Sunderland City Council elections 2024 - voting, candidates, seats to watch, and everything else you need to know

Voters will go to the polls across Sunderland on May 2 as part of the 2024 local elections.

Sunderland City Council’s Labour Group is bidding to retain the party’s grip on power in the city, after gaining three seats in last year’s election.

While Labour’s overall control of the council is not under threat this year, it promises to be an interesting election night with a range of battles to keep an eye on.

Here is everything you need to know about what’s happening in Sunderland ahead of polling day.

How many councillors are up for election?

There are 25 seats up for grabs on polling day, with one seat in each of the city’s 25 wards being contested.

Each ward across the city has three seats and is represented by three councillors.

As Sunderland City Council runs its elections by ‘thirds’, only one councillor will be elected to each ward across the city on May 2, 2024.

What is the current make-up of the council?

Labour has been in power on Sunderland City Council for decades and despite losing seats to opposition parties in recent years, it retains majority control of the local authority.

The council’s political make-up has changed over the past year, both before and after the local elections, following a number of defections from opposition councillors.

As things stand, the council’s Labour Group controls 47 of the 75 seats on the council, and the Sunderland Conservatives are the main opposition party with 13 councillors.

The Wearside Liberal Democrats are the third largest party on the council with 12 councillors, and Reform UK are the smallest opposition party with one councillor.

At the time of writing, there is one independent councillor and one vacancy formerly held by an independent.

Who is the leader of the council?

Councillor Graeme Miller has been council leader since 2018 and in elections since, the Labour Party has seen large numbers of seats lost to opposition parties.

However, the 2023 local elections saw the Labour Party hold key seats and make gains which Cllr Miller welcomed, describing the shift as the city’s electorate “beginning to have trust in us again”.

The 2024 local elections will see around half of the 25 seats up for grabs being defended by incumbent opposition councillors, including members of the Sunderland Conservatives and Wearside Liberal Democrats.

Several senior Labour councillors, including three members of the city’s ruling cabinet responsible for city development, health and culture respectively, will also be seeking re-election.

Which seats are being fought over?

Labour will be looking to take seats from opposition parties in wards where they had success last year.

This includes the Barnes and St Anne’s wards, which will be defended by incumbent Conservative councillors, as well as Labour and other political parties eyeing an election win in Ryhope.

The Sunderland Conservatives, who are named as the ‘Local Conservatives’ on ballot papers this year, will see councillors defending seats across the city in several wards.

This includes St Chad’s ward on the outskirts of Sunderland, the St Michael’s ward covering Ashbrooke and Tunstall and St Peter’s ward, which covers parts of the riverside and Roker.

The Fulwell ward in particular is one to watch with the last remaining Conservative councillor for Fulwell, Michael Hartnack, defending his seat following Lib Dem gains in the area in previous local elections.

Meanwhile, the Wearside Liberal Democrats will be looking to defend seats in Doxford, Hendon, Millfield, Pallion and Sandhill wards.

Pallion ward was once a stronghold for the party but now has only one Lib Dem representative following a number of defections in 2023, with Lib Dem councillor George Smith joining the Labour Party and Lib Dem councillor Colin Nicholson quitting the party to sit as an independent.

The seat held by Cllr Nicholson, who is not seeking re-election this year, will be up for grabs with the Wearside Liberal Democrats looking to defend this seat from Labour, Local Conservatives, Reform UK and the Green Party.

The Wearside Liberal Democrats will also be defending their only seat in the Hendon ward, following Labour wins in the last two rounds of local elections.

Washington has largely remained a Labour area in recent polls, with only the Green Party and Conservatives previously breaking through to win seats in the Washington South ward.

In the run-up to this year’s local elections, councillor Paul Donaghy is the only incumbent opposition councillor in the wider Washington area and will be defending his seat for Reform UK.

The councillor, who was elected as a Conservative before defecting to Reform UK in early 2023, is also Reform UK’s candidate in this year’s elections for the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority.

Reform UK stood local election candidates across Sunderland last year and are looking to gain more seats on the city council in 2024, with candidates standing in every ward.

Anything else to watch out for on election night?

The Green Party have stood candidates across the majority of wards in the city this year and are looking to regain a seat at the table on Sunderland City Council.

The Green Party’s first and sole representative on the council Dom Armstrong resigned as a councillor in 2021 after clashing with the party nationally, and the Green Party have failed to win a city council seat since.

Labour cabinet members Kevin Johnston, Kelly Chequer and John Price will be defending their seats in the Copt Hill, Southwick and Houghton wards respectively.

Meanwhile, the current and former leaders of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, Paul Edgeworth and Niall Hodson, will be seeking re-election in their respective Sandhill and Millfield wards.

Councillor Lyall Reed, the deputy leader of the Sunderland Conservatives, will be defending his seat in St Michael’s ward.

Several independents and serving councillors on Hetton Town Council are standing again in the Houghton and Hetton wards.

Following veteran Labour councillor Patricia Smith’s decision to not stand for re-election, there will also be a contest for a new councillor in the Silksworth ward.

What happens on May 2?

Voters will go to polling stations across the city on May 2 up until 10pm, when the polls close.

The ballots will then be transported from polling stations to Silksworth Community Pool, Tennis and Wellness Centre for verification and counting.

The results of polls will be declared by ward throughout the night, with the final result announced either on May 2 or in the early hours of Friday.

An annual meeting of Sunderland City Council is normally held in the weeks after the local elections to appoint councillors to committees and positions, and to appoint a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Sunderland.

Here is the full list of the Sunderland City Council candidates vying for your vote on May 2, 2024.

BARNES

Alan Douglas BILTON (Reform UK)

Richard DUNN (Local Conservatives)

Tim ELLIS-DALE (Liberal Democrat)

Fiona TOBIN (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Mark Dominic TYERS (Green Party Candidate)

CASTLE

Mia COUPLAND (Liberal Democrat)

Dawn Marie JACKSON (Green Party Candidate)

Christopher John ROSE (Local Conservatives)

Keith SAMME (Reform UK)

Denny WILSON (Labour Party)

COPT HILL

Nana BODDY (Liberal Democrat)

Benjamin William DAVIES-SCOTT (Local Conservatives)

Kevin JOHNSTON (Labour Party)

Michael John LORRAINE (Reform UK)

Andrew ROBERTSON (Green Party Candidate)

DOXFORD

Martha Rachel Maitland BRADLEY (Green Party Candidate)

George Edward BROWN (Local Conservatives)

Paul Wilfred Leslie GIBSON (Liberal Democrat)

Liz HIGHMORE (Labour Party)

Susan LATHAN (Reform UK)

FULWELL

Michael Peter HARTNACK (Local Conservatives)

Lisa Marie HILTON (Reform UK)

Kevin LYNCH (Green Party Candidate)

Miguel Smith (Liberal Democrat)

Andy STAFFORD (Labour Party)

HENDON

Lynda Joyce ANDREWS (Reform UK)

Stephen Lewis ELMS (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Georgina Debra GOULD (Local Conservatives)

Helmut IZAKS (Green Party Candidate)

Ciaran Joseph MORRISSEY (Liberal Democrat)

HETTON

James BLACKBURN (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Ian David ELLIS (Liberal Democrat)

David William GEDDIS (Independent)

Stephen William HOLT (Reform UK)

Rachel Louise LOWE (Green Party Candidate)

Connor SINCLAIR (Local Conservatives)

HOUGHTON

Lynda ALEXANDER (Reform UK)

Sharon BODDY (Liberal Democrat)

Alyson KORDBARLAG (Green Party Candidate)

Craig MORRISON (Local Conservatives)

John PRICE (Labour Party)

Donna Sarah THOMAS (Independent)

MILLFIELD

Syed ALI (Labour Party)

Hardipsinh BARAD (Local Conservatives)

Richard Peter BRADLEY (Green Party Candidate)

Kathryn Annette BROWN (Reform UK)

Niall Dane Hodson (Liberal Democrat Focus Team)

PALLION

Steven Boyd DONKIN (Liberal Democrat)

Gwennyth GIBSON (Local Conservatives)

Raymond LATHAN (Reform UK)

Dorothy LYNCH (Green Party Candidate)

Karen NOBLE (Labour Party)

REDHILL

Steven John DALE (Liberal Democrat)

Chris EYNON (Reform UK)

Susan Elizabeth LEISHMAN (Local Conservatives)

Alison SMITH (Labour and Co-operative Party)

RYHOPE

Janice Susan ELLIS (Liberal Democrat)

Helen GLANCY (Labour Party)

Kevin LEONARD (Local Conservatives)

Tony Nathan THOMPSON (Reform UK)

SANDHILL

Adam AISTON (Local Conservatives)

Brian ALEXANDER (Reform UK)

Dennis CARROLL (Labour Party)

Paul EDGEWORTH (Liberal Democrat)

Robert WELSH (Green Party Candidate)

SHINEY ROW

Katherine MASON-GAGE (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Thomas Alexander MOWER (Green Party Candidate)

Michael Keith PEACOCK (Liberal Democrat)

Christine Mary Reed (Local Conservatives)

Robert SNOWDON (Reform UK)

SILKSWORTH

Mauro Alfiero AMATOSI (Liberal Democrat)

Sophie CLINTON (Labour Party)

Michael ELLIS (Reform UK)

Rachel Sara FEATHERSTONE (Green Party Candidate)

Owen SNAITH (Local Conservatives)

SOUTHWICK

Kelly CHEQUER (Labour Party)

Christopher Michael CROZIER (Green Party Candidate)

Michael DAGG (Liberal Democrat)

Bryan Witherwick REYNOLDS (Local Conservatives)

James WILSON (Reform UK)

ST ANNE’S

Lynne Susan DAGG (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Simon Andrew HUGHES (Green Party Candidate)

Greg Peacock (Local Conservatives)

Audrey Catherine SMITH (Liberal Democrat)

Sam David WOODS-BRASS (Reform UK)

ST CHAD’S

Chris BURNICLE (Local Conservatives)

Scott Andrew BURROWS (Green Party Candidate)

Andrew John ROWNTREE (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Sheila SAMME (Reform UK)

Anthony USHER (Liberal Democrat)

ST MICHAEL’S

John Leonard APPLETON (Green Party Candidate)

Jo COOPER (Labour Party)

Neil FARRER (Reform UK)

Lyall Jonathan REED (Local Conservatives)

Colin Andrew WILSON (Liberal Democrat)

ST PETER’S

David CRAIG (Reform UK)

Liam DUFFERWIEL (Green Party Candidate)

Sam Martin JOHNSTON (Local Conservatives)

John Anthony LENNOX (Liberal Democrat)

David NEWEY (Labour and Co-operative Party)

WASHINGTON CENTRAL

Audrey JAITAY (Local Conservatives)

Raymond John MOORE (Green Party Candidate)

Dianne Elizabeth SNOWDON (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Aimee Lynette TROW (Reform UK)

Linda Mary WOOD (Liberal Democrat)

WASHINGTON EAST

Hilary JOHNSON (Local Conservatives)

Sean Robert LAWS (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Ashton Hektor MUNCASTER (Reform UK)

Crispin Melvill WELBY (Liberal Democrat)

WASHINGTON NORTH

Elizabeth BROWN (Reform UK)

Svetlana RAKHIMOVA (Local Conservatives)

Michael Lee Walker (Labour Party)

Carlton Lee West (Liberal Democrat)

WASHINGTON SOUTH

Michal CHANTKOWSKI (Green Party Candidate)

Paul Donaghy (Reform UK)

Brandon Mark FEELEY (Labour and Co-operative Party)

Peter James NOBLE (Local Conservatives)

Sean TERRY (Liberal Democrat)

WASHINGTON WEST

Andrew Philip BEX (Liberal Democrat)

Sam COSGROVE (Local Conservatives)

Paul Andrew LEONARD (Green Party Candidate)

Deborah Ann LORRAINE (Reform UK)

Jimmy WARNE (Labour Party)