Elections to Manchester City Council were held on 6 May 2021, as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections. They were originally scheduled for 2020 but were suspended for a year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019 Labour had retained its majority on the council, with 93 seats, with the Liberal Democrats led by former MP John Leech increasing the number of opposition councillors to three, but this had fallen back to two in March 2021 when Councillor Greg Stanton defected to the Labour Party. Background and campaign The following councillors, last elected in 2018, did not stand for re-election: Labour: Kelly Simcock (Didsbury East), Nigel Murphy (Hulme, deselected), Bernard Stone (Levenshulme), Carl Ollerhead (Moston, suspended by party in June 2020), Maddy Monaghan (Sharston), Mary Watson (Whalley Range). One councillor from 2018–2021, Labour’s Emma Taylor, had previously been elected in Ancoats and Beswick and stood this time in a different ward, Sharston. Two by-elections were outstanding and were held alongside the scheduled elections of 2021: one for the seat of councillor Sue Murphy (Labour, Brooklands, elected 2019), who had died in April 2020, and the other for that of Ken Dobson (Independent, Clayton and Openshaw, elected at a by-election in February 2020), who had resigned from the council in October 2020. Result Summary change in vote share compared to the 2019 election. Change in number of seats compared to the composition of the council immediately before the election. Where multiple seats were contested in the same ward due to vacancies the results have been normalised. Council composition After the 2019 election, the composition of the council was: Immediately prior to the election, the composition of the council was: After the election, the composition of the council is: Ward results Asterisks denote incumbent Councillors seeking re-election. Councillors seeking re-election were elected in 2018, and results are compared to that year's polls on that basis. Ancoats and Beswick Ardwick Baguley Brooklands Burnage Charlestown Cheetham Chorlton Chorlton Park Clayton and Openshaw Crumpsall Deansgate Didsbury East Didsbury West Fallowfield Gorton and Abbey Hey Harpurhey Higher Blackley Hulme Levenshulme Longsight Miles Platting and Newton Heath Moss Side Moston Northenden Old Moat Piccadilly Rusholme Sharston Whalley Range Withington Woodhouse Park Changes since this election Chorlton by-election On 14 October 2021 councillor Matt Strong resigned from his seat in Chorlton, prompting a by-election that was held on 18 November 2021. Changes in the table below