2024 Hartlepool Borough Council election

The 2024 Hartlepool Borough Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 2024, alongside the other local elections in the United Kingdom being held on the same day. One-third of the 36 members of Hartlepool Borough Council in County Durham were elected.

2024 Hartlepool Borough Council election

← 2023 2 May 2024 (2024-05-02) 2026 →
12 out of 36 seats to Hartlepool Borough Council 19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	28%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Brenda Harrison Mike Young Party Labour Conservative Leader's seat De Bruce Rural West Seats before 17 12 Seats after 24 6 Seat change 7 6   Third party Fourth party   Party Independent IU Seats before 6 1 Seats after 5 1 Seat change 1
Winner of each seat at the 2024 Hartlepool Borough Council election
Leader before election Mike Young Conservative No overall control Leader after election Brenda Harrison Labour

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, being run by a Conservative and independent coalition. Following the election, Labour won an overall majority on the council.

Background

In the previous 2023 election, Labour won 9 seats (up 5) with 44.6% of the vote, the Conservatives won 2 (down 1) with 22.6%, independents won 1 (down 3) with 20.6%, and the Independent Union lost the seat they were defending with 3.1%. Following the 2023 election, the Conservatives, the Independent Union, and 5 independents formed a minority coalition.^[1]

Previous council composition

After 2023 election			Before 2024 election[2]			After 2024 election[3]
Party		Seats	Party		Seats	Party		Seats
	Labour	18		Labour	17		Labour	24
	Conservative	12		Conservative	12		Conservative	6
	IU	1		IU	1		IU	1
	Independent	5		Independent	6		Independent	5

Changes 2023–2024:

• July 2023: Steve Wallace leaves Labour to sit as an independent^[4]

Summary

Labour gained seven seats, mostly at the expense of the Conservatives, giving Labour an overall majority on the council.^[5] Labour's group leader, Brenda Harrison, was formally appointed as leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 21 May 2024.^[6]

Election result

2024 Hartlepool Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	9	7	75.0	15	24	66.7	9,274	46.5	+2.4
	Conservative	1	6	8.3	5	6	16.7	4,911	24.6	+2.3
	Independent	2	1	16.7	3	5	13.9	2,688	13.5	–7.0
	IU	0		0.0	1	1	2.8	N/A	N/A	–3.1
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	2,847	14.3	+6.9

Results by ward

Burn Valley

Burn Valley ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Corinne Male	919	54.5	−6.3
	Conservative	David Nicholson*	339	20.1	+1.7
	Reform UK	Graham Harrison	270	16.0	+8.7
	Independent	John Hays	158	9.4	−4.0
Majority			580	34.4
Turnout
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

De Bruce

De Bruce ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Michael Jorgeson	758	54.8	−9.0
	Conservative	Ian Glass	330	23.9	+7.7
	Reform UK	Trevor Rogan	294	21.3	+1.4
Majority			428	31.0
Turnout
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

Fens and Greatham

Fens and Greatham ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jim Lindridge*	723	34.8	N/A
	Labour Co-op	Owen Riddle	622	29.9	−11.8
	Conservative	Marc Owens	310	14.9	−10.1
	Reform UK	Peter Tylee	262	12.6	+7.5
	Independent	Tony Richardson	160	7.7	−4.1
Majority
Turnout			2,077
	Independent hold

Foggy Furze

Foggy Furze ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Carole Thompson*	927	58.0	+5.6
	Conservative	Chris Groves	503	31.5	+4.1
	Reform UK	Leah Stead	121	7.6	+0.2
	Heritage	Vivienne Neville	46	2.9	N/A
Majority
Turnout			1,597
	Labour Co-op gain from Independent

Hart

Hart ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Aaron Roy	841	42.6	+11.2
	Conservative	Tom Cassidy*	629	31.9	+0.3
	Reform UK	Amanda Napper	244	12.4	N/A
	Independent	Stuart Campbell	164	8.3	N/A
	Independent	Pauline Phillips	95	4.8	−1.7
Majority
Turnout			1,973
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

Headland and Harbour

Headland and Harbour ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	John Nelson	847	51.4	+10.6
	Conservative	Brian Cowie*	333	20.2	+0.7
	Reform UK	Drew Murley	222	13.5	N/A
	Independent	Scott Gaiety	178	10.8	N/A
	Independent	Rob Stevenson	68	4.1	N/A
Majority
Turnout			1,648
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

Manor House

Manor House ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Katherine Cook	625	57.4	−0.8
	Reform UK	Stephen Wright	214	19.7	+6.0
	Conservative	Margaret Lyall	160	14.7	−3.9
	Independent	Bob Eagleton	64	5.9	N/A
Majority
Turnout			1,088
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

Rossmere

Rossmere ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Quewone Bailey-Fleet	649	54.4	+2.4
	Conservative	Marley Haggan	275	23.1	N/A
	Reform UK	Tracy Connolly	269	22.5	+10.8
Majority
Turnout			1,193
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative

Rural West

Rural West ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Scott Reeve*	1,197	48.1	+0.7
	Labour Co-op	Malcolm Walker	833	33.5	+6.3
	Reform UK	Angela Jackson	339	13.6	+10.0
	Green	Stephen Ashfield	121	4.9	N/A
Majority
Turnout			2,490
	Conservative hold

Seaton

Seaton ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Sue Little*	1,078	58.9	+6.8
	Labour Co-op	David Innes	359	19.6	+0.2
	Conservative	Morgan Barker	221	12.1	−7.4
	Reform UK	Paul Manley	137	7.5	−1.5
	Green	Stuart Williams	36	2.0	N/A
Majority
Turnout			1,831
	Independent hold

Throston

Throston ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Martin Scarborough	1,015	62.5	+12.2
	Conservative	Richie Hughes	347	21.4	N/A
	Reform UK	Alec Gough	263	16.2	+5.3
Majority
Turnout			1,625
	Labour Co-op gain from Independent

Victoria

Victoria ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Christopher Wallace	879	64.7	+1.9
	Conservative	Veronica Nicholson	267	19.7	−7.6
	Reform UK	John Fleet	212	15.6	+5.7
Majority
Turnout			1,358
	Labour Co-op hold

By-elections

Throston

Throston by-election: 11 July 2025

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform UK	Ed Doyle	595	48.7	+32.5
	Labour	Mark Hanson	475	38.8	–23.7
	Green	Tom Casey	62	5.1	N/A
	Conservative	Margaret Lyall	59	4.8	–16.6
	Liberal Democrats	Connor Stallard	32	2.6	N/A
Majority			120	9.9	N/A
Turnout			1,223	20.4
	Reform UK gain from Labour		Swing	28.1