The 2026 Halton Borough Council election was held on 7 May 2026, alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day, to elect 19 of 54 members of Halton Borough Council.
The council remained under Labour control, but their majority was significantly reduced. Reform UK, which only held one seat on the council prior to the election, won 16 of the 19 seats contested.
Summary
Background The Borough of Halton is split into 18 wards, each returning three councillors. One councillor for each ward is elected each year over three years. A fourth year, in which no elections are held, is known as a 'fallow year'.
In the 2024 local elections (2025 being a fallow year) Labour retained control of the council with a total of 50 out of 54 seats. Three of these councillors resigned from the Labour Party in early 2026 to sit as independents. None of these three seats were up for election in 2026. The council's sole Conservative councillor, Sian Davidson, defected to Reform UK in May 2025. She represented Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor but ran in the Mersey ward for the 2026 local elections. Also in the Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor ward, an incumbent Labour councillor who would not otherwise have been up for election stood down from the council and necessitated a by-election. Therefore, two council seats were up for election in Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor, making a total of 19 seats up for election across the borough. Labour did not run a candidate against the incumbent Liberal Democrat councillor for the Beechwood & Heath ward in a move that was seen as tactical.
Election result Of the 19 seats up for election, Reform UK gained 15 from Labour and retained 1, whilst Labour held 2 seats and the Liberal Democrats held 1. Labour won in Farnworth by a margin of just one vote, whilst Reform won in Birchfield by only two votes.
Incumbents
Ward Incumbent councillorParty Re-standing Appleton Angela Teeling Labour Yes Bankfield Laura Bevan Labour Yes Beechwood & Heath Gareth Stockton Liberal Democrats Yes Birchfield Mike Fry Labour Yes Bridgewater Emma Garner Labour No Central & West Bank Noel Hutchinson Labour No Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor Sian Davidson Reform Yes Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank Marie Wright Labour Yes Farnworth Valerie Hill Labour No Grange Mark Dennett Labour No Halton Castle Chris Carlin Labour Yes Halton Lea Alan Lowe Labour No Halton View Louise Nolan Labour Yes Highfield Robert Gilligan Labour Yes Hough Green Phil Harris Labour Yes Mersey & Weston Norman Plumpton-Walsh Labour Yes Norton North Geoffrey Logan Labour No Norton South & Preston Brook Martha Lloyd-Jones Labour Yes
Ward results
Appleton
Bankfield
Beechwood & Heath
Birchfield
Bridgewater
Central & West Bank
Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor
Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank
Farnworth
Grange
Halton Castle
Halton Lea
Halton View
Highfield
Hough Green
Mersey & Weston
Norton North
Norton South & Preston Brook
Post-election changes
Beechwood & Heath by-election
References