Local elections 2023: Sheffield council remains in no overall control

Sheffield City Council remains under no overall control after its three coalition parties all failed to gain ground in the local elections.

Labour and the Green Party traded a seat but no others changed hands in results overshadowed by the resignation of Labour council leader Terry Fox.

Mr Fox's party remained on 39 seats, four short of a majority.

The Liberal Democrats were on 29, having held all their wards, with the Greens on 14.

The three parties have shared power since last year.

Labour had hoped to regain full control in Sheffield, where they enjoyed a majority on the council for a decade before losing power in 2021.

Their only gain came in Sharrow and Nether Edge, which had previously been held by the Green Party. But the Greens gained Hillsborough from Labour, leaving the local authority in political stasis.

Before ballot boxes had even been opened, Mr Fox announced on Friday morning he was quitting as leader with "immediate effect".

His resignation came after the national and regional Labour Party ran out of patience with the Sheffield group and put them into special measures following a string of controversies over tree-felling, the handling of the city's clean air zone and the Fargate shipping containers.

Oliver Coppard, the Labour elected mayor of South Yorkshire, said Friday's election results showed why "a new generation of leadership was needed".

"The people of Sheffield have today, I think, sent us a message," he said. "We're not happy with just being in no overall control, we want to be the main group leading this council."

Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley, said it was "time that we recognised that lots of people across Sheffield did not have faith in Sheffield Labour".

The authority will continue to be run by the three-party coalition following the election, but Mr Fox's resignation means the administration will be leaderless until the council's AGM on 17 May, when a new leader will be chosen.

Labour and the Lib Dems will now hold talks with the Greens as they vie for the third-placed party's support for their rival leadership contenders.

Labour has given its councillors until 10 May to apply to succeed Mr Fox in a selection process which will be controlled by the party's National Executive Committee.

Sheffield's Liberal Democrat leader, Shaffaq Mohammed, said: "There's a choice to be made. Do the democratically elected councillors run Sheffield City Council - or faceless Labour technocrats appointed by the Labour Party from London?"

Douglas Johnson, leader of Sheffield's Green group, welcomed the council remaining in no overall control, saying it "forces the parties to work together".

"The council works much better where there is dialogue, cooperation, some degree of agreement between the parties, and where there is more openness," he added.

The council said Sheffield's election turnout was 31.81%.

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