The 2024 Sunderland City Council election took place on 2 May 2024 to elect members of Sunderland City Council. 25 of the 75 seats of the council were up for election. The election took place at the same time as other local elections across England.
The Labour Party remained in control of the council and the Liberal Democrats returned as the largest opposition party. After the election Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) appointed Michael Mordey as group leader, replacing Graeme Miller who had led the council since 2018. The Lib Dem group leader Paul Edgeworth said it was "bad news" for Sunderland, adding: "LabourâÂÂs London and Newcastle HQs have clearly imposed a yes man for Keir Starmer and a yes man for Kim McGuinness." Michael Mordey was formally confirmed as leader of the council at a council meeting on 20 May 2024.
25 of the 75 seats were up for election, the last time councillors would be elected using the boundaries set in 2004.
Since the first election in 1973, Sunderland has been a strongly Labour council, which consistently achieves over 60% control of the council. However, in recent years they have lost seats to the Conservatives, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats. The seats up for election this year were last elected in 2021. In that election, Labour lost 9 seats, the Conservatives gained 6 and the Liberal Democrats gained 4.
Since the last election, three councillors defected from the Liberal Democrats, two to Labour and one became an independent. A Labour councillor (elected as a Conservative) now sits as an independent councillor after being accused of forcing a woman to marry.
An asterisk next to a candidate's name denotes an incumbent councillor.