2024 Salford City Council election

The 2024 Salford City Council elections took place on 2 May 2024 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. Twenty-one seats on Salford City Council were up for election; one in each ward, and one additional seat in Ordsall to fill a casual vacancy.

The Labour Party retained control of the council. The incumbent Labour mayor, Paul Dennett, was also re-elected to the post of Mayor of Salford at the mayoral election held on the same day.

Background
In the most recent council election in 2022, Labour won 15 seats, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats winning two seats each and an independent politician winning one.

As the Local Government Boundary Commission for England produced new boundaries for Manchester ahead of the 2021 election, meaning that all councillors were elected before returning to electing by thirds, candidates up for re-election in 2024 are those who came first in each ward in 2021.

Changes since last election
In November 2023 Liberal Democrats councillor Alex Warren (Quays ward) resigned after he took up a politically restricted role. A by-election was held on 11 January 2024 which was won by Paul Heilbron for the Lib Dems.

During the 2023 local elections, Chris Twells, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Ordsall since 2022, sought to simultaneously become a councillor in Cotswold District Council, standing in the Tetbury with Upton ward. He subsequently won both seats, with the Cotswold one being a surprise victory in a previously safe Conservative seat. Twells subsequently sat as an independent rather than a Liberal Democrat on both councils, and resigned from his Ordsall seat on March 15, 2024. The seat remained vacant until a by-election was held on the same day as the 2024 local elections.

Electoral process
The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year. The election took place by first-past-the-post voting, with wards generally being represented by three councillors, with one elected in each election year to serve a four-year term.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Salford 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 will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.

Results
Labour retained its majority on the council, making a net gain of one seat.

Ward Results
Salford City Council released the list of candidates in early April.

Asterisks denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election.

Source:

Quays

 * Compared with 2023