How Lincolnshire’s votes could reflect the 2023 elections

2023 will be a test for the Conservative UK government as the majority of Lincolnshire councils face an election.

The latest polls nationally show that Labour could be in for a stunning win at the next General Election, with one recently suggesting the Conservatives could be left with 69 seats after Labour takes 314 MPs.

There’s no general election planned for 2023 (yet), but hundreds of local seats will be up for grabs as district and unitary councils head to the polls on May 4 2023.

North and North East Lincolnshire, Boston, East and West Lindsey, North and South Kesteven, and South Holland district councils will have all their seats contested.

Meanwhile, a third of City of Lincoln Council seats will be up for grabs – one for each of the authority’s 11 wards.

Analysts will be paying particular attention to Northern Lincolnshire where in the last General Election the Red Wall Labour seats fell to the blues.

However, eyes will also be on traditionally Conservative seats this time round, especially after recent polling saw swathes of the county predicted to go red.

Several by-elections took place in 2022, but where many are watching Labour, so far the Liberal Democrats look to be gaining a foothold.

The party won the Nettleham seat from the Conservative’s former leader in West Lindsey, Giles McNeill.

They then went on to take a further seat from Labour in the May local elections with a 674 vote majority. During the same elections, just across the Greater Lincolnshire border, the party also took control of Hull City Council after 11 years of Labour rule.

During a by-election in South Kesteven in December they clinched the Toller ward, adding a third party member to that council with a 86 vote majority.

Despite promises of massive gains nationally, Labour performed adequately in Lincolnshire during the local elections.

They managed to take a Conservative seat with a 200-vote majority. However, they haven’t made many major dents in the county just yet.

The Conservative Party certainly took the biggest knocks though in 2022.

Having not only lost Nettleham, they then went on to lose two seats in Lincoln, as well as one in North East Lincolnshire during the May 2022 elections. Not only that but while the voting was ongoing, Rutland County Council leader Oliver Hemsley left the party to stand as an independent.

Just weeks later they lost the Sleaford Quarrington and Mareham ward in North Kesteven to Lincolnshire Independent Bob Oldershaw during a by-election sparked by the former seat holder’s resignation.

Despite this, in the Spalding by-election to fill late-Councillor Angela Newton’s seat in December, the Conservatives made one gain on the district council. However, it was close with Councillor Stephen Timewell winning by just 12 votes against the South Holland Independent.

Despite losing one seat in South Kesteven, the party held onto two in the district in February and two further ones in November.

In East Lindsey, the party won the Chapel St Leonards seat in January and the Halton Holegate ward in March.

Another group doing well in 2022, however, are Independents, with one Grimsby victory toppling North East Lincolnshire Council’s cabinet member Callum Proctor.

Meanwhile, South Holland Independents member Councillor Manzur Hasan took late-Councillor Angela Newton’s county seat for Spalding West.

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