The Labour Party has maintained overall control of Sefton Council as voters took part in their first all-out local elections for over two decades.
It makes this the most crucial election for a long time, with every single one of Sefton’s 66 council seats up for grabs in a winner-takes-all contest.
The victors at the end of today in were Labour, which retains an overall majority with 36 out of 66 seats, although they loost 15 seats overall – including every single seat they held in Southport.
Before the election, Sefton was dominated by the Labour Party, which held 51 of the 66 seats.
The big winners in Southport were the Liberal Democrats, which have ended today with 17 of the 21 seats available in Southport, gaining eight new seats.
The other 4 seats in Southport were won by Reform.
The Liberal Democrats won all three seats in Ainsdale Ward; and all three in Cambridge Ward; all three in Kew Ward; all three in Meolos Wards; and all three in Dukes Ward.
They include the councillor with the highest votes of any councillor so far today – Cllr John Dodd with 2,205 votes, with Cllr Lynne Thompson close behind with 2,199 votes.
Birkdale elected two Lib Dem councillors and one Reform councillor.
Reform has won all three seats in Norwood Ward, although the only previously sitting Reform councillor in Sefton, Mike Morris in Cambridge Ward, lost his seat.
It’s been a bad day for the Conservatives, with Sefton Conservative Leader Mike Prendergast losing his seat as the Lib Dems won all three in that ward, and all three Conservatives on Sefton Council losing their seats.
It is the first time in Sefton’s 52-year history that there is not a single Conservative councillor in the Council Chamber.
Sefton Council Leader Cllr Marion Atkinson recorded the highest number of votes in her Ward, Aintree & Maghull South, with 1,726 votes, as Labour won all three seats in that ward.
There have been a number of close results and some sitting councillors saying farewell.
They include Mayor Of Sefton Cllr June Burns, who lost out in Maghull East to Lydiate and Maghull Community Independents by just 38 votes.
Lydiate and Maghull Community Independents won five seats, with three won by Greens.
Sefton Council 2026 Local Election results:
| Labour | 36 | (-15) |
| LD | 17 | (+8) |
| Independent | 5 | (+4) |
| REF | 5 | (+4) |
| Greens | 3 | (+2) |
| Conservative | 0 | (-3) |
Sefton Local Election 2026 results in Southport:
Ainsdale Ward:
Lynne Thompson (Liberal Democrats) 2,199 (48.5%)
Lesley Delves (Liberal Democrats) 1,679 (37.0%)
Rowenna Gibson (Liberal Democrats) 1,313 (28.9%)
Birkdale Ward:
Iain Brodie Browne (Liberal Democrats) 1,794 (39.5%)
Simon John Shaw (Liberal Democrats) 1,645(36.2%)
Mike Ryder (Reform UK) 1,372 (30.2%)
Cambridge Ward:
Leo Francis Evans (Liberal Democrats) 1,581 (38.5%)
Mike Sammon (Liberal Democrats) 1,510 (36.8%)
Pat Keith (Liberal Democrats) 1,430 (34.8%)
Dukes Ward:
John David Pugh (Liberal Democrats) 1,653 (40.9%)
Michael Paul Braham (Liberal Democrats) 1,445 (35.8%)
Danny Howard (Liberal Democrats) 1,343 (33.3%)
Kew Ward:
Anne Corbishley (Liberal Democrats) 1,576 (40.7%)
Yaso Sathiy (Liberal Democrats) 1,424 (36.8%)
Mike Kirby (Liberal Democrats) 1,352 (34.9%)
Meols Ward:
John Dodd (Liberal Democrats) 2,205 (51.3%)
Daniel George Lewis (Liberal Democrats) 1,822 (42.4%)
Lauren Keith (Liberal Democrats) 1,807 (42.0%)
Norwood Ward:
John Costello (Reform UK) 1,359 (34.3%)
Charles Robert Denton (Reform UK) 1,306 (33.0%)
Thomas Swaney (Reform UK) 1,277 (32.2%)
Usually, a third of council seats are up for election at a time, with a ‘fallow’ year in the fourth year.
Yesterday (Thursday 7th May 2026) voters were able to decide the whole make-up of Sefton Council with a total of 310 candidates seeking your votes, with the votes being counted today.
The last time there was an all-out election locally was in June 2004. This was combined with European Parliament elections, and the result was no overall control.
Each of the 22 electoral wards will elect 3 councillors.
The candidate who records the most votes will serve a 4-year term of office until May 2030. The candidate who records the second most number of votes will serve a 2-year term of office until May 2028
The candidate who records the third most number of votes will serve a term of office of 1 year until May 2027.
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