| Election Name: | 2023 Rutland County Council election |
| Country: | Rutland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2019 Rutland County Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Election Date: | 4 May 2023 |
| Next Election: | 2027 Rutland County Council election |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Seats For Election: | All 27 seats on Rutland County Council |
| Majority Seats: | 14 |
| Leader1: | Gale Waller |
| Party1: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 3 |
| Seats Before1: | 6 |
| Seats After1: | 11 |
| Leader2: | N/A |
| Party2: | Independent politician |
| Last Election2: | 8 |
| Seats Before2: | 13 |
| Seats After2: | 7 |
| Leader3: | Lucy Stephenson |
| Party3: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Last Election3: | 15 |
| Seats Before3: | 6 |
| Seats After3: | 6 |
| Leader4: | N/A |
| Party4: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election4: | 0 |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats After4: | 2 |
| Leader5: | N/A |
| Party5: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Last Election5: | 1 |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats After5: | 1 |
| Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Leader after election |
| Before Election: | Lucy Stephenson Conservative |
| Before Party: | No overall control |
| After Election: | Gale Waller Liberal Democrat |
| After Party: | No overall control |
The 2023 Rutland County Council election was held on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Rutland County Council in England.[1] [2] [3] This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, being run by a coalition of the Conservatives and independents. After the election the council remained under no overall control, but the Liberal Democrats became the largest party.[4] [5] They subsequently formed a minority administration with the Green Party councillor.[6]
There had been several by-elections and changes of allegiance between the last full council election in 2019 and 2023. Immediately before the 2023 election there were four political parties represented on the council and 13 independent councillors who did not belong to a registered political party. Some of the parties and independents formed political groups:
The other parties formed their own groups, and the remaining four independent councillors (three of whom had originally been elected as Conservatives) were not aligned to any group. The council was led by the Conservatives with support from the Independent & Green Group. The Conservative leader, Lucy Stephenson, was leader of the council, and Independent & Green Group leader, Rosemary Powell, was deputy leader of the council.[7]
After the election the Liberal Democrats were the largest party with 11 seats and formed a new group with the one Green councillor which formed a minority administration. Liberal Democrat & Green group leader Gale Waller was elected leader of the council at the annual meeting on 22 May 2023 by 15 votes to 12 over Independent Rosemary Powell.[6] [8]
| Political group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | +/– | |||
| 11 | +8 | |||
| 7 | -1 | |||
| 6 | -9 | |||
| 2 | +2 | |||
| 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 27 | 0 | ||
Rutland County Council election result.[9]
Sitting councillors are marked with an asterisk (*).
Samantha Harvey had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in May 2022. She was re-elected as an independent in 2023, which is recorded here as an independent gain from the Conservatives to allow comparison with the previous election.
June Fox had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in the Together4Rutland group in April 2022. She stood as an independent in 2023 but was defeated. The seat is recorded here as Conservative hold to allow comparison with the previous election.
Nick Begy had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in the Together4Rutland group in April 2022. He was re-elected as an independent, which is recorded here as an independent gain from the Conservatives to allow comparison with the previous election.
The other previous incumbent for this seat, Gordon Brown, had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party in April 2022 to sit as an independent in the Together4Rutland group. He did not stand for re-election. The seat is recorded as a Conservative hold here to allow comparison with the previous election.
Oliver Hemsley had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in May 2022. He was re-elected as an independent, which is recorded here as an independent gain from the Conservatives to allow comparison with the previous election.
One of the previous incumbents, Alan Walters, had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party in November 2021 to sit as an independent. He did not stand for re-election in 2023. That seat is recorded here as a Liberal Democrat gain from Conservatives to allow for comparison with the previous election.
Paul Ainsley had been elected as a Conservative in 2019 but left the party to sit as an independent in 2021, subsequently joining the Together4Rutland group. He stood for re-election as an independent in 2023 but was defeated. The seat is recorded here as a Labour gain from the Conservatives to allow comparison with the previous election. The other Oakham North West seat had been won by Labour in a by-election in 2021.
At the 2019 election, one of the three Oakham South seats had been won by the Liberal Democrats and two by Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats had gained the other two seats in by-elections in 2021 and 2022.
The independent elected in May 2019 did not meet the deadline to formally accept his position as a councillor; a Conservative won the by-election in September 2019. A Green won a second by-election in March 2022 but did not contest the seat in 2023.
Stephen Lambert had won a by-election in May 2022.