Preston City Council elections

Preston City Council elections are generally held three years out of every four, with a third of the council elected each time. Preston City Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan district of Preston in Lancashire, England. Since the last boundary changes in 2019, 48 councillors have been elected from 16 wards.^[1]

Coat of Arms of the City Council

Preston shown within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire (Unitary authorities excluded)

Council elections

Year		Labour		Conservative		Liberal		Liberal Democrats		Respect		Independent
1973	38		19		0		N/A		N/A		0
1974	38		19		0		N/A		N/A		0
1975	38		19		0		N/A		N/A		0
1976	13		43		1		N/A		N/A		0
1978	18		37		2		N/A		N/A		0
1979	26		30		1		N/A		N/A		0
1980	31		25		1		N/A		N/A		0
1982	30		24		3		N/A		N/A		0
1983	30		24		3		N/A		N/A		0
1984	31		21		5		N/A		N/A		0
1985	31		21		5		N/A		N/A		0
1986	34		18		5		N/A		N/A		0
1987	35		16		6		N/A		N/A		0
1988	36		16		N/A[a]		5		N/A		0
1990	35		16		N/A		6		N/A		0
1991	34		17		N/A		6		N/A		0
1992	32		20		N/A		5		N/A		0
1994	31		19		N/A		7		N/A		0
1995	31		18		N/A		8		N/A		0
1996	32		13		N/A		12		N/A		0
1997	29		13		N/A		13		N/A		2[b]
1998	30		13		N/A		13		N/A		1[c]
1999[d]	28		13		N/A		14		N/A		2[e]
2000	24		17		N/A		12		N/A		4[f]
2002	25		19		N/A		11		N/A		2[e]
2003	25		18		N/A		10		N/A		4[g]
2004	24		18		N/A		10		1		4[g]
2006	24		17		N/A		12		2		2[e]
2007	24		20		N/A		10		1		2[e]
2008[h]	24		21		N/A		9		1		2[i]
2010	24		22		N/A		8		0		3[j]
2011	29		21		N/A		6		0		1[k]
2012	31		19		N/A		5		0		2[l]
2014	32		19		N/A		5		0		1[k]
2015	32		19		N/A		5		0		1[k]
2016	33		19		N/A		5		0		0
2018[m]	35		17		N/A		5		N/A[n]		0
2019[o]	30		9		N/A		9		N/A		0
2021	30		11		N/A		7		N/A		0
2022	30		11		N/A		7		N/A		0
2023	31		10		N/A		7		N/A		0
2024	30		6		N/A		12		N/A		0

District result maps

• 
  2002 results map
• 
  2003 results map
• 
  2004 results map
• 
  2006 results map
• 
  2007 results map
• 
  2008 results map
• 
  2010 results map
• 
  2011 results map
• 
  2012 results map
• 
  2014 results map
• 
  2015 results map
• 
  2016 results map
• 
  2018 results map
• 
  2019 results map
• 
  2021 results map
• 
  2022 results map
• 
  2023 results map
• 
  2024 results map

Changes between elections

1990 boundaries

St Matthews By-Election 1 October 1998^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Veronica Afrin	617	41.5	−28.6
	Liberal Democrats	Anna Riedel	383	25.8	+13.2
	Independent	Paul Malliband	278	18.7	N/A
	Conservative	Elaine Pugh	179	12.0	−5.2
	Independent	Gerald Kerrone	30	2.0	N/A
Majority			234	15.7
Turnout			1,487	30.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Central By-Election 20 January 2000

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Swindells	361	64.6	−3.6
	Conservative	David Hammond	134	24.0	+8.6
	Independent	Bernadette Jones	64	1.5	N/A
Majority			227	40.6
Turnout			559	8.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Rural East By-Election 20 January 2000

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harry Landless	903	82.1	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Bruton	153	13.9	+2.9
	Labour	Terry Mattinson	44	4.0	−5.3
Majority			750	68.2
Turnout			1,100	21.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Larches By-Election 29 March 2001

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Ward	501	48.8	+24.0
	Liberal Democrats	Danny Gallagher	349	34.0	−23.8
	Conservative	R Turner	110	10.7	−0.4
	Independent	I Heywood	67	6.5	+0.2
Majority			152	14.8
Turnout			1,027	23.7
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+23.9

2007 boundaries

Tulketh by-election 14 February 2008^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Rankin	423	34.3	−6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Rick Seymour	400	32.4	+21.5
	Conservative	Paul Balshaw	292	23.6	−6.7
	No description	Barry Hill	84	6.8	N/A
	Green	Kizzi Murtagh	36	2.9	N/A
Majority			23	1.9
Turnout			1,235
	Labour hold		Swing	-14.2

Fishwick by-election 1 October 2009^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jennifer Mein	656	55.7	+13.2
	Conservative	Sharon Riley	283	24.0	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	Luke Bosman	239	20.3	+1.3
Majority			373	31.7
Turnout			1,178	30.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.6

Riversway by-election 15 July 2010 ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Crompton	890	66.72
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Wilkinson	388	29.09
	Green	Adam Vardey	56	4.20
Majority			502	37.63
Turnout			1,334
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+8.6

Cadley by-election 16 September 2010 ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John Potter	721	43.1	−14.0
	Labour	John Young	476	28.5	+20.8
	Conservative	David Walker	465	28.4	−6.9
Majority			245	14.7	−141
Turnout			1,672
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	-3.6

Ashton by-election, 4 May 2017^[8] (term ends 2020)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Liz Atkins	648	47.89	+3.29
	Conservative	Michael Balshaw	477	35.25	+2.28
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Dable	166	12.27	+4.15
	UKIP	Simon Platt	62	4.58	−3.37
Majority			171	12.64	+1.01
Turnout			1,353
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.51

Preston Rural East by-election, 4 May 2017^[8] (term ends 2018)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ron Woollam	987	69.46	−0.84
	Labour	Joshua Mascord	216	15.20	−14.50
	Liberal Democrats	David Callaghan	160	11.26	N/A
	UKIP	Kieran Aspden	58	4.08	N/A
Majority			771	54.26
Turnout			1,421
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.83

Conservative councillor Damien Moore (Greyfriars) resigned from the council in March 2018 (he was elected Member of Parliament for Southport in 2017).^[9] The seat (term ending 2019 due to boundary changes^[10] trigger a full election) was filled in a double election for Greyfriars on 3 May.^[11]

2019 boundaries

Lea and Larches ward, 2024

A by-election was held for the Lea and Larches ward following the resignation of Labour councillor David Borrow on 24 May 2024,^[12] with no official reason being given for the councillor's departure. The by-election was contested on 4 July 2024, the same day as the UK general election.^[13]

Lea and Larches by-election, 4 July 2024 (term ends 2026)^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sean Little	1,210	38.8
	Labour	Mark Routledge	1,077	34.5
	Independent	Ann Cowell	467	15.0
	Conservative	Daniel Duckworth	364	11.7
Majority			133	4.3
Turnout			3,118
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Notes

1. The Liberal Party was dissolved 2 March 1988.
2. Independent 1, Labour Independent 1
3. Independent 1
4. During September 1999 two councillors formed "The People's Party"^[2]
5. Labour Independent 2
6. Labour Independent 3, People's Party 1
7. Independent 2 (one elected as Socialist Alliance Against the War^[2]), Labour Independent 2
8. During November 2008 one councillor changed his designation from the Respect Party to Independent Socialist^[2]
9. Deepdale Independent 2
10. Deepdale Independent 2, Independent Socialist 1
11. Deepdale Independent 1
12. Independent 1, Deepdale Independent 1
13. During August 2018 two councillors formed an Independent Conservatives group.^[2]
14. The Respect Party was dissolved 18 August 2016.
15. During May 2020 one councillor resigned their seat, which remained vacant until restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted.