2023 Plymouth City Council election

2023 Plymouth City Council election

← 2022 4 May 2023 2024 →
19 of the 57 seats to Plymouth City Council 29 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tudor Evans Nick Kelly (defeated) Mark Shayer Party Labour Independent Alliance Conservative Last election 24 0 24 Seats before 24 5 23 Seats won 15 2 1 Seats after 31 3 18 Seat change 7 2 5 Popular vote 27,615 5,770 15,242 Percentage 45.3% 9.5% 25.0%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader None Ian Poyser Party Independent Green Last election 8 1 Seats before 1 3 Seats won 1 0 Seats after 2 2 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,877 5,195 Percentage 3.1% 8.5%
Map showing the results of contested wards in the 2023 Plymouth City Council elections.
Leader before election Mark Shayer (Acting leader) Conservative No overall control Leader after election Tudor Evans Labour

The 2023 Plymouth City Council election was held on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Plymouth City Council in England. It coincided with local elections across the United Kingdom.

In the previous election in 2022, both Labour and the Conservative Party gained seats, primarily due to councillors who had left their party groups standing down or unsuccessfully seeking re-election. The Green Party won its first ever seat on Plymouth Council in that election. After being deselected by the Conservative Party, the former council leader Nick Kelly started a new "Independent Alliance" group with the ex-Conservative councillor Terri Beer and the ex-Labour councillor Chaz Singh. The Independent Alliance group grew with more defections from the Conservative group. After two Conservative councillors who had moved to Gloucestershire resigned, by-elections took place in Moor View and Plympton Chaddlewood, which were won by Labour and the Green Party respectively. The Conservative council leader Richard Bingley, who had been elected to replace Kelly in March 2022, resigned in March 2023 after controversially ordering the felling of trees on Armada Way. His deputy, Mark Shayer, took over as leader of the Conservative group and interim council leader.

The election was won by the Labour Party, who gained seven seats to hold an overall majority for the first time since the 2021 election. The Conservatives only won a single seat, with ex-Conservative councillors winning as independent candidates in Plympton, where they were aligned with the Independent Alliance, and in Drake, where Steve Ricketts returned to the council after losing his seat as a Conservative in 2018.