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2024 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council election

Local election in Blackburn with Darwen, England

2024 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council election

← 2023 2 May 2024 (2024-05-02) 2026 →
17 out of 51 seats to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Phil Riley John Slater Party Labour Independent Conservative Seats before 31 9 11 Seats won 7 8 2 Seats after 29 13 9 Seat change 2 4 2 Popular vote 12,749 10,964 7,094 Percentage 40.4% 34.7% 22.5% Swing 22.6% 34.2% 7.8%
Winner of each seat at the 2024 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council election
Leader before election Phil Riley Labour Leader after election Phil Riley Labour

The 2024 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council election took place on Thursday 2 May 2024, alongside the other local elections in the United Kingdom being held on the same day, to elect one-third of the 51 members of Blackburn with Darwen Borough CouncilinLancashire.

Labour retained control of the council.^[1] Both Labour and the Conservatives lost seats to independent candidates, many of whom were allied to the '4 BwD' group of independents which had formed on the council in autumn 2023. After the election there were 12 councillors in the 4BwD group, overtaking the Conservatives who were left with 9 seats. The 4 BwD group therefore became the council's official opposition.^[2]

Background[edit]

The Labour Party have governed Blackburn with Darwen for most of its history. They controlled the council from its creation in 1997 as a unitary authorityto2007, and again from 2011 to the present, with a period of no overall control between.^[3] In the previous election, Labour won 14 seats (up 2) with 63.0% of the vote, the Conservatives won 3 (down 1) with 30.3%, and the Liberal Democrats lost the seat they were defending with 5.1%.

The seats up for election in 2024 were last contested in 2021; because of the delay of all local elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seats are up for election after 3 years rather than the usual 4. In that election, Labour won 11 seats with 55.4%, the Conservatives won 6 with 38.8%, and the Liberal Democrats won 0 with 5.0%.

Previous council composition[edit]

Changes:

• October 2023: Saj Ali, Mustafa Desai, Samim Desai, Suleman Khonat, Adbul Patel, Salma Patel, and Salim Sidat leave Labour to sit as independents;^[a][6] Mohammed Irfan suspended from Labour;^[7] Altaf "Tiger" Patel leaves Conservatives to sit as an independent^[8]

Results[edit]

2024 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	7	2	41.2	22	29	56.9	12749	40.4	-22.6
	Independent	8	4	47.1	5	13	25.5	10964	34.7	+34.2
	Conservative	2	2	11.8	7	9	17.6	7094	22.5	-7.8
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0	762	2.4	+1.5

Ward Results[edit]

Audley & Queen's Park[edit]

Bastwell & Daisyfield[edit]

Billinge & Beardwood[edit]

Blackburn Central[edit]

Blackburn South & Lower Darwen[edit]

Blackburn South & Lower Darwen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Liz Johnson	809	53.8	+9.8
	Conservative	Denise Gee*	696	46.2	-9.8
Turnout			1,505	26.7	+0.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	9.8

Blackburn South East[edit]

Darwen East[edit]

Darwen South[edit]

Darwen South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Matt Jackson*	903	49.0	+3.7
	Conservative	Steve Duncan	734	39.8	-1.0
	Green	Denise Morgan	206	11.2	N/A
Turnout			1,843	28.5	–0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	2.4

Darwen West[edit]

Darwen West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Taylor*	1,293	73.7	+10.9
	Conservative	Lilian Salton	460	26.2	-5.1
Turnout			1,753	28.7	–2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	8.0

Ewood[edit]

Ewood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ashley Whalley	657	52.8	-5.4
	Conservative	Rick Moore	397	31.9	-9.9
	Green	John Milburn	128	10.3	N/A
	Independent	Saraj Mohammed	63	5.1	N/A
Turnout			1,245	20.3	–0.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	2.3

Little Harwood & Whitebirk[edit]

Livesey with Pleasington[edit]

Livesey with Pleasington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Russell*	1,441	74.7	+7.2
	Labour	Isma Sajid	487	25.3	-7.2
Turnout			1,928	29.6	–1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.2

Mill Hill & Moorgate[edit]

Mill Hill & Moorgate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Gunn*	697	64.0	-4.1
	Conservative	John Murphy	272	25.0	+2.0
	Independent	Natasha Shah	120	11.0	N/A
Turnout			1,089	19.8	–0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	3.1

Roe Lee[edit]

Shear Brow & Corporation Park[edit]

Wensley Fold[edit]

West Pennine[edit]

West Pennine

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Neil Slater	1,139	53.9	+2.0
	Labour	Simon Charlesworth	973	46.1	+13.4
Turnout			2,112	35.1	–2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.7

References[edit]