Sunderland City Council elections are generally held three years out of every four, with a third of the council being elected each time. Sunderland City Council is the local authority for the metropolitan borough of the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns incl ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Since the last boundary changes in 2004, 75

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s have been elected from 25 wards.

Political control

From 1889 to 1974 Sunderland was a

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

, independent of any county council. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it had its territory enlarged and became a metropolitan borough, with Tyne and Wear County Council providing county-level services. The first election to the reconstituted borough council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its revised powers on 1 April 1974. Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986 and Sunderland became a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. Sunderland was awarded

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

in 1992. Political control of the council since 1973 has been held by the following parties:

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2002 have been:

Council composition

Whilst under Labour control solidly since 1973, the political composition of Sunderland City Council has fluctuated over the years as the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, SDP-Liberal Alliance, and Independents gained seats from the Labour Party. Until 2019, only Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents (including

Independent Labour An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

) had ever won seats on Sunderland City Council. When

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

councillors were elected in 2019, Sunderland became one of the few British councils with all five parties represented. The table below gives an impression of the council's composition based on local election results.

Council elections

Sunderland's Council area comprises 25 wards, each electing three councillors. Elections are held in thirds, in three years out of every four. Between 1974 and 1986, elections were held in every fourth year to Tyne and Wear County Council, until the County Council was abolished. In 1982 and 2004, all seats on Sunderland Council were up for election following boundary changes.

Elections under 1973-1980 boundaries

* Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1973 (whole council elected) * Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1975 * Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1976 * Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1978 * Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1979 * Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1980

Elections under 1982-2003 boundaries

*Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1982 (whole council elected after boundary changes) *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1983 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1984 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1986 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1987 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1988 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1990 *Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1991 * 1992 Sunderland City Council election * 1994 Sunderland City Council election * 1995 Sunderland City Council election * 1996 Sunderland City Council election * 1998 Sunderland City Council election * 1999 Sunderland City Council election * 2000 Sunderland City Council election * 2002 Sunderland City Council election * 2003 Sunderland City Council election

Elections under 2004 boundaries

Election results maps

File:Sunderland UK local election 2004 map.svg, 2004 results map File:Sunderland 2006 election map.png, 2006 results map File:Sunderland 2007 election map.png, 2007 results map File:Sunderland 2008 election map.png, 2008 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2010 map.svg, 2010 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2011 map.svg, 2011 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2014 map.svg, 2014 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2018 map.svg, 2018 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2019 map.png, 2019 results map File:Sunderland UK local election 2021 map.svg, 2021 results map

By-election results

1997-2004

2004-present

At the time of resignation, incumbent Keith Jenkins was an independent.

References

By-election results

External links

Sunderland City Council
{{Metropolitan districts of England Council elections in Tyne and Wear Politics of the City of Sunderland Metropolitan borough council elections in England