Liberal Democrats to become ‘official opposition’ on Sunderland City Council again after Conservative losses

Sunderland City Council’s Liberal Democrats are set to become the local authority’s ‘official opposition’ once again, following the latest round of local elections.

Council elections on May 2, 2024, saw Labour emerge as the biggest winners overall, after gaining seats from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and removing Reform UK’s only councillor.

The impact of Labour gains on the night saw the political balance of the city council shift again, and the Wearside Liberal Democrats replaced the Conservatives as ‘majority party in opposition’.

The election results saw the Liberal Democrats come full circle after becoming the official opposition after the May 2023 elections, and then losing this status later the same year when a number of Lib Dem councillors defected to Labour.

:: Full council election results here

Regaining the majority party in opposition status this year involved the opposition party defending key seats in Millfield, Doxford and Sandhill, and winning a contest in Pallion to elect a new councillor.

Despite losing a seat to Labour in the Hendon ward, senior figures in the city’s Liberal Democrat group were confident they could build on their successes in future ‘all-out’ elections in 2026.

These elections will see Sunderland City Council effectively being ‘reset’ under new ward boundaries, with all 75 seats on the council up for grabs instead of 25 contested in the council’s normal election cycle.

Councillor Paul Edgeworth, leader of the Wearside Liberal Democrats, said success in this year’s local elections was based around action on community issues.

He said: “In terms of our opposition, it’s all based on real hard work, rolling your sleeves up, getting stuck in and representing the community.

“I think the message from tonight is that you can’t just come along and expect some national swing out of the back of nowhere to save you.

“Having said that, Labour have clearly had a good night and are on the up nationally and I think that’s reflected in the results as well.

“We’ve held steady and it looks like we’re going to be back as majority opposition”.

Key Lib Dem results at the May 2, 2024, elections saw Millfield councillor, and former Wearside Liberal Democrats leader, Niall Hodson, retain his seat with a 708-vote majority over Labour.

Elsewhere, councillor Paul Gibson defended his seat in Doxford with a 610-vote majority over Labour’s candidate.

The Pallion seat up for grabs, formerly represented by elected Lib Dem Colin Nicholson before he resigned from the party to sit as an independent, was also won by the Wearside Liberal Democrats.

As Cllr Nicholson did not seek re-election, the ward faced a five-way contest to fill the seat and Steven Donkin emerged victorious with a 278-vote majority over Labour candidate, and former Labour councillor, Karen Noble.

The only Lib Dem loss on the night was in Hendon, where incumbent councillor Ciaran Morrissey lost out to Labour by a margin of just 28 votes.

Cllr Edgeworth, who was re-elected to the Sandhill ward at the May 2, 2024, elections with nearly two-thirds of the total votes cast, said he was “over the moon” and thanked residents for their support.

Speaking at the election count, he 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.

“We’re seeing that in Lib Dem-held wards that have declared and I think our message is clearly appreciated by the people we’re representing”.

Sunderland City Council’s overall make-up is now 53 Labour councillors, 12 Liberal Democrats and 10 Conservatives.

The overall turnout for the 2024 Sunderland local election was 30.8%, compared to 31.9% in 2023.