The 2023 Luton Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Luton Borough Council in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England. Labour retained its majority on the council.
Overview
New ward boundaries were drawn up for this election, increasing the number of wards from 19 to 20, although the overall number of councillors stayed the same at 48.[1][2]
The council had been controlled by Labour since 2007, with its leader since then being Hazel Simmons. Issues debated by the candidates included the ongoing financial impact on the council of money it lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when flights from council-owned Luton Airport were stopped. Suggestions for how to improve the town centre were also debated, with Historic England having added the town centre's main street, George Street, to its Heritage at Risk Register in November 2022.[3][4]
Shortly before the election, three Labour councillors who were not re-selected to be Labour candidates at this election left the party; two (Ghulam Javed and Summara Khurshid) joined the Liberal Democrats and one (Anne Donelon) sat as an independent.[5][6]
Labour retained a majority on the council, winning 30 of the 48 seats. Of the councillors elected at this election, 20 had not been councillors in the previous term.[7] The two former Labour councillors who joined the Liberal Democrats shortly before the election both stood as Liberal Democrat candidates; both were defeated by Labour.[8]
The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Luton Borough Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.[10] The results were as follows, with sitting councillors standing for re-election marked with an asterisk(*):[8]
Dallow ward was represented by three councillors prior to the boundary changes which took effect for this election. Immediately before the election it was represented by two Labour and one Liberal Democrat councillors, the latter being Abbas Hussain who defected from Labour shortly before the election.
Prior to the election Northwell was represented by two councillors, one of whom (Anne Donelon) had been elected as Labour but subsequently left the party and sat as an independent.
^"Luton election result". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023. Note that when ward boundaries have changed, as here, the BBC coverage compares results to a notional pre-election position which in this case appears to have differed from the actual immediate pre-election position due to the defections shortly beforehand.
