The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each divided into several metropolitan districts or boroughs.
Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council has 78 elected councillors, and is based in the county town of Winchester. Whilst they are part of the ceremonial county of Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth are unitary authorities, and therefore are not part of Hampshire County Council, with powers instead held by their respective councils. Hampshire County Council has been controlled by the Conservative Party since 1997.
The Borough of Swindon is a local government authority in South West England, centred on the town of Swindon and forming part of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire.
Mid Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district in Bedfordshire, England.
South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard.
The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains one large urban area, the 71st largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the Borough.
Chipping Barnet is a constituency created in 1974 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Theresa Villiers of the Conservative Party. Villiers was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2012 until 2016 under the leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron before she was dismissed when the incoming Prime Minister Theresa May took office. Boris Johnson appointed her as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in July 2019 before she was sacked in February 2020. It is part of the London Borough of Barnet.
Mid Bedfordshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Nadine Dorries, of the Conservative Party. Apart from four early years, the constituency has returned a Conservative since its creation in 1918.
Luton North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Sarah Owen, of the Labour Party.
Luton South is a constituency in Bedfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Rachel Hopkins, a member of the Labour Party.
Sefton Council is the governing body for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside, north-western England. The council was under no overall control from the 1980s until 2012 when the Labour Party took control. It is a constituent council of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
Luton was a constituency including the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, elected by the first past the post system 1885–1950 and for 24 years thereafter.
Cornwall is administered as a county of South West England whose politics are influenced by a number of issues that make it distinct from the general political scene in the wider United Kingdom, and the political trends of neighbouring counties. Its position on the geographical periphery of the island of Great Britain is also a factor.
The United Kingdom local elections took place on 1 May 1997. Elections took place for all of the English shire counties, some English unitary authorities and all of the Northern Ireland districts. The elections were held on the same day as the general election.
Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the four district councils of Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire, all of which were created in 1974 and abolished in 2009.
Ipswich Borough Council, founded in 1974 after the abolition of the County Borough of Ipswich, governs the non-metropolitan district of Ipswich in Suffolk. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse collection, housing and planning, with Suffolk County Council providing County Council services such as transport, education and social services.
Norwich City Council is the city council for the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. It consists of 39 councillors, elected to represent 13 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under Labour control and led by Alan Waters. It forms the lower tier of local government in Norwich, responsible for local services such as housing, planning, leisure and tourism.
Dorset Council is a unitary local authority in England covering most of the ceremonial county of Dorset. It was created on 1 April 2019 to administer most of the area formerly administered by Dorset County Council, which was previously subdivided into the districts of Weymouth and Portland, West Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, and East Dorset, as well as Christchurch, which is now part of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
