2005 United Kingdom local elections

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2005 United Kingdom local elections
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  2004 5 May 2005 2006  

All 34 non-metropolitan counties, 3 out of 46 unitary authorities,
1 sui generis authority, 4 directly elected mayors
and all 26 Northern Irish districts
 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Michael Howard (cropped).jpg Tony Blair WEF (cropped).jpg Charles Kennedy MP (cropped).jpg
Leader Michael Howard Tony Blair Charles Kennedy
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Leader since6 November 200321 July 19949 August 1999
Percentage40%28%25%
SwingIncrease2.svg3%Decrease2.svg2%Increase2.svg4%
Councils2463
Councils +/-Increase2.svg7Decrease2.svg1Increase2.svg3
Councillors1,193612493
Councillors +/-Increase2.svg152Decrease2.svg114Increase2.svg40

United Kingdom local elections, 2005.svg
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The 2005 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 5 May 2005, with various councils and local government seats being contested in England and Northern Ireland, and a local referendum taking place on the Isle of Wight on the issue of a directly elected mayor. These local elections were held in conjunction with the 2005 general election across the entire United Kingdom.

Contents

Despite losing the general election held on the same day, the Conservatives made some gains at Labour's expense, providing some comfort to the party. Conservative leader Michael Howard resigned soon afterwards and was succeeded by David Cameron, who had a decent platform to build on in his challenge to lead the Conservatives to a general election victory; the party had increased its share of council seats and importantly its share of seats in parliament.

Summary of results

PartyCouncillorsCouncils
NumberChangeNumberChange
Conservative 1,193Increase2.svg15224Increase2.svg7
Labour 612Decrease2.svg1146Decrease2.svg1
Liberal Democrats 493Increase2.svg403Increase2.svg3
DUP 182Increase2.svg512Increase2.svg2
Sinn Féin 126Increase2.svg180Steady2.svg
UUP 115Decrease2.svg390Steady2.svg
SDLP 101Decrease2.svg160Steady2.svg
Alliance 30Increase2.svg20Steady2.svg
Independent 20Decrease2.svg140Steady2.svg
Green 8Increase2.svg60Steady2.svg
Residents 8Decrease2.svg30Steady2.svg
Green (NI) 3Increase2.svg30Steady2.svg
Liberal 2Decrease2.svg30Steady2.svg
PUP 2Decrease2.svg20Steady2.svg
United Unionist 2Steady2.svg0Steady2.svg
Health Concern 1Decrease2.svg50Steady2.svg
Newtownabbey
Ratepayers
1Steady2.svg0Steady2.svg
NI Women's Coalition 0Decrease2.svg10Steady2.svg
UKIP 0Decrease2.svg10Steady2.svg
UK Unionist 0Decrease2.svg20Steady2.svg
Other96Decrease2.svg260Steady2.svg
No overall control n/an/a4Decrease2.svg9

[1]

Like in 2001, many results were in line with the general election on the same day.

The Liberal Democrats gained Cornwall, whilst simultaneously winning Camborne & Falmouth from Labour, and thus holding every parliamentary seat in Cornwall. Similarly in Somerset too, where they regained Taunton from the Conservatives.

The Conservative gain in Gloucestershire coincided with their gain of Forest of Dean from Labour, the swing towards them in Cheltenham where the previous Lib Dem MP had retired and their near-miss result where Labour narrowly held on to Stroud. Worcestershire's result coincided with reduced Labour majorities in Worcester and Redditch, whilst overtaking Labour for second place in Wyre Forest. The Isle of Wight was also in line with the general election, which saw a huge increase in the Conservative majority on the island.

Northamptonshire coincided with Labour's losses in Kettering, Wellingborough and Northampton South, all of which were extremely marginal seats that the Conservatives narrowly lost in 1997 and where they failed to make any progress in 2001. Shropshire similarly coincided with 3 gains in the general elections for the Conservatives, where they took The Wrekin and Shrewsbury & Atcham from Labour and took Ludlow from the Liberal Democrats. Suffolk coincided with no actual seat gains in the general election, but swings to the Conservatives of at least 3% in all seven constituencies. The swings were larger in their own five constituencies, with a swing of almost 7% in Bury St Edmunds.

The Liberal Democrat gain in Devon, however, happened despite a mixed bag of results in the general election. They lost Devon West & Torridge to the Conservatives, and in Torbay, the Conservatives reduced their majority. There were small swings to the Lib Dems in Totnes, Teignbridge and Devon North, though a big swing away from them in Tiverton and Honiton.

England

Non-metropolitan county councils

In 34 shire county county councils, all seats were up for re-election.

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Bedfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Buckinghamshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cheshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cornwall No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Cumbria No overall control No overall control hold Details
Derbyshire Labour Labour hold Details
Devon No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Dorset Conservative Conservative hold Details
Durham Labour Labour hold Details
East Sussex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Essex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gloucestershire No overall control Conservative gain Details
Hampshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Kent Conservative Conservative hold Details
Lancashire Labour Labour hold Details
Leicestershire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Lincolnshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Norfolk Conservative Conservative hold Details
North Yorkshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Northamptonshire Labour Conservative gain Details
Northumberland Labour Labour hold Details
Nottinghamshire Labour Labour hold Details
Oxfordshire No overall control Conservative gain Details
Shropshire No overall control Conservative gain Details
Somerset No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Staffordshire Labour Labour hold Details
Suffolk No overall control Conservative gain Details
Surrey Conservative Conservative hold Details
Warwickshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
West Sussex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Wiltshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Worcestershire No overall control Conservative gain Details

‡ New electoral division boundaries

Unitary authorities

Whole council

In two unitary authorities the whole council were up for election and one had a third of the council up for election.

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Isle of Wight No overall control Conservative gain Details
Stockton-on-Tees Labour No overall control gain Details

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Bristol No overall control No overall control hold Details

Sui generis

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Isles of Scilly Independent Independent hold Details

Mayoral elections

Four direct mayoral elections were held.

Local AuthorityPrevious MayorMayor-electDetails
Doncaster Martin Winter (Labour) Martin Winter (Labour)
Hartlepool Stuart Drummond (Independent) Stuart Drummond (Independent)
North Tyneside Linda Arkley (Conservative) John Harrison (Labour) Details
Stoke-on-Trent Mike Wolfe (Independent) Mark Meredith (Labour)

Northern Ireland

All seats were up for election in the 26 districts of Northern Ireland. The many parties and the use of the single transferable vote meant that most councils ended up in no overall control. The DUP gained majority control of three councils: Ards, Ballymena, and Castlereagh.

Results summary

PartyCouncillorsVotes
ChangeTotal % shareTotal
DUP +5118230208,278
Sinn Féin +1812623163,205
UUP -3911518126,317
SDLP -1610117121,991
Alliance +230535,149
Independent -1420427,677
Green (NI) +3315,703
PUP -2214,591
United Unionist 020.32,064
Newtownabbey Ratepayers 010.31,897
Socialist Environmental 000.21,321
NI Conservatives 000.21,164
Workers' Party 000.11,052
Socialist Party 000.1828
NI Women's Coalition -100.1738
UK Unionist -200.1734

Council Control

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Antrim No overall control No overall control Details
Ards No overall control DUP Details
Armagh No overall control No overall control Details
Ballymena No overall control DUP Details
Ballymoney DUP DUP Details
Banbridge No overall control No overall control Details
Belfast No overall control No overall control Details
Carrickfergus No overall control No overall control Details
Castlereagh No overall control DUP Details
Coleraine No overall control No overall control Details
Cookstown No overall control No overall control Details
Craigavon No overall control No overall control Details
Derry No overall control No overall control Details
Down No overall control No overall control Details
Dungannon and South Tyrone No overall control No overall control Details
Fermanagh No overall control No overall control Details
Larne No overall control No overall control Details
Limavady No overall control No overall control Details
Lisburn No overall control No overall control Details
Magherafelt No overall control Sinn Féin Details
Moyle No overall control No overall control Details
Newry and Mourne No overall control No overall control Details
Newtownabbey No overall control No overall control Details
North Down No overall control No overall control Details
Omagh No overall control No overall control Details
Strabane No overall control Sinn Féin Details

Source: ARK research and knowledge group [2]

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