2021 Newcastle City Council election

The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Newcastle was a district of the Tyne and Wear metropolitan county.^[3] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The North of Tyne Combined Authority was created in 2018 and began electing the mayor of the North of Tyne from 2019, which was given strategic powers covering a region covering some of the same area as the former Tyne and Wear metropolitan county, as well as Northumberland.^[4]

Since its creation, Newcastle has variously been under Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative control. The Liberal Democrats held a majority of seats on the council from 2004 until 2011, when Labour gained enough seats to control the council. Nick Forbes became leader of the council. Labour continued to gain seats until the 2019 election, when the party lost two seats but continued to have an overall majority.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England produced new boundaries for Newcastle ahead of the 2018 election, meaning that the 2018 elections were all-out, with all councillors being elected before returning to electing by thirds. Candidates up for re-election in 2021 are those who came second in each ward in 2018.