2022 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election

Result of the 2021 council election

The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Bury was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[1] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created in 2011 and began electing the mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.[2]

Since its formation, Bury has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control. Councillors have predominantly been elected from the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, with some Liberal Democrat and independent councillors also serving. The council has had an overall Labour majority since the 2011 election, in which Labour made six gains to hold 29 of the 51 seats. The Conservatives held 17 and the Liberal Democrats held five. Labour continued to make gains until 2015, after which the party has gradually lost seats whilst maintaining its majority. In the most recent election in 2021, Labour won nine seats with 41.7% of the vote, the Conservatives won seven seats with 41.1% of the vote, Radcliffe First won two seats with 5.5% of the vote and the Liberal Democrats won one with 8.1% of the vote.[3]

The Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South, Christian Wakeford, defected to the Labour Party in January 2022.[4] On the same day, Gareth Staple-Jones, an independent councillor who had been elected as Radcliffe First, also joined the Labour Party.[5]

Bury council underwent boundary changes ahead of this election. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England determined that the council should continue to elect 51 councillors and designed new election boundaries to reflect population change. The new boundaries include seventeen three-member wards.[6]

The council generally elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.[7][8] However, due to a boundary review, all fifty-one councillors will be elected at the same time. The election will take place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by three councillors. Electors will be able to vote for up to three candidates, and the three candidates with the most votes in each ward will be elected.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Bury aged 18 or over will be entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations will take place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.

Statements of persons nominated were published on 6 April.[9] Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk (*).