Labour has strengthened its grip on power at Sunderland City Council following the latest local elections, after taking several seats from opposition parties.

Senior figures in Wearside’s ruling Labour Group said they were pleased with the results of the 2024 polls, which saw the Labour Party increase its overall majority on the city council.

As the polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, May 2, candidates flocked to Silksworth Community Pool, Tennis and Wellness Centre where votes were verified and counted for the 25 seats contested across the city.

After the final ward was declared in the early hours of Friday, Labour had successfully defended all its seats while gaining seats in several wards including St Anne’s, Washington South, Barnes, St Peter’s and Hendon.

The Wearside Liberal Democrats failed to gain a third seat from the Conservatives in Fulwell, and also lost a councillor in Hendon to a Labour candidate.

Three Labour cabinet members, Kevin Johnston, Kelly Chequer and John Price, also defended their seats in Copt Hill, Southwick, and Houghton respectively.

As the city council holds its elections by ‘thirds’, only 25 of 75 seats on the council were contested on May 2, with around half involving opposition parties defending their seats.

Although Conservatives defended several key seats in Fulwell, St Chad’s and St Michael’s. they were left counting their losses after losing wards to Labour in Barnes, St Anne’s and St Peter’s.

This represented a loss of three councillors, and the Conservatives losing their status as the official opposition on the council to the Liberal Democrats.

Councillor Phil Tye, chair of Sunderland Labour Group, welcomed the results.

Speaking at the local election count, he said: “It’s been a really, really good night for us to be able to take seats from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives and we thank the residents of the city for that.

“There’s a significant amount of work that we’re doing in the city that residents can now see.

“The difference in the numbers in some of the wards where we were really chasing, their majorities and Conservative majorities are well down.

“It’s a ringing endorsement for the Labour Party that the country is ready for change.

“It’s about time the Conservatives move aside and lets have an election and start putting this country back together”.

After losing a large number of Labour councillors over elections in 2019 and 2021, the Labour Party started to reverse the trend in 2023 when it picked up three seats.

Following local election results on May 2, 2024, and two Lib Dem councillors defecting to Labour in late-2023, the Labour Party has increased its overall majority on Sunderland City Council further.

Cllr Tye said the 2024 local election results represented increased confidence in Labour and its agenda for the city, from major regeneration plans, to policies supporting the most vulnerable.

He added local election results were an early message from voters ahead of the General Election.

Although the Liberal Democrats lost a councillor in Hendon, the party successfully defended seats in Doxford, Millfield, Pallion and Sandhill.

The tightly-contested Pallion ward, which was previously held by Lib Dem Cllr Colin Nicholson before he defected to sit as an independent, saw Lib Dem candidate Stephen Donkin elected with a majority over Labour.

Cllr Paul Edgeworth, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said the results mean his party is once again the official opposition on the city council.

The Lib Dem leader said he was hopeful the party’s fortunes would improve in future, including in ‘all-out’ council elections in 2026.

These elections will effectively reset the council under new ward boundaries, with all 75 council seats across 25 wards up for grabs.

Cllr Edgeworth, who was re-elected to the Sandhill ward at the May 2, 2024, elections, said he was “over the moon” and thanked residents for their support.

Cllr Edgeworth added: “I think it’s clear that our message of hard work all year round and proper representation, holding the council to account and getting things done for local people has really paid off”.

Reform UK, which stood candidates in all city wards, and the Green Party, which stood candidates in the majority of city wards, did not see any new councillors elected.

Councillor Paul Donaghy, a former Conservative who defected to the party in early 2023, lost his Reform UK seat in Washington South to Labour.

Mr Donaghy, who is also standing as Reform UK’s candidate in the North East Mayoral Combined Authority elections due to be declared this week,  praised Labour’s local election campaign in Washington South.

He said: “I’ve been in and out of Washington South and I admit I didn’t do as much as I could there, so I think the writing was on the wall.

“Labour have put a lot of effort into it and I have congratulated the candidate [Brandon Feeley] who has worked hard.

“If he hadn’t done anything and just got in for being the Labour candidate I would have had a grudge to bear but the guy has worked for the last year so fair play to him”.

Mr Donaghy added that the “tide was turning” and that local election results showed Reform UK was “becoming the second party in Sunderland”.

The overall results on May 2 for Sunderland City Council’s 25 wards saw 18 Labour, three Conservative and four Lib Dem councillors elected, or re-elected.

The council’s overall make-up is now 53 Labour councillors, 12 Liberal Democrats and 10 Conservatives.

You can find out which candidate won in your ward here:

BARNES 

Alan Bilton (Reform UK) 415

Richard Dunn (Local Conservatives) 1,019

Tim Ellis-Dale (Lib Dems) 203

Fiona Tobin (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,191*

Mark Tyers (Green Party) 162

CASTLE 

Mia Coupland  (Lib Dems) 98

Dawn Jackson (Green Party) 62

Christopher Rose (Local Conservatives) 160

Keith Samme (Reform UK) 346

Denny Wilson (Labour Party) 1,130*

COPT HILL 

Nana Boddy (Lib Dems) 105

Benjamin Davies-Scott (Local Conservatives) 316

Kevin Johnston (Labour Party) 1,432*

Michael Lorraine (Reform UK) 395

Andrew Robertson (Green Party) 245

DOXFORD 

Martha Bradley (Green Party) 94

George Brown (Local Conservatives) 200

Paul Gibson (Lib Dems) 1,441*

Liz Highmore (Labour Party) 831

Susan Lathan (Reform UK) 359

FULWELL

Michael Hartnack (Local Conservatives) 1,379*

Lisa Hilton (Reform UK) 303

Kevin Lynch (Green Party) 127

Miguel Smith (Lib Dems) 1,254

Andy Stafford (Labour Party) 791

HENDON 

Lynda Andrews (Reform UK) 258

Stephen Elms (Labour and Co-operative Party) 976*

Georgina Gould (Local Conservatives) 144

Helmut Izaks (Green Party) 125

Ciaran Morrissey (Lib Dems) 948

HETTON 

James Blackburn (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,153*

Ian Ellis (Lib Dems) 62

David Geddis (Independent) 721

Stephen Holt (Reform UK) 269

Rachel Lowe (Green Party) 123

Connor Sinclair (Local Conservatives) 145

HOUGHTON 

Lynda Alexander (Reform UK) 79

Sharon Boddy (Lib Dems) 93

Alyson Kordbarlag (Green Party) 106

Craig Morrison (Local Conservatives) 249

John Price (Labour Party) 1,692*

Donna Thomas (Independent) 236

MILLFIELD 

Syed Ali (Labour Party) 742

Hardipsinh Barad (Local Conservatives) 110

Richard Bradley (Green Party) 118

Kathryn Brown (Reform UK) 156

Niall Hodson (Lib Dems) 1,450*

PALLION 

Steven Donkin (Lib Dems) 1,147*

Gwennyth Gibson (Local Conservatives) 73

Raymond Lathan (Reform UK) 255

Dorothy Lynch (Green Party) 38

Karen Noble (Labour Party) 869

REDHILL

Steven Dale (Lib Dems) 128

Chris Eynon (Reform UK) 579

Susan Leishman (Local Conservatives) 156

Alison Smith (Labour and Co-operative Party) 931*

RYHOPE 

Janice Ellis (Lib Dems) 167

Helen Glancy (Labour Party) 1,356*

Kevin Leonard (Local Conservatives) 345

Tony Thompson (Reform UK) 656

SANDHILL 

Adam Aiston (Local Conservatives) 60

Brian Alexander (Reform UK) 215

Dennis Carroll (Labour Party) 543

Paul Edgeworth (Lib Dems) 1,318*

Robert Welsh (Green Party) 42*

SHINEY ROW 

Katherine Mason-Gage (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,605*

Thomas Mower (Green Party) 252

Michael Peacock (Lib Dems) 89

Christine Reed (Local Conservatives) 358

Robert Snowdon (Reform UK) 466

SILKSWORTH

Mauro Amatosi (Lib Dems) 50

Sophie Clinton (Labour) 1,322*

Michael Ellis (Reform UK) 380

Rachel Featherstone (Green Party) 551

Owen Snaith (Local Conservatives) 243

SOUTHWICK 

Kelly Chequer (Labour Party) 1,141*

Christopher Crozier (Green Party) 139

Michael Dagg (Lib Dems) 115

Bryan Reynolds (Local Conservatives) 227

James Wilson (Reform UK) 453

ST ANNE’S 

Lynne Dagg (Labour and Co-operative Party) 869*

Simon Hughes (Green Party) 119

Greg Peacock (Local Conservatives) 429

Audrey Smith (Lib Dems) 96

Sam Woods-Brass (Reform UK) 420

ST CHAD’S 

Chris Burnicle (Local Conservatives) 1,102*

Scott Burrows (Green Party) 113

Andrew Rowntree (Labour and Co-operative Party) 833

Sheila Samme (Reform UK) 254

Anthony Usher (Lib Dems) 106

ST MICHAEL’S 

John Appleton (Green Party) 242

Jo Cooper (Labour Party) 1,201

Neil Farrer (Reform UK) 270

Lyall Reed (Local Conservatives) 1,525

Colin Wilson (Lib Dems) 102

ST PETER’S

David Craig (Reform UK) 411

Liam Dufferwiel (Green Party) 143

Sam Johnston (Local Conservatives) 1,074

John Lennox (Lib Dems) 255

David Newey (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,167*

WASHINGTON CENTRAL 

Audrey Jaitay (Local Conservatives) 445

Raymond Moore (Green Party) 133

Dianne Snowdon (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,673*

Aimee Trow (Reform UK) 320

Linda Wood (Lib Dems) 90

WASHINGTON EAST 

Hilary Johnson (Local Conservatives) 550

Sean Laws (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,632*

Ashton Muncaster (Reform UK) 466

Crispin Welby (Lib Dems) 293

WASHINGTON NORTH 

Elizabeth Brown (Reform UK) 478

Svetlana Rakhimova (Local Conservatives) 179

Michael Walker (Labour Party) 1,389*

Carlton West (Lib Dems) 123

WASHINGTON SOUTH 

Michal Chantkowski (Green Party) 96

Paul Donaghy (Reform UK) 382

Brandon Feeley (Labour and Co-operative Party) 1,545*

Peter Noble (Local Conservatives) 890

Sean Terry (Lib Dems) 82

WASHINGTON WEST 

Andrew Bex (Lib Dems) 215

Sam Cosgrove (Local Conservatives) 395

Paul Leonard (Green Party) 225

Deborah Lorraine (Reform UK) 492

Jimmy Warne (Labour Party) 1,412*

Caption: Councillors Phil Tye, Paul Edgeworth and Paul Donaghy