Politically the local authority is dominated by the Labour Party, with 7 of the town's 8 allotted seats on Durham County Council being held by the party. The town lies in the North Durham Parliamentary constituency, which it shares with Chester-le-Street, and is represented at Westminster by Labour MP Kevan Jones. Prior to 1983 the town formed part of the Consett constituency (now part of North West Durham). The electoral ward named Stanley had at the 2011 Census a population of 9,053.