2023 Babergh District Council election

← 2019 4 May 2023 (2023-05-04) 2027 →
All 32 seats toBabergh District Council 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Leigh Jamieson Simon Barrett Party Green Independent Conservative Last election 4 seats, 23.3% 8 seats, 19.5% 15 seats, 34.8% Seats before 4 14[a] 10 Seats won 10 9 7 Seat change 6 1 8 Popular vote 11,116 5,671 8,610 Percentage 31.1% 15.9% 24.1% Swing 7.8% 3.6% 10.7%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Sue Carpendale Party Liberal Democrats Labour Last election 3 seats, 10.3% 2 seats, 9.6% Seats before 3 1 Seats won 5 1 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 5,645 4,680 Percentage 15.8% 13.1% Swing 5.5% 3.5%
Winner of each seat at the 2023 Babergh District Council election
Leader before election John Ward Independent No overall control Leader after election David Busby Liberal Democrat No overall control

The2023 Babergh District Council election was held on 4 May 2023 to elect members ofBabergh District Council inSuffolk, England.^[1] This was on the same day as otherlocal elections.

Prior to the election the council was underno overall control, being run by a coalition of independents, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour, led by independent councillor John Ward who had been initially appointed as a Conservative before leaving the party in 2022.^[2][3]

All parties, excluding the Conservatives, stood increased numbers of candidates since the 2019 election. The number of Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates doubled and the Green Party stood a full-slate for the first time at a Babergh District Council election. In contrast to the other parties, the number of Conservative candidates substantially declined, with several former councillors opting to stand as Independents.

The council remained under no overall control, with the Greens emerging as the largest party.^[4] Conservative group leader Simon Barrett lost his seat.^[5] Conversely, Deputy Council Leader and Independent Group Leader Clive Arthey was heavily defeated in Lavenham, which the Conservatives targeted hard, thus culminating in their only gain of the election.

A coalition of the Greens, independents and Liberal Democrats formed after the election with an agreement that leadership would rotate between the groups across the four years to the next election, with Liberal Democrat councillor David Busby being leader for the first year, Green councillor Deborah Saw leading for the second and fourth years and independent councillor John Ward leading for the third year.^[6][7]

2023 Babergh District Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Green	32	10	7	1	6	31.3	31.1	11,116	+7.8
	Independent	13	9	3	1	1	28.1	15.9	5,671	–3.6
	Conservative	21	7	1	9	8	21.9	24.1	8,610	–10.7
	Liberal Democrats	23	5	2	0	2	15.6	15.8	5,645	+5.5
	Labour	22	1	0	1	1	3.1	13.1	4,680	+3.5

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Babergh District Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.^[8] The results for each ward were as follows, with an asterisk (*) indicating an incumbent councillor standing for re-election.^[5][9][10]

Box Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Bryn Hurren*	684	64.0	–16.1
	Conservative	Fred Topham	180	16.8	–3.1
	Green	Theresa Munson	154	14.4	N/A
	Labour	Rupert Perry	51	4.8	N/A
Majority			504	47.2	–13.9
Turnout			1,071	46.3	–1.5
Registered electors			2,313
	Liberal Democratshold		Swing	6.5

Brantham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Alastair McCraw*	560	77.7	–8.2
	Green	Miriam Burns	101	14.0	+7.0
	Labour	Steven Hunter	60	8.3	N/A
Majority			459	63.7	–15.1
Turnout			721	33.9	–7.0
Registered electors			2,127
	Independenthold		Swing	7.9

Bures St Mary & Nayland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Isabelle Reece	369	39.8	–13.4
	Green	Patrick McKenna	319	34.4	–12.4
	Liberal Democrats	Rain Welham-Cobb	165	17.8	N/A
	Labour	Julian Freeman	73	7.9	N/A
Majority			50	5.4	–1.0
Turnout			932	41.6	+7.4
Registered electors			2,242
	Conservativehold		Swing	0.5

Copdock & Washbrook

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Busby*	591	56.4	–5.0
	Conservative	Christopher Hudson	309	29.5	–9.1
	Green	Karen Marshall	147	14.0	N/A
Majority			282	26.9	+4.1
Turnout			1,061	39.8	±0.0
Registered electors			2,663
	Liberal Democratshold		Swing	2.1

East Bergholt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Sallie Davies	546	52.7	+27.0
	Independent	John Hinton*	253	24.4	–20.0
	Conservative	Stephen Williams	141	13.6	–16.4
	Labour	Adrian James	74	7.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Lauren De Banks	22	2.1	N/A
Majority			293	28.3	N/A
Turnout			1,044	46.5	+5.6
Registered electors			2,243
	Greengain fromIndependent		Swing	23.5

Ganges

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Derek Davis*	310	45.9	–25.0
	Conservative	Shane Rolin	190	28.1	+14.1
	Green	Shazz Kennedy	67	9.9	+1.7
	Labour	Simon Whitney	63	9.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Woodcraft	45	6.7	–0.1
Majority			120	17.8	–39.1
Turnout			676	34.1	–7.9
Registered electors			1,982
	Independenthold		Swing	19.6

Hadleigh North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Simon Dowling	230	33.8	+13.8
	Conservative	Sian Dawson*	199	29.3	–6.7
	Independent	Gordon McLeod	101	14.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	David Butcher	80	11.8	–10.5
	Labour	Andy Kennedy	70	10.3	–11.5
Majority			31	4.5	N/A
Turnout			686	30.3	–2.2
Registered electors			2,266
	Greengain fromConservative		Swing	10.3

Sudbury South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Laura Smith	414	50.1	+38.4
	Conservative	Jacqueline Rawlinson	191	23.1	–12.5
	Labour	Luke Cresswell	167	20.2	–7.7
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Welsh	55	6.7	–6.8
Majority			223	27.0	N/A
Turnout			841	38.0	+3.2
Registered electors			2,215
	Greengain fromConservative		Swing	25.5

• Babergh results page

• Babergh District Council elections
• 2023 English local elections
• 2020s in Suffolk

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