2023 Liverpool City Council election

The 2023 Liverpool City Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Liverpool City Council. Following a Boundary Review by The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, the size of the council was reduced from 90 to 85 seats with a change from three-member seats, elected in thirds, three years out of every four, following the British Government instigated Best Value Inspection Report which led to the appointment by the government of Commissioners and the subsequent boundary review for Council Wards in Liverpool which the government initiated with the proviso that the number of councillors be reduced and the predominant number of wards be reduced to single members with all-up elections every four years. The election also marked the end of Liverpool's directly-elected mayoralty. After the election the council reverted to having a leader of the council chosen from amongst the councillors instead. Labour retained control of the council and their group leader Liam Robinson became leader of the council after the election.

Candidates
304 candidates were validly nominated to stand in the election. Only the Labour Party contested all 85 seats. The Liberal Democrats fielded 62 candidates; the Green Party 56 and the Conservative Party 39. There were 37 independent candidates although many of these were actually candidates standing for the Liberate Liverpool party. The smaller parties fielded far fewer candidates, with the Liberal Party standing 10 candidates; Liverpool Community Independents standing 9 and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition standing just 3 candidates.

Council composition
Before the election the composition of the council was:

[There was one vacancy following the resignation of Alison Clarke (Knotty Ash) on 22 November 2022.]

After the election the composition of the council was:

Voter photo ID
For the first time in local elections in England, voters had to produce photo ID in order to receive a ballot paper as a result of the Elections Act 2022 which was passed into law by the Conservative government. In Liverpool, at this election, a total of 516 electors were initially refused a ballot paper, of these 278 subsequently returned to the polling station with accepted photo ID and were issued with a ballot paper. 278 electors did not return to cast their vote. There were a total of 62,681 issued ballot papers, so the 278 electors who were refused ballot papers due to not producing acceptable photo ID amounted to 0.4% of the voters.

Results
* member of the preceding council

§ standing as an independent but affiliated with the Liberate Liverpool party.

Allerton
Andrew Makinson (Lib Dems) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Church ward, and in the past, a councillor for Picton.

Clare McIntyre (Labour) was an outgoing councillor for Wavertree.

Labour initially selected Tris Brown, and his signature still appeared on their manifesto on their website then replaced him with student Joshua Falconer before subsequently replacing him with outgoing Wavertree councillor Clare McIntyre.

Anfield
Billy Marrat and Lena Simic were outgoing councillors for the pre-2023 Anfield ward.

Arundel
Laura Robertson-Collins was an outgoing councillor for Greenbank.

Belle Vale
Ruth Bennett was a councillor for the pre-2023 Belle Vale ward.

Lynnie Hinnigan was a councillor for the pre-2023 Cressington ward.

Broadgreen
Nick Crofts was an outgoing councillor for Knotty Ash.

Calderstones
Liz Makinson (Lib Dems) is an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Church ward.

Canning
Nathalie Nicholas was an outgoing councillor for Picton.

+ standing as an independent but previously affiliated with the Liberate Liverpool party, endorsement subsequently withdrawn after numerous offensive statements came to light.

Childwall
John Coyne (Green) was a councillor for the pre-2023 St. Michael's ward between 2004 and 2015, he was elected in 2004 for the Lib Dems but joined the Green Party in 2006.

Pat Moloney (Lib Dems) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Childwall ward.

Matthew Smyth (Labour) was a councillor between 2021 and 2023 for Clubmoor ward (as it existed between 2004 and 2023).

Mike Storey (Lib Dems) was a councillor for Wavertree between 2004 and 2011, a councillor for the pre-2004 Church ward between 1984 and 2004, coincidentally a councillor for the pre-2004 Clubmoor ward between 1980 and 1984, and a councillor for the pre-1980 Clubmoor ward between 1973 and 1980.

Church
Carl Cashman (Lib Dems) was an outgoing councillor for the Knowsley ward of Prescot North.

City Centre North
Christine Banks and Nick Small were outgoing councillors for Central.

Maria Toolan was an outgoing councillor for Central, elected as Labour.

City Centre South
Angela Coleman was an outgoing councillor for Wavertree.

Elizabeth Hayden was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Mossley Hill ward.

Hetty Wood was an outgoing councillor for Riverside.

County
Gerard Woodhouse (Independent) was a Councillor for the pre-2023 County ward, elected as Labour.

Croxteth
Anthony Lavelle was a Councillor for the pre-2023 Croxteth ward.

Croxteth Country Park
Lila Bennett was an outgoing councillor for West Derby.

Dingle
Sarah Doyle and Steve Munby were both outgoing councillors for Riverside.

Everton East
Ellie Byrne was an outgoing councillor for Everton.

Everton West
Jane Corbett was an outgoing councillor for Everton.

Fazakerley East
Alfie Hincks was an outgoing councillor for Everton, elected as Labour.

Frazer Lake was an outgoing councillor for Fazakerley.

Fazakerley North
Helen Stephens (Labour Coop) was an outgoing councillor for Fazakerley.

Fazakerley West
Paul Brant was an outgoing councillor for Fazakerley.

Garston
Sharon Connor was an outgoing councillor for Allerton and Hunts Cross.

Sam Gorst was an outgoing councillor for Cressington, elected as Labour.

Gateacre
Kris Brown (Lib Dems) is an outgoing councilor for Woolton.

Grassendale & Cressington
Richard Clein was an outgoing councillor for Cressington.

Kensington & Fairfield
Liz Parsons was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Norris Green ward between 2021 and 2023, and prior to that was a councillor for the pre-2023 Childwall ward between 2016 and 2021.

Liam Robinson was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Kensington and Fairfield ward. He is also the leader of the Liverpool Labour Party.

Wendy Simon was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Kensington and Fairfield ward.

Kirkdale East
Tricia O'Brien was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Anfield ward between 2021 and 2023, and prior to that was a councillor for Cressington between 2016 and 2021.

Kirkdale West
Joe Hanson was an outgoing councillor for Kirkdale.

Knotty Ash & Dovecot Park
Harry Doyle was an outgoing councillor for Knotty Ash.

Mossley Hill
Rob McAllister-Bell (Lib Dems) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Mossley Hill ward.

Much Woolton & Hunts Cross
Mirna Juarez was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Allerton and Hunts Cross ward.

Carol Sung (Labour) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Croxteth ward, serving between 2021 and 2023, and prior to that a councillor for Tuebrook and Stoneycroft between 2015 and 2019.

Old Swan West
William Shortall (Labour) was an outgoing councillor for Old Swan.

Orrell Park
Alan Gibbons was an outgoing councillor for Warbreck, elected as Labour.

Alan Gibbons from the Liverpool Community Independents Party had succeeded Labour after holding Orrell Park for 17 years.

He was 1 of 3 Independents to win a council election in Liverpool for over 50 years. One of the last was Eleanor Rathbone.

Penny Lane
Richard Kemp was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Church ward, and was also leader of Liverpool Liberal Democrats at the time of the election.

Princes Park
Lucille Harvey was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Princes Park ward.

Smithdown
Dave Cummings (Liberate Liverpool standing as an Independent) was an outgoing councillor for Wavertree, elected as Labour.

Speke
Doreen Knight and Mary Rasmussen were both outgoing councillors for Speke-Garston.

Springwood
Kimberley Berry was an outgoing councillor for Allerton and Hunts Cross.

Steve Fitzsimmons (Lib Dems) was a councillor, until 1998, for the pre-2004 Woolton ward as a Conservative, including serving as leader of the Liverpool Conservatives for a time. Subsequently, for a time, he was a Labour member and candidate. In 2019, he joined the Lib Dems and has stood as a Lib Dem candidate a few times.

St. Michael's
Tom Crone (Green) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 St. Michael's ward and is leader of the Liverpool Green Party.

Stoneycroft
Steve Radford (Liberal) was an outgoing councillor for Tuebrook and Stoneycroft, and leader of the Liberal Party nationally and locally.

Tuebrook Breckside Park
Joe Dunne (Liberal) was an outgoing councillor for Tuebrook and Stoneycroft.

Tuebrook Larkhill
Billy Lake (Liberal) was an outgoing councillor for Tuebrook and Stoneycroft.

Walton
Sam East was an outgoing councillor for Warbreck.

Waterfront North
Dave Hanratty was an outgoing councillor for Kirkdale and was previously a councillor for Fazakerley.

Waterfront South
Patrick Hurley was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Mossley Hill ward.

Wavertree Garden Suburb
Alan Tormey (Liberal) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Childwall ward, elected as Lib Dem.

Wavertree Village
Josh Falconer was initially selected to contest Allerton but subsequently switched to Wavertree Village.

West Derby Deysbrook
John Prince (Labour) was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Yew Tree ward.

Woolton Village
Malcolm Kelly (Lib Dems) was an outgoing councillor for Woolton.

Yew Tree
Dan Barrington was an outgoing councillor for West Derby.

Barbara Murray was an outgoing councillor for the pre-2023 Yew Tree ward.

Comparison of ward electorates
The boundary review with the government mandated introduction of predominately single member wards the target ward electorate was 4,300 plus or minus 10% per councillor, based on estimated ward populations in 2027.The table below shows the variance from 4,300 per councillor for each ward based on 2023 electorates.

Fazakerley East By-Election 14th September 2023
Caused by the resignation of Frazer Lake on 3rd August 2023, following a damning OFSTED Report into Liverpool City Council's children's services.

Broadgreen By-Election 4th July 2024
Caused by the resignation of Cllr. Nick Crofts

Clubmoor East By-Election 4th July 2024
Caused by the resignation of Cllr. Louise Ashton

Fazakerley North By-Election 4th July 2024
Caused by the resignation of Cllr. Helen Avis (nee Stephens)