Bucking the trend of the rest of the country, the election saw
Labour's seat count drop dramatically, losing ten seats nearly entirely to independent candidates. With 28 seats, Labour was left with only just enough seats for control of the council. The party's poor performance was described as being down to a 'perfect storm' of issues by the council's Labour leader Tracey Dixon,[3] further adding that Labour needed to 'restart' and 'work more closely' council's communities.[4] The results were put down[5][3][4][6] to growing dissatisfaction with the council due to ongoing bin collection strikes that began in late 2023,[7][8][9][10] the council's children services being rated "inadequate" by
Ofsted,[11] and the fallout surrounding previous Labour Leader of the council, Iain Malcolm, being found in March 2024 to have inappropriately incurred £18,000 of personal costs on his corporate credit card[12] and bullied council staff.[13]
The
Conservatives also lost their only seat on the council, with their Cleadon & East Bolden ward seat going to the
Greens.
Summary
Election result
South Tyneside Council's composition after the 2024 local elections
2024 South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council election