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All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 18 unitary authorities, 88 English districts and 7 directly elected mayors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colours denote council control following elections, as shown in the main table of results. |
The 2002 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 2002. All London borough council seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs. Many unitary Authorities and District councils also had elections. There were no local elections in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. This was the last time that Labour was the majority in local government until 2023.
Simon Parker of The Guardian described the elections as "a round of embarrassing [sic] defeats for Labour in a set of council elections that also saw opposition parties making minor inroads into the party's dominant position in local government. [...] But the night really belonged to independents and the smaller parties, who made some high-profile gains as the voters expressed their dissatisfaction with mainstream politics." [1]
In all 32 London boroughs, the whole council was up for election.
‡ New ward boundaries
All 36 English Metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.
In six English Unitary authorities, the whole council was up for election.
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Derby ‡ | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Kingston upon Hull ‡ | Labour | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Milton Keynes ‡ | No overall control | Liberal Democrats gain | Details | ||
Portsmouth ‡ | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Southampton ‡ | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Stoke-on-Trent ‡ | Labour | No overall control gain | Details |
‡ New ward boundaries
In 12 English Unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blackburn with Darwen | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Bristol | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Halton | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Hartlepool | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Peterborough | No overall control | Conservative gain | Details | ||
Reading | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Slough | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Southend-on-Sea | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
Swindon | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Thurrock | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Warrington | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Wokingham | No overall control | Conservative gain | Details |
In 46 English district authorities, the whole council was up for election.
‡ New ward boundaries
In 42 English district authorities, one third of the council was up for election.
There were seven elections for directly elected mayors.
Local Authority | Previous Mayor | Mayor-elect | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Doncaster | New Post | Martin Winter (Labour) | |||
Hartlepool | New Post | Stuart Drummond (Independent) | Details | ||
Lewisham | New Post | Steve Bullock (Labour) | |||
Middlesbrough | New Post | Ray Mallon (Independent) | |||
Newham | New Post | Robin Wales (Labour) | |||
North Tyneside | New Post | Chris Morgan (Conservative) | |||
Watford | New Post | Dorothy Thornhill (Liberal Democrat) | Details |
The 2003 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 1 May 2003, the same day as the Scottish Parliamentary and the Welsh Assembly elections. There were local elections for all councils in Scotland and in most of England. There were no local elections in Wales, Northern Ireland or London.
The 1999 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 6 May 1999. All Scottish and Welsh unitary authorities had all their seats elected. In England a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs were elected along with elections in many of the unitary authorities and district councils. There were no local elections in Northern Ireland.
The 2000 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 4 May 2000. A third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs were elected along with elections in many of the unitary authorities and district councils. There were no elections in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. On the same day, a parliamentary by-election took place in the Romsey constituency in southern England; the Liberal Democrats won the seat from the Conservatives.
The 1998 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 1998. All London borough council seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs. Some unitary authorities and District councils also had elections. There were no local elections in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
The 1995 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 6 April 1995 in Scotland, and Thursday 4 May 1995 in England and Wales. The Conservative Party lost over 2,000 councillors in the election, while the Labour Party won 48% of the vote, a record high for the party in local elections.
The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils.
The 2010 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 6 May 2010, concurrently with the 2010 general election. Direct elections were held to all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 76 second-tier district authorities, 20 unitary authorities and various Mayoral posts, all in England. For those authorities elected "all out" these were the first elections since 2006. The results provided some comfort to the Labour Party, losing the general election on the same day, as it was the first time Conservative councillor numbers declined since 1996.
The 2011 United Kingdom local elections was held on Thursday May 5. In England, direct elections were held in all 36 Metropolitan boroughs, 194 Second-tier district authorities, 49 unitary authorities and various mayoral posts, meaning local elections took place in all parts of England with the exception of seven unitary authorities, and seven districts and boroughs. For the majority of English districts and the 25 unitary authorities that are elected "all out" these were the first elections since 2007. In Northern Ireland, there were elections to all 26 local councils. Elections also took place to most English parish councils.
The 1991 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 1991. The results were a setback for the governing Conservative Party, who were left with their lowest number of councillors since 1973, though their popular vote was an improvement from the 1990 local elections.
Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1982. The elections coincided with rising popularity of the Conservative government and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which was mostly attributed to the Falklands War. The projected share of the vote was Conservatives 40%, Labour 29%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 27%.
The 2012 United Kingdom local elections were held across England, Scotland and Wales on 3 May 2012. Elections were held in 128 English local authorities, all 32 Scottish local authorities and 21 of the 22 Welsh unitary authorities, alongside three mayoral elections including the London mayoralty and the London Assembly. Referendums were also held in 11 English cities to determine whether or not to introduce directly elected mayors.
The 2013 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 2 May 2013. Elections were held in 35 English councils: all 27 non-metropolitan county councils and eight unitary authorities, and in one Welsh unitary authority. Direct mayoral elections took place in Doncaster and North Tyneside. These elections last took place on the 4 June 2009 at the same time as the 2009 European Parliament Elections, except for County Durham, Northumberland and the Anglesey where elections last took place in 2008.
The 2014 United Kingdom local elections were held on 22 May 2014. Usually these elections are held on the first Thursday in May but were postponed to coincide with the 2014 European Parliament Elections. Direct elections were held for all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 74 district/borough councils, 19 unitary authorities and various mayoral posts in England and elections to the new councils in Northern Ireland.
The 2015 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 2015, the same day as the general election for the House of Commons.
The 2016 United Kingdom local elections held on Thursday 5 May 2016 were a series of local elections which were held in 124 local councils and also saw 4 mayoral elections in England which also coincided with elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the London Assembly, the London mayoral election and the England and Wales Police and crime commissioners. By-elections for the Westminster seats of Ogmore and Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough were also held. These proved to be David Cameron's last local elections as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister as he resigned two months later following the defeat of Remain in the referendum on Britain's continuing membership of the European Union which was held seven weeks later.
The 2017 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 4 May 2017. Local elections were held across Great Britain, with elections to 35 English local authorities and all councils in Scotland and Wales.
The 2018 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 2018, with local council elections taking place in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 67 district and borough councils and 17 unitary authorities. There were also direct elections for the mayoralties of Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.
The 2019 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested.
The 2021 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 6 May 2021. More than 145 English local councils, around 5,000 councillor seats, thirteen directly elected mayors in England, and 39 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales were contested. On the same day, the 2021 Hartlepool by-election took place, and there were also elections to the Scottish Parliament, Senedd and London Assembly, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election.
The 2022 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotland and Wales in 2017. The elections coincided with the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election. In 91 cases, most of them in Wales, council seats were uncontested, each having only one candidate. Three seats in Scotland remained unfilled as no one nominated to fill them.