2023 Luton Borough Council election

2023 Luton Borough Council election
All 48 seats to Luton Borough Council; 25 seats needed for a majority
	Winner of each seat at the 2023 Luton Borough Council election
Leader before election; Hazel Simmons; Labour	Leader after election ; Hazel Simmons; Labour

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]

Summary

Election result

The overall results were:^[9]

2023 Luton Borough Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	48	30	0	2	2	62.5	48.7	19,199	–8.0
	Liberal Democrats	33	15	2	0	3	31.3	35.6	14,036	+18.4
	Conservative	15	3	0	0	1	6.3	10.1	3,998	–9.1
	Independent	8	0	0	0		0.0	4.3	1,713	+0.4
	Reform UK	2	0	0	0		0.0	1.2	455	N/A

Ward results

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]

Barnfield

Barnfield (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	David Franks*	1,690	52.8
	Liberal Democrats	Jeff Petts*	1,627	50.9
	Liberal Democrats	Amjid Ali*	1,551	48.5
	Labour	Shahriar Ahmed	1,174	36.7
	Labour	Sameera Saleem*	956	29.9
	Labour	Anwar Haque	932	29.1
	Conservative	Alex Dearden	378	11.8
	Conservative	Sam Deekue	371	11.6
	Conservative	Zahid Mohmand	274	8.6
Turnout			3,199	36.1
Registered electors			8,862
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Beech Hill

Beech Hill (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Rumi Chowdhury	2,158	67.6
	Labour	Javed Hussain*	2,127	66.7
	Labour	Rehana Malik	1,928	60.4
	Liberal Democrats	Mahbubul Karim	958	30.0
	Liberal Democrats	Adrees Latif	947	29.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ghulam Javed*	737	23.1
Turnout			3,220	36.1
Registered electors			8,917
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Biscot

Biscot (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Zanib Raja	937	42.7
	Labour	Tahmina Saleem*	929	42.3
	Independent	Fazilat Ali-Khan	713	32.5
	Independent	Tipu Moheeuddin	643	29.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Shahin Uddin	525	23.9
	Liberal Democrats	Junaid Malik	431	19.6	N/A
Turnout			2,222	34.4
Registered electors			6,463
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Bramingham

Bramingham (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Stuart Miller	1,601	50.9
	Conservative	John Baker	1,529	48.6
	Conservative	Aziz Ambia	1,463	46.5
	Labour	Desmond Billington	1,279	40.7
	Labour	Bodrul Amin	1,268	40.3
	Labour	Mehmood Khan	1,171	37.2
Turnout			3,179	33.1
Registered electors			9,591
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative win (new seat)

Central

Central (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Fatima Begum*	626	73.9
	Labour	Yaqub Hanif	447	52.8
	Independent	Belal Ahmed	195	23.0
	Liberal Democrats	Abid Aziz	122	14.4
	Liberal Democrats	Amir Aziz	110	13.0
	Independent	Anwar Hussain	78	9.2
Turnout			858	16.5
Registered electors			5,203
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Challney

Challney (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Basit Mahmood	1,572	62.7
	Labour	Khtija Malik*	1,562	62.3
	Labour	Tom Shaw*	1,546	61.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Javid	654	26.1
	Liberal Democrats	Shahid Zaman	593	23.7
	Liberal Democrats	Farzana Ahktar	587	23.4
Turnout			2,540	27.4
Registered electors			9,270
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Dallow

Dallow (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Mohammed Farooq	1,101	62.2
	Labour	Alia Khan*	1,059	59.8
	Liberal Democrats	Bashrat Hussain	619	35.0
	Liberal Democrats	Abbas Hussain*	492	27.8
Turnout			1,793	32.3
Registered electors			5,556
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

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.

Farley

Farley (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Javeria Hussain*	Unopposed
	Labour	Mahmood Hussain*	Unopposed
	Labour	Dave Taylor*	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

High Town

High Town (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Taylor	798	56.1
	Labour	Umme Ali*	783	55.0
	Independent	John French	446	31.3	N/A
	Independent	Mohammed Shahid	294	20.7	N/A
	Conservative	Lesley Hill	231	16.2
Turnout			1,436	23.1
Registered electors			6,224
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Leagrave

Leagrave (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Maria Lovell*	1,020	55.1
	Labour	Francis Steer	842	45.5
	Conservative	Ifthekher Alom	692	37.4
	Conservative	Malik Nikyalvi	465	25.1
	Reform UK	James Fletcher	224	12.1
Turnout			1,860	27.1
Registered electors			6,863
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Lewsey

Lewsey (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Hazel Simmons*	1,008	74.3
	Labour	Yarun Begum	912	67.3
	Conservative	Edward Carpenter	272	20.1
	Independent	Afia Parveen	142	10.5
Turnout			1,366	22.0
Registered electors			6,215
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Northwell

Northwell (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Rob Roche*	1,400	60.1
	Labour	Amy Nicholls*	1,397	60.0
	Labour	Babatunde Ajisola	1,306	56.1
	Conservative	Philip Turner	664	28.5
	Conservative	Ash Ali	520	22.3
	Conservative	Shashi Rudrangi	482	20.7
	Reform UK	Jim Cohen	231	9.9
	Independent	Anwar Hussain	217	9.3
Turnout			2,338	25.4
Registered electors			9,214
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour win (new seat)

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.

Poets

Poets (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Jacqui Burnett*	919	53.0
	Labour	Aslam Khan*	866	49.9
	Liberal Democrats	Taimoor Ali	749	43.2
	Liberal Democrats	Evaline Omondi	692	39.9
Turnout			1,752	30.2
Registered electors			5,803
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Round Green

Round Green (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Fry	910	48.6
	Liberal Democrats	Zahoor Ahmed	799	42.7
	Labour	Raja Khan	785	41.9
	Labour	Yasmin Waheed*	682	36.4
	Conservative	Saiful Choudhury	160	8.5
	Conservative	Mohammed Shaikh	136	7.3
Turnout			1,884	29.3
Registered electors			6,433
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour
	Liberal Democrats hold

Prior to the election Round Green was represented by three councillors: two Liberal Democrats and one Labour.

Saints

Saints (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Saima Hussain*	1,630	54.1
	Labour	Ghulam Abbas	1,594	52.9
	Labour	Shahanara Naser	1,525	50.6
	Liberal Democrats	Anwar Malik	1,202	39.9
	Liberal Democrats	Summara Khurshid*	1,187	39.4
	Liberal Democrats	Baber Hussain	1,078	35.8
Turnout			3,052	35.4
Registered electors			8,615
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

South

South (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Stephens	710	51.9
	Labour	Charmaine Isles	645	47.2
	Liberal Democrats	Deborah Abodunrin-Olokode	602	44.0
	Labour	David Agbley*	589	43.1
Turnout			1,378	22.9
Registered electors			6,025
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour
	Labour hold

Stopsley

Stopsley (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Underwood*	2,185	76.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Wynn*	2,142	74.6
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Marshall	2,137	74.4
	Labour	Shajarul Islam	629	21.9
	Labour	Imtiaz Ahmed	596	20.7
	Labour	Sadiqul Choudhury	593	20.6
Turnout			2,884	31.5
Registered electors			9,170
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Sundon Park

Sundon Park (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Moore*	1,010	57.5
	Liberal Democrats	Clive Mead*	962	54.8
	Labour	Deanne Johnson	722	41.1
	Labour	Masood Akhtar	630	35.9
Turnout			1,767	31.6
Registered electors			5,592
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold

Vauxhall

Vauxhall (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Terry Keens*	893	66.2
	Liberal Democrats	Lee Bridgen*	868	64.4
	Labour	Shana Begum	422	31.3
	Labour	Bobby Thomas	389	28.9
Turnout			1,354	26.3
Registered electors			5,142
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Wigmore

Wigmore (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Gallagher	1,809	81.5
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Skepelhorn*	1,760	79.3
	Labour	Raja Ahmed*	374	16.8
	Labour	Barnes Mayunga	338	15.2
Turnout			2,249	32.4
Registered electors			6,931
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold

Changes 2023–2027

Affiliation changes

Aslam Khan, elected for Labour, left the party in September 2023. He subsequently joined the Conservatives in October 2023.^[11]
Stuart Miller, elected as a Conservative, left the party to sit as an independent in March 2024.^[12]

By-elections

Bardfield: 26 September 2024^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Anwar Malik	1,169	63.5	+11.4
	Labour	Karen Roy	321	17.4	–18.8
	Conservative	Ash Ali	209	11.4	–0.3
	Green	Edward Carpenter	110	6.0	N/A
	Independent	Marc Scheimann	32	1.7	N/A
Majority			848	46.1	N/A
Turnout			1,848	19.8	–16.3
Registered electors			9,353
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	15.1

Barnfield by-election triggered by the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Jeff Petts.

Wigmore: 26 September 2024^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Adrees Latif	749	54.6	–28.3
	Independent	Carolyn Cottier	209	15.2	N/A
	Conservative	Philip Turner	151	11.0	N/A
	Labour	Farid Ahmed	137	10.0	–7.1
	Green	Elissa Gordon	125	9.1	N/A
Majority			540	39.4	N/A
Turnout			1,371	19.5	–12.9
Registered electors			7,053
	Liberal Democrats hold

Wigmore by-election triggered by the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Claire Gallagher.

References

^ "The Luton (Electoral Changes) Order 2022", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2022/824, retrieved 29 April 2023
^ "Notice of election" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
^ Holmes, Amy (25 April 2023). "Local elections 2023: Can Labour continue its winning run in Luton?". BBC News. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
^ "Luton's George Street added to Historic England's at risk register". BBC News. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
^ "Luton councillor removed from key roles after leaving Labour Party". Bedfordshire Live. 9 March 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ "Councillors". Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ "Local elections 2023: Conservatives lose control of Central Beds". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Local election results 2023". Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ "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.
^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
^ Duncan, Euan (10 October 2023). "Luton councillor who quit Labour party joins Conservatives". Luton Today. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
^ Duncan, Euan (14 March 2024). "Former Labour deputy leader of Luton Borough Council becomes interim leader of Conservative group". Luton Today. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
^ "Certificate of Result - Barnfield Ward" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
^ "Certificate of Result - Wigmore Ward" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

[1] "The Luton (Electoral Changes) Order 2022", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2022/824, retrieved 29 April 2023

[2] "Notice of election" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 April 2023.

[3] Holmes, Amy (25 April 2023). "Local elections 2023: Can Labour continue its winning run in Luton?". BBC News. Retrieved 29 April 2023.

[4] "Luton's George Street added to Historic England's at risk register". BBC News. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2023.

[5] "Luton councillor removed from key roles after leaving Labour Party". Bedfordshire Live. 9 March 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

[6] "Councillors". Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

[7] "Local elections 2023: Conservatives lose control of Central Beds". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

[results-8] "Local election results 2023". Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

[9] "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.

[10] "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 6 April 2023.

[11] Duncan, Euan (10 October 2023). "Luton councillor who quit Labour party joins Conservatives". Luton Today. Retrieved 30 May 2024.

[12] Duncan, Euan (14 March 2024). "Former Labour deputy leader of Luton Borough Council becomes interim leader of Conservative group". Luton Today. Retrieved 30 May 2024.

[13] "Certificate of Result - Barnfield Ward" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

[14] "Certificate of Result - Wigmore Ward" (PDF). Luton Borough Council. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.

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