1%
Green	Mark Wilde	493	4%

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