The Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1989 as a continuation of the original Liberal Party by former members who opposed its merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats. The party holds twelve local council seats.
Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Historically, national referendums are rare due to the long-standing principle of parliamentary sovereignty. There is no constitutional requirement to hold a national referendum for any purpose or on any issue; the UK Parliament is free to legislate through an Act of Parliament for a national plebiscite to be held on any question at any time, but these cannot be constitutionally binding on either the Government or Parliament, although they usually have a persuasive political effect.
Elections for local government were held in England and Northern Ireland on 5 May 2005 along with the 2005 general election across the entire United Kingdom. In addition, the Isle of Wight held a local referendum on the issue of a directly elected mayor.
Local government elections took place in England (only) on Thursday 4 May 2006. Polling stations were open between 7:00 and 22:00.
The city of Bristol, England, is a unitary authority, represented by four MPs representing seats wholly within the city boundaries. As well as these, Filton and Bradley Stoke covers the northern urban fringe in South Gloucestershire and the north eastern urban fringe is in the Kingswood constituency. The overall trend of both local and national representation became left of centre during the latter 20th century, but there was a shift to the right in the 2010 general election. The city has a tradition of local activism, with environmental issues and sustainable transport being prominent issues in the city.
The 2007 UK local government elections were held on 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern Ireland. Just over half of English councils and almost all the Scottish councils began the counts on Friday, rather than Thursday night, because of more complex arrangements regarding postal votes.
There are four types of elections in Wales: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to the devolved Senedd, local elections to the 22 principal areas, and the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, in addition to by-elections for each aforementioned election. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday. Since the passing of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 for UK general elections, all four types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the UK parliament can occur in certain situations, with Senedd elections being postponed to avoid elections to the UK parliament and Senedd coinciding with each other.
An election to Cumbria County Council took place on 2 May 2009 as part of the 2009 United Kingdom local elections. All 84 councillors were elected from various electoral divisions, which returned one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. They coincided with an election for the European Parliament. All 84 seats in the Council were up for election, and a total of 301 candidates stood. The total number of people registered to vote was 392,931. Prior to the election local Conservatives were leading a coalition with the Liberal Democrats with the Labour party as the council's official opposition.
The 2011 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 5 May 2011. 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 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.
A series of mayoral referendums were held on 3 May 2012 in England's 11 largest cities to determine whether to introduce directly elected mayors to provide political leadership, replacing their current council leaders, who are elected by the local council.
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 of the United Kingdom.
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.
Local elections in parts of the United Kingdom were held 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.
Local elections in England and Wales were held on 6 May 2021 for more than 145 English local councils for around 5,000 seats, thirteen directly elected mayors in England, and 39 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. There were also elections to the Scottish Parliament, Senedd and London Assembly, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election. Also on the same day as these local elections, there was a UK Parliament by-election for the constituency of Hartlepool.
Local elections in the United Kingdom took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, and 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 stepped forward to fill them.
Lincolnshire is a ceremonial county in England, United Kingdom. The ceremonial county is a combination of the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire and two unitary authority areas in the north. The non-metropolitan county is governed by the Lincolnshire County Council, which is Conservative controlled, and further divided into seven district councils.
