The 2023 Peterborough City Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Peterborough City Council in Cambridgeshire, England. There were 21 of the 60 seats on the council contested. The election took place alongside other local elections across England.
The council remained under no overall control, being led by a Conservative minority administration.
Overview Going into the election, the position of the parties and the number of seats they were defending was: Conservative: 6 defences (22 other seats) Labour (and Co-operative): 6 defences (6 other seats) Liberal Democrat: 4 defences (4 other seats) Green: 3 defences (1 other seat) Werrington / Peterborough First: 1 defence (3 other seats) Independent: 1 defence (1 other seat)
Immediately after the election the position was that the Conservatives had 30 seats, Labour 14, the Liberal Democrats 5, Green 3 and there were 5 independents / Peterborough First.
Two weeks after the elections took place, four councillors, Brian Rush (Stanground South), Peter Hiller (Glinton & Castor), Ray Bisby (Stanground South) and Gavin Elsey (Wittering), left the Conservative Party to join Peterborough First.
In June 2023, after an initial suspension, Councillor Mohammed Farooq (Hargate & Hempsted) quit the Conservative Party, citing a "bullying, toxic culture. He was followed soon after by his son, Councillor Saqib Farooq (Glinton & Castor) and ward-colleague Councillor John Howard.
Election result
Ward results Asterisks denote incumbent councillors seeking re-election. Unless otherwise noted, the councillors seeking re-election were elected in 2019; changes in vote share are therefore compared to the 2019 election.
Bretton UKIP (16.7%) did not contest this election.
Central
UKIP (5.1%) did not contest this election.
Dogsthorpe
Independent Colin Hargreaves (10.7%) and the Veterans and People's Party (5.1%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent, Katia Yurgutene (Labour Co-op) did not seek re-election.
East The Liberal Democrats (9.7%) did not contest this election.
Eye, Thorney and Newborough
UKIP (14.8%) and SDP (7.9%) did not contest this election.
Fletton and Stanground
UKIP (16%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent, Jade Seager, was elected in 2022.
Fletton and Woodston
UKIP (16%) and Our Nation (1.7%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent was Imtiaz Ali who had defected to the Green Party from Labour.
Glinton and Castor Hiller defected from the Conservatives to Peterborough First less than two weeks after being re-elected.
Gunthorpe
UKIP (9.3%) and the Green Party (3.6%) did not contest this election.
Hampton Vale
The Green Party (5.4%) did not contest this time.
Hargate and Hempsted Councillor Howard left the Conservative group less than five weeks after being re-elected.
North
UKIP (9.9%) and the Liberal Democrats (5.3%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent was Ansar Ali who had resigned from the Labour Party.
Orton Longueville
UKIP (16.7%) and the Liberal Democrats (5.7%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent, Heather Skibsted, defected to the Green Party from Labour.
Orton Waterville
The incumbent, Nicola Day, is Green Party group leader.
Park
There were two vacant seats in this ward following the resignation of Shaz Nawaz (elected 2021, Labour).
The incumbent, Ikra Yasin (Labour), did not seek re-election.
Paston and Walton
UKIP (15.5%) did not contest this time.
Ravensthorpe
UKIP (12.7%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent, Lucinda Robinson (Labour Co-op), is not seeking re-election.
Stanground South
UKIP (17.8%) did not contest this election.
Rush defected from the Conservatives to Peterborough First less than two weeks after being re-elected.
Werrington
This is the first time Werrington First have contested an election under the "Peterborough First – Werrington Independent" description.
West
UKIP (10.5%) did not contest this election.
The incumbent, Wayne Fitzgerald, is Leader of the Council.
Changes 2023–2024 Councillors Bisby, Hiller and Rush defected from the Conservatives to Peterborough First just two weeks after the local election in May 2023. Councillor Elsey defected the following day.
Councillor Mohammed Farooq was suspended by the Conservative Party in May 2023. Despite being re-admitted in June, Cllr (M) Farooq quit the party due to a "bullying, toxic culture - followed by his son, Cllr Saqib Farooq and ward-colleague Cllr John Howard.
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