Manchester council local election 2024 results in full

George Galloway and Shahbaz Sarwar -Credit:Sean Hansford
George Galloway and Shahbaz Sarwar -Credit:Sean Hansford


Labour were the victims of a major scalp in Manchester’s council elections this year after its deputy leader was ousted by George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.

Coun Luthfur Rahman lost his Longsight seat by 185 votes following a bitter campaign where shouting matches have reportedly taken place between rival camps. Speaking after the result, new Workers Party councillor Shahbaz Sarwar believed half of his support came from the Labour Party’s stance nationally on the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and the other half on local issues.

“We will beginning from scratch,” Coun Sarwar said when asked on his plans for Longsight. “There’s a lot of work [to do] — the streets are as filthy as hell.”

READ MORE: Local election 2024 results LIVE - Manchester results announced as George Galloway's party snatches deputy leader's seat

He also said he was ‘waiting for George’ to celebrate his win, adding he was also ‘in need of a long rest’. Shortly after the win, George Galloway, Workers Party leader and Rochdale MP, arrived at the Manchester Central convention centre after ‘spending £75 on a taxi to hug his candidate’ and enjoy a ‘mango lassi’ together.

“This is a historic victory,” Mr Galloway declared. “The deputy leader of the city council of the greatest city in England has been toppled by a candidate standing for the first time.”

Luthfur Rahman , Longsight Labour . Manchester Local Elections 2024 . Mamchester Central . 3 May 2024
-Credit:Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News

Despite the loss, Manchester’s Labour council leader Bev Craig believed her party had enjoyed a good result. She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have 86 out of 96 seats, and I’m really pleased about my own re-election. We have lost a seat and gained a seat so we stay at 86, making us the largest Labour group in the country.”

Coun Craig said she would not ‘jump to knee jerk reactions’ in establishing why one of her two deputy leaders is now without a seat. She added: “We will do a full debrief and understanding.

“I will spend some time in the next few weeks talking to people in Longsight to understand that fully. We do know the Worker Party put an awful lot of money, time, and attention into that and we need to understand that picture more fully before we jump to any conclusions.”

In other areas, the Greens narrowly held on to their seat in Woodhouse Park, covering Wythenshawe town centre and Manchester Airport. Coun Rob Nunney, the party’s first politician defending their seat since they swept the board in the ward, won comfortably by 690 votes.

However, the Greens had a mixed day after Ekua Bayunu, who was elected as a Labour councillor but defected to Greens, lost her seat in Hulme. The Lib Dems also had a mixed day.

Labour members, including town hall leader Bev Craig
Labour members, including town hall leader Bev Craig

Although Alan Good defended his seat in Ancoats and Beswick by 480 votes, but the party didn’t unseat Labour’s Coun Debbie Hilal in West Didsbury, who won by 159.

Overall, however, the Lib Dems can now enjoy the title of Manchester’s opposition party, after the Greens’ loss means the former have four members and the latter three.

In full, Labour gained one seat and last one seat to stay on 86, the Lib Dems stayed on four, and the Greens lost one to go down to three, and the Workers Party won one seat.

Greater Manchester local election results 2024

Here are all the local election results where you live in Greater Manchester: