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The 2025 United Kingdom local elections will be held in May 2025. [2] All seats on all 21 county councils in England and 9 unitary authorities in England will be up for election. They will be the first local elections following the 2024 general election.
Two existing combined authority mayors and two existing single authority mayors will be up for election. In addition, the inaugural election for the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who will chair Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority GLCCA, is expected to take place in May 2025, along with the inaugural election for the Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.
In addition, the Council of the Isles of Scilly in England and the City of London Corporation will be elected. [2]
There are 21 county councils in England. All of them hold whole council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025.
Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Previous | Result | |||||
Cambridgeshire | 61 | No overall control | Details | |||
Derbyshire | 64 | Conservative | Details | |||
Devon | 60 | Conservative | Details | |||
East Sussex | 50 | Conservative | Details | |||
Essex | 75 | Conservative | Details | |||
Gloucestershire | 53 | Conservative | Details | |||
Hampshire | 78 | Conservative | Details | |||
Hertfordshire | 78 | Conservative | Details | |||
Kent | 81 | Conservative | Details | |||
Lancashire | 84 | Conservative | Details | |||
Leicestershire | 55 | Conservative | Details | |||
Lincolnshire | 70 | Conservative | Details | |||
Norfolk | 43 | Conservative | Details | |||
Nottinghamshire | 66 | Conservative | Details | |||
Oxfordshire | 63 | No overall control | Details | |||
Staffordshire | 62 | Conservative | Details | |||
Suffolk | 75 | Conservative | Details | |||
Surrey | 81 | Conservative | Details | |||
Warwickshire | 57 | Conservative | Details | |||
West Sussex | 70 | Conservative | Details | |||
Worcestershire | 57 | Conservative | Details |
Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Previous | Result | |||||
Doncaster | 55 | Labour | Details |
There are sixty-two unitary authorities, which are single-tier local authorities. 9 of them hold whole council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025.
Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Previous | Result | |||||
Buckinghamshire | 147 | Conservative | Details | |||
Cornwall | 84 | Conservative | Details | |||
County Durham | 126 | No overall control | Details | |||
Isle of Wight | 39 | No overall control | Details | |||
North Northamptonshire | 78 | Conservative | Details | |||
Northumberland | 67 | Conservative | Details | |||
Shropshire | 74 | Conservative | Details | |||
West Northamptonshire | 93 | Conservative | Details | |||
Wiltshire | 98 | Conservative | Details |
Combined authority | Mayor Before | Mayor After | Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | Nik Johnson (Lab) | Details | ||
West of England | Dan Norris (Lab) | Details | ||
Authority | Post | Type | First election |
---|---|---|---|
Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral Combined County Authority | Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire | Mayoral County Combined Authority in Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire [3] | 2025 (inaugural election) |
Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority | Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire | Mayoral Combined Authority in Kingston-upon-Hull, and the East Riding of Yorkshire [4] | 2025 (inaugural election) |
Local authority | Post | Type | Current mayor | Party | Established | Next election | Population | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council | Mayor of Doncaster | Metropolitan borough | Ros Jones | Labour | 2002 | 2025 | 291,600 | |
North Tyneside Council | Mayor of North Tyneside | Metropolitan borough | Norma Redfearn | Labour | 2002 | 2025 | 196,000 | |
Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Previous | Result | |||||
City of London | 100 | Independent | Details |
Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Previous | Result | |||||
Isles of Scilly | 16 | Independent | Details |
The subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
Local government in England broadly consists of three layers: civil parishes, local authorities, and regional authorities. Every part of England is governed by at least one local authority, but parish councils and regional authorities do not exist everywhere. In addition, there are 31 police and crime commissioners, four police, fire and crime commissioners, and ten national park authorities with local government responsibilities. Local government is not standardised across the country, with the last comprehensive reform taking place in 1974.
The North East England devolution referendum was an all postal ballot referendum that took place on 4 November 2004 throughout North East England on whether or not to establish an elected assembly for the region. Devolution referendums in the regions of Northern England were initially proposed under provisions of the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003. Initially, three referendums were planned, but only one took place. The votes concerned the question of devolving limited political powers from the UK Parliament to elected regional assemblies in North East England, North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber respectively. Each were initially planned to be held on 4 November 2004, but on 22 July 2004 the planned referendums in North West England and in Yorkshire and the Humber were postponed, due to concerns raised about the use of postal ballots, but the referendum in North East England was allowed to continue, particularly as it was assumed that the region held the most support for the proposed devolution.
Local authority areas in England typically have an executive leader and a cabinet selected from the local council, similar to how the national prime minister and cabinet are selected from Parliament. In contrast, residents of some areas, or groups of areas known as combined authorities or combined county authorities, directly elect the executive mayors of their local government.
Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is independent from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the unitary authority which administers the rest of the county.
Northumberland County Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, having also taken over district-level functions when the county's districts were abolished.
The history of local government in Yorkshire is unique and complex. Yorkshire is the largest historic English county and consists of a diverse mix of urban and rural development with a heritage in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. After a long period with little change, it has been subject to a number of reforms of local government structures in modern times, some of which were controversial. The most significant of these were the Local Government Act 1972, the 1990s UK local government reform, and the Localism Act 2011. The historic area currently corresponds to several counties and districts and is mostly contained within the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a district council. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire; the ceremonial county additionally includes Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, York and part of Stockton-on-Tees. North Yorkshire Council is based at County Hall, Northallerton, and consists of 90 councillors. It is a member of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local authorities to pool appropriate responsibility and receive certain devolved functions from central government in order to deliver transport and economic policy more effectively over a wider area. In areas where local government is two-tier, both must participate in the combined authority.
North Lincolnshire Council is the local authority of North Lincolnshire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is independent from Lincolnshire County Council.
In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly and to their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and combined authorities.
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows for the introduction of directly elected mayors to combined authorities in England and Wales and the devolution of housing, transport, planning and policing powers to them. The bill was introduced to the House of Lords by Baroness Williams of Trafford, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on 28 May 2015.
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 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.
Structural changes to local government in England took place between 2019 and 2023. Some of these changes continue the trend of new unitary authorities being created from other types of local government districts, which was a policy of Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick from 2019.
The Mayor of West Yorkshire is a directly elected mayor responsible for the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire in England. The Mayor chairs and leads the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and assumes the office and powers of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
Northern England devolution is the broad term used to describe the wish for devolved governmental powers that would give more autonomy to the Northern Counties.
The 2022 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 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 nominated to fill them.
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is the mayor of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority covering the City of York and North Yorkshire unitary authority areas and was elected for the first time in May 2024.
The Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) is the proposed combined county authority for the county of Lincolnshire, for the local authority areas of Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber regions of England. The first election for the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who will chair GLCCA, is expected to take place in May 2025.