Barnsley Council election, 2008

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2008

← 2007 1 May 2008 2010 →
One third of seats (23 of 63) to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council 32 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Barnsley Independent Labour Conservative Seats won 10 8 2 Seat change 2 1 1
Map of the 2008 Barnsley council election results. Barnsley Independent in teal, Labour in red, Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Independent in grey.
Majority party before election Labour Majority party after election Labour

Labour

Labour

The 2008 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in South Yorkshire, England. One third of the council, alongside an additional vacancy in Old Town was up for election. Prior to the election the defending councillor in Penistone West, having earlier defected from Conservative to the Barnsley Independent Group, fought the election as an Independent. The Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.

Before the election it had been thought that the Labour party might lose overall control of the council but they held on by only one seat. They lost two seats to the Barnsley Independent Group but gained one seat from the Liberal Democrats to hold on. The Barnsley Independent Group also lost 1 seat to the Conservatives. Overall turnout was 34.78%.

The losses for the Labour party were blamed on government policies, such as on immigration and the abolition of the 10p income tax band, by the leader of the council, Steve Houghton, who was himself re-elected for Cudworth ward.

This resulted in the following composition of the council:

+/- figures represent changes from the last time these wards were contested.