2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election

The 2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey, England.^[2] This was on the same day as other local elections across England.

2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election

← 2019 4 May 2023 (2023-05-04) 2027 →
All 39 seats to Spelthorne Borough Council 20 seats needed for a majority
Registered	77,255
Turnout	24,293 (31.4%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Boughtflower[1] Sandra Dunn Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Independent Leader's seat Shepperton Town Halliford & Sunbury West Last election 23 seats, 46.3% 8 seats, 17.5% 2 seats, 4.2% Seats before 15 8 8[a] Seats won 12 10 7 Seat change 11 2 6 Popular vote 24,720 11,893 11,363 Percentage 38.6% 18.6% 17.7% Swing 7.7% 1.1% 13.6%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Sue Doran Malcolm Beecher Veena Siva Party Labour Green Breakthrough Party Leader's seat Stanwell North Staines Staines Last election 4 seats, 15.9% 2 seats, 8.8% N/A Seats before 3 3 2 Seats won 7 3 0 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 8,696 6,927 N/A Percentage 13.6% 10.8% N/A Swing 2.3% 2.0% N/A
Winner of each seat at the 2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election
Leader before election John Boughtflower Conservative No overall control Leader after election Joanne Sexton Independent No overall control

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, being led by a Conservative minority administration. The Conservatives had won a majority of the seats at the previous election in 2019 but had lost their majority in 2020 following a number of defections.^[3] Following the 2023 election the council remained under no overall control. At the subsequent annual council meeting on 25 May 2023, independent councillor Jo Sexton was appointed leader of the council, with Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Bateson serving as deputy leader.^[4]

Summary

Election result

2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	39	12	0	12	11	30.7	38.6	24,720	–7.7
	Liberal Democrats	14	10	2	0	2	25.6	18.6	11,893	+1.1
	Independent	18	7	5	0	5	17.9	17.7	11,363	+13.6
	Labour	14	7	6	1	3	17.9	13.6	8,696	–2.3
	Green	10	3	4	0	1	7.7	10.8	6,927	+2.0
	TUSC	3	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	37	N/A
	Reform UK	2	0	0	0		0.0	0.5	350	N/A

Ward results

The results were declared on the 5 May 2023.^[5][6] The results were as follows, with an asterisk (*) indicating an incumbent councillor standing for re-election:^[1]

Ashford Common

Ashford Common (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Bhadye	783	40.7	−10.9
	Conservative	Naz Islam	781	40.6	−6.0
	Independent	Katherine Rutherford	773	40.2	N/A
	Conservative	Jugjit Matharu	709	36.9	−4.7
	Independent	David Alexander	706	36.7	N/A
	Labour	Andrew Lamb	491	25.5	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Mockford	490	25.5	+4.4
Rejected ballots			6
Turnout			1,929	29.8	+2.7
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Independent gain from Conservative

Ashford East

Ashford East (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Joanne Sexton**	991	50.7	N/A
	Independent	Elizabeth Baldock	776	39.7	N/A
	Conservative	Rose Chandler*	714	36.5	−8.3
	Conservative	Keith Robinson	615	31.5	−15.4
	Conservative	Vandana Tuteja	544	27.8	−14.7
	Independent	John Enright	467	23.9	N/A
	Labour	Gerald Dare	442	22.6	+1.4
	Green	Chris Hyde	319	16.3	−12.2
	Independent	Gerald Gravett	265	13.6	N/A
	Green	Nigel Scott	253	12.8	N/A
Rejected ballots			3
Turnout			1,958	33.3
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Conservative hold

Joanne Sexton was an incumbent in Ashford North and Stanwell South having defected from Conservative.

Ashford North & Stanwell South

Ashford North & Stanwell South (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sean Beatty	728	43.3	+7.9
	Labour	Rebecca Geach	695	41.3	+6.0
	Labour	Med Buck	671	39.9	+7.8
	Conservative	Sonia Maya	511	30.4	−13.5
	Conservative	Amar Brar*	506	30.1	−7.8
	Conservative	Julie Fegredo	497	29.5	−10.4
	Independent	Chris Davies	421	25.0	N/A
	Independent	Jason Lane	395	23.5	N/A
	Reform UK	Marian Rough	178	10.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			4
Turnout			1,687	25.0	+2.7
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour gain from Conservative

Ashford Town

Ashford Town (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Michelle Arnold	801	39.2	N/A
	Conservative	Olivia Rybinski*	725	35.5	−8.9
	Green	Andrew McLuskey	677	33.1	−1.1
	Conservative	Nick Gething*	653	31.9	−17.0
	Conservative	Paul Woodward	651	31.8	−11.5
	Labour	Mark Kluth	571	27.9	−3.8
	Green	Dene Winch	548	26.8	+4.8
	Independent	Robin Henfrey	519	25.4	N/A
	Independent	Quentin Edgington	499	24.4	N/A
Rejected ballots			1
Turnout			2,046	34.4
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Conservative hold
	Green gain from Conservative

Halliford & Sunbury West

Halliford & Sunbury West (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sandra Dunn*	1,014	63.5	+9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Lawrence Nichols*	921	57.6	+14.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Turner	833	52.1	+4.6
	Conservative	Michael Brennan	489	30.6	−1.7
	Conservative	Anna Nowicka	489	30.6	+2.1
	Conservative	Paul Robigo	477	29.8	+0.8
	Labour	Roger Bowen	281	17.6	+6.0
Rejected ballots			12
Turnout			1,610	32.7	–3.7
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold

Laleham & Shepperton Green

Laleham & Shepperton Green (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Howkins*	945	50.2	−1.4
	Conservative	Darren Clarke	878	46.6	+3.3
	Conservative	Anant Mathur	710	37.7	−3.7
	Green	Stuart Whitmore*	673	35.7	+7.1
	Green	Jill Beecher	614	32.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	John Thesiger	470	25.0	+1.4
	Labour	Pierre Cooper	378	20.1	−0.3
	Independent	John Johnston	192	10.2	N/A
	TUSC	Andy Pattinson	65	3.5	N/A
	TUSC	Helen Couchman	55	2.9	N/A
	TUSC	Paul Couchman	37	2.0	N/A
Rejected ballots			9
Turnout			1,892	30.2	+1.5
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Riverside & Laleham

Riverside & Laleham (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Denise Saliagopoulos*	1,191	56.1	+8.0
	Independent	Daniel Geraci	1,046	49.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Michele Gibson*	1,022	48.1	+9.6
	Conservative	Sinead Mooney*	754	35.5	−3.0
	Conservative	Keith Malcouronne	661	31.1	−3.3
	Conservative	Michael Zenonos	619	29.2	+1.2
Rejected ballots			5
Turnout			2,128	39.6
	Independent hold
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative

Shepperton Town

Shepperton Town (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maureen Attewell**	1,194	57.6	−1.9
	Conservative	Lisa Brennan	955	46.0	−8.6
	Conservative	John Boughtflower**	920	44.4	−8.6
	Green	Peter Hughes	694	33.5	+6.6
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Gammon	672	32.4	+12.0
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Bentley	555	26.8	+14.4
	Independent	Sue Bryer	423	20.4	N/A
Rejected ballots			8
Turnout			2,082	36.9	–2.8
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Maureen Attewell was a sitting councillor for Laleham and Shepperton Green John Boughtflower was a sitting councillor for Ashford East

Staines

Staines (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Malcolm Beecher*	1,222	57.4	+5.1
	Green	Adam Gale	1,169	54.9	+7.3
	Independent	Howard Williams **	942	44.2	N/A
	Labour	Khalid Mustafa	740	34.7	+0.9
	Conservative	Mark Francis	537	25.2	−8.5
	Conservative	Trudy Burgess	474	22.3	−11.0
	Conservative	Adrian Ulisse	343	16.1	−16.3
Rejected ballots			9
Turnout			2,139	31.2	+1.3
	Green hold
	Green hold
	Independent gain from Labour

Williams was a sitting Conservative Councillor for Riverside and Laleham ward, having held responsibility for Finance and Customer Service.

Staines South

Staines South (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Bateson*	1,171	71.3	+21.5
	Liberal Democrats	Jolyon Caplin	1,064	64.8	+16.5
	Labour	Tony Burrell	769	46.8	+17.0
	Conservative	Kathy Hurst	437	26.6	+1.0
	Conservative	Maurice Watts	383	23.3	±0.0
	Conservative	Graeme Reid	337	20.5	−2.8
Rejected ballots			7
Turnout			1,649	30.9	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Labour hold

Stanwell North

Stanwell North (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Doran*	804	53.1	+8.5
	Labour	Jon Button*	798	52.7	+16.3
	Labour	John Doran*	773	51.0	+8.8
	Conservative	Anita McIlroy	632	41.7	+9.8
	Conservative	Jim McIlroy	621	41.0	+1.3
	Conservative	Rohan Vijjhalwar	476	31.4	+5.3
Rejected ballots			13
Turnout			1,528	25.8	–1.6
	Labour hold
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour hold

Sunbury Common

Sunbury Common (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Harry Boparai	828	53.0	+17.5
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Bing Dong **	740	47.4	+15.9
	Liberal Democrats	Suraj Gyawali	648	41.5	+19.8
	Independent	Ian Beardsmore*	608	38.9	−7.9
	Independent	Jacqueline Stanton	348	22.3	N/A
	Conservative	Simon Rollo	347	22.2	−7.3
	Conservative	Jayson Bhadye	283	18.1	−1.1
	Conservative	Alex Sapunovas	227	14.5	−3.6
	Reform UK	Rory O'Brien	172	11.0	N/A
Rejected ballots			5
Turnout			1,562	25.7	–3.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Liberal Democrats hold

Shortly after election, Mary Bing Dong defected to the Conservative Party.

Sunbury East

Sunbury East (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Kathy Grant*	1,068	51.6	+8.7
	Conservative	Buddhi Weerasinghe	967	46.7	−1.5
	Conservative	Matthew Lee	960	46.4	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Alexiou	952	46.0	+7.6
	Conservative	Jay Patel	852	41.1	−1.2
	Green	Daniel Dollin	758	36.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			12
Turnout			2,083	35.6	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Changes 2023–2027

Ashford Town by-election, 6 September 2023

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Norman Woodward	562	37.5	+5.7
	Independent	John Anthony Cornelius Enright	420	28.0	N/A
	Green	Stuart John Whitmore	252	16.8	−16.3
	Labour	Mark Joseph Kluth	212	14.1	−13.8
	Reform UK	Rory O'Brien	35	2.3	N/A
	TUSC	Paul Dennis Couchman	19	1.3	N/A
Turnout				25.13
	Conservative gain from Green

By-election triggered by the resignation of Green councillor Andrew McLuskey.^[7][8]

Ashford Town by-election, 19 June 2025

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gregory Matthew Neall	539	27.4	+27.4
	Reform UK	Jason Ian Gelver	459	23.4	+23.4
	Conservative	Alex Balkan	374	19.0	−18.5
	Independent	Philip Baldock	359	18.3	−9.7
	Labour	Rhiannon Lewis	234	11.9	−2.2
Turnout			1,965	32.6	−1.8
Registered electors			6,045
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	+22.95

By-election triggered by Olivia Rybinski moving to Cornwall in December 2024.^[9]

Liberal Democrats last contested the ward of Ashford town in 2007.