Labour's Peter Soulsby was re-elected as mayor and the party retained its majority on the council, but with a significant loss of 22 seats compared to its position at the previous election in 2019.

[2] Labour retained control of Leicester City Council in the 2019 local elections, winning fifty-three councillors on an increased share of the vote.

However, the candidate selection of Claudia Webbe in Leicester East, from a shortlist of one, caused controversy amongst local Labour Party members who were angry at being denied an option of a candidate from the South Asian community, at Webbe's views on the Kashmir conflict, and at the fact that she was a serving councillor in the London Borough of Islington.

[5] Long-serving councillor John Thomas resigned from the party, citing the selection of Webbe and the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn,[6] and the Conservatives achieved a swing of 15% in the constituency.

[7] This was in the background of Leicester's COVID cases being amongst the highest in the United Kingdom, with the city being kept in stricter restrictions than the rest of the country for much of the pandemic.

Labour narrowly held on in a three-way fight at the Evington by-election, clinging on with a twenty-one per cent reduction in the vote share after both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats gained heavily.

[18] In spite of these difficulties, Sir Peter Soulsby was re-confirmed as the Labour candidate for the 2023 elections – though the Leicester Mercury noted mixed feelings amongst its readers at this announcement.

Labour launched its campaign, aiming to make Leicester a 'fairer, happier and safer city' by providing extra support for families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and to invest in more CCTV and street lights.

[34] The Liberal Democrats are campaigning on building 3,000 new affordable homes and offering a referendum on the mayoral system – a position they also put forward at the 2019 elections.