Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
Leadership
Mayor	Suleman Khonat, Labour since 19 May 2022
Leader	Phil Riley, Labour since 19 May 2022
Chief Executive	Denise Park
Structure
Seats	51 councillors
Political groups	Administration (33)   Labour (33) Other Parties (16)   Conservative (12)   Liberal Democrat (2)   Independent (2) Vacant   Vacant (2)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	2021
Next election	2022
Motto
Arte et Labore
Meeting place
Blackburn Town Hall
Website
www.blackburn.gov.uk

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the local authority of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. From 2020 to 2021, the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen was Iftakhar Hussain of the Labour Party. On 15 February 2021, he resigned after breaching COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Former Labour group leader and councillor, Mohammed Khan, was Leader of the Council from May 2015 to May 2022 before his retirement at the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. He served as a borough councillor for 30 years. After the elections, he was replaced as leader by then-Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Phil Riley.

Political control

For historical political control and leadership, see Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council elections.

Since becoming a unitary authority in 1998 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1998–2007
	No overall control	2007–2011
	Labour	2011–present