The 2024 Newcastle City Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 2024, to elect members of Newcastle City Council in Tyne and Wear, England. It was held alongside the North East mayoral election, the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner election, and other local elections in the United Kingdom held on the same day. As with other local council elections, it was held using first past the post, with councillors being elected to serve four year terms.
There were 27 of the 78 seats on the council up for election, being the usual third of the council plus a by-election in the Fawdon and West Gosforth ward.
Labour were returned as the largest party on the council, returning 15 councillors of the 27 seats up for election - a net loss of one seat, leaving them with 45 seats - down three from the 2023 election. The Liberal Democrats continued as the main opposition party on the council, holding seven seats, keeping their number of councillors steady at 23. The Newcastle Independents lost one seat to Labour, leaving them with three seats on the council. The Green Party took their first two seats, winning the wards of Byker and Elswick from Labour. The Conservatives also gained their first seat since 1995, taking Gosforth from the Liberal Democrats.
Following the election, Nick Kemp returned as leader of the council and as leader of the Labour group. He had been challenged for the leadership of the city's Labour group by Cllr Dan Greenhough prior to the election.
Background Newcastle has traditionally been a strong area for the Labour Party. Labour controlled the council from its creation in 1973 until 2004, when the Liberal Democrats won a majority on the council. Labour retook control in 2011, and maintained a majority at every subsequent election through 2024.
Previous election
At the previous election in 2023, Labour won 14 seats (a loss of three seats) with 41.7% of the vote. This left them with 48 seats, retaining their majority. Liberal Democrats won ten seats (a gain of two seats) with 27.8% of the vote. This took them up to 23 seats, their most on the council since 2014. Newcastle Independents won two seats (a gain of one) to take them up to four seats, their highest seat total ever. An independent councillor was returned in Chapel ward, meaning the ward remained exclusively represented by independents. +2023 Newcastle City Council election resultPartySeats WonTotal SeatsVote shareLabour144841.7%Liberal Democrats102327.8%Newcastle Independents244.7%Independent134.2%Conservatives0011.5%Green Party009.4%Total2778
Before the election On 26 April 2024, Newcastle's Evening Chronicle reported that Nick Kemp was to face a leadership challenge from Dan Greenhough, a councillor in Denton & Westerhope. This was the second year in a row that Kemp was reported to be facing a challenge from within his party, with Kenton councillor Ged Bell withdrawing a challenge in 2023.
Kemp had originally served in the cabinet of former leader Nick Forbes until 2020 before resigning claiming he was being "undermined by constant sniping and personal animosities." In 2021, Kemp challenged Forbes for the leadership, losing the vote by 30 votes to 22. After Forbes was deselected by local members in 2022, Kemp assumed the leadership after defeating Clare Penny-Evans and Irim Ali in a two-round contest.
This marked the third year in a row where a contest emerged between Kemp and allies of Nick Forbes, with Bell, Penny-Evans and Greenhough being viewed as allies of Forbes. The leadership would be contested at a group meeting on 8 May 2024, six days after the election. Kemp retained the leadership of the Labour group.
Election result The seats up for election in 2024 were last contested in 2021; because of the delay of all local elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seats are up for election after three years rather than the usual four. In that election, Labour won 18 seats with 39.2% of the vote, Liberal Democrats won six seats with 19.5% of the vote, independents won two seats with 7.0% of the vote, and Newcastle Independents won two seats with 6.8% of the vote.
The council remained under Labour majority control. Labour made a net loss of one seat. The Green Party won two seats, being their first ever representation on the council, and the Conservatives won a seat in Gosforth, being the first time they had won a seat on the council in 32 years.
Seats changing hands The following is a list of seats that changed hands at this election. This is based on when these seats were last contested in 2021, not when the wards were last contested. Losing candidates who contested the election in 2024 are marked with an asterisk (*). +Seats changing handsSeat20212024PartyMemberPartyMemberBykerLabourVeronica DunnGreenNick HartleyCastleLiberal DemocratsHelen LaverickLabour Co-opAndrew HerridgeElswickLabourNicu Ion*GreenKhaled MusharrafGosforthLiberal DemocratsKaren Robinson*ConservativeDoc AnandLemingtonNewcastle Ind.Jason SmithLabour Co-opStephen Barry-StannersNorth JesmondLabourTanya PrestwellLiberal DemocratsJames ColesWest FenhamLabour Co-opIan Tokell*Liberal DemocratsMark Mitchell
Ward results Sitting councillors standing for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*).
Arthur's Hill
Benwell & Scotswood
Blakelaw
Byker
Callerton & Throckley
Castle
Chapel
Dene & South Gosforth
Denton & Westerhope
Elswick
Fawdon & West Gosforth
Two seats were contested in Fawdon & West Gosforth: one in the ordinary election and one to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Brenda Hindmarsh.
Gosforth
Heaton
Kenton
Kingston Park South & Newbiggin Hall
Lemington
Manor Park
Monument
North Jesmond
Ouseburn
Parklands
South Jesmond
Walker
Walkergate
West Fenham
Wingrove
Aftermath Despite losses, Labour retained their majority on Newcastle City Council. Labour council leader Nick Kemp called the results "mixed and in some cases, entirely surprising" whilst also alleging that "very disconcerting and worrying campaigns" were run in this year's election. He declined to elaborate further on this.
Liberal Democrat group leader Colin Ferguson suggested the concurrent mayoral election had "changed the pattern of how people normally voted."
Kemp faced a challenge for the Labour leadership on 8 May 2024 from Cllr Dan Greenhough. Greenhough was described by local media as a "strong backer" of Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell and the newly elected North East mayor Kim McGuinness. It was reported that Nick Kemp defeated Dan Greenhough by a margin of 23 votes to 21.
Nick Kemp reshuffled his cabinet on 23 May 2024, with Cllr Abdul Samad and Cllr Adam Walker joining the council's cabinet. Samad had defeated the then leader of the council, Nick Forbes, in a selection meeting for the Arthur's Hill ward in 2022, leading to Forbes leaving the council and his role as leader.
Changes between 2024 and 2026 July 2024: Gerry Keating (Liberal Democrats) resigned as a North Jesmond councillor on health grounds, triggering a by-election. September 2024: Peter Allen (Liberal Democrats) won the North Jesmond by-election. September–October 2024: Nick Kemp resigned as council leader on 20 September and Karen Kilgour was appointed in his place on 2 October, becoming the council's first female leader. October 2024: Thom Campion, who had been elected as a Liberal Democrat, was suspended by the party and was thereafter listed by the council as an independent. November 2024: Nick Kemp, John Stokel-Walker, Marion Williams, David Wood, Margaret Wood and Stevie Wood left Labour to sit as independents, depriving Labour of its council majority. April 2025: Jane Byrne left Labour to sit as an independent. May 2025: The six councillors who had left Labour in November 2024 formed the East End and Associates Independents group, led by Marion Williams. July 2025: Milo Barnett (Labour) resigned as a South Jesmond councillor for work reasons, triggering a by-election. August 2025: Sarah Peters (Green Party) gained the South Jesmond seat from Labour. November 2025: Alistair Chisholm left Labour and joined the Green Party. January 2026: Lesley Storey and Paul Frew (both Labour) resigned as councillors. Their seats remained vacant because of the proximity of the May 2026 all-out election.
By-elections
North Jesmond
The by-election followed the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Gerry Keating on health grounds.
South Jesmond
The by-election followed the resignation of Labour councillor Milo Barnett for work reasons.
References