2015 United Kingdom local elections

2015 United Kingdom local elections

← 2014 7 May 2015 2016 →

279 councils in England
6 directly elected mayors
1 local referendum
Turnout65%
  First party Second party
  David Cameron Ed Miliband
Leader David Cameron Ed Miliband
Party Conservative Labour
Leader since 6 December 2005 25 September 2010
Popular vote 35% 29%
Swing Increase6% Decrease2%
Councils 163 74
Councils +/– Increase32 Decrease3
Councillors 5,521 2,278
Councillors +/– Increase541 Decrease203

  Third party Fourth party
  Nick Clegg Nigel Farage
Leader Nick Clegg Nigel Farage
Party Liberal Democrats UKIP
Leader since 18 December 2007 5 November 2010
Popular vote 11% 13%
Swing Decrease2% Decrease4%
Councils 4 1
Councils +/– Decrease4 Increase1
Councillors 658 202
Councillors +/– Decrease411 Increase176

The results in England. White areas indicate elections were not held here in 2015.

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.

With the exception of those areas that have had boundary changes, the council seats up for election in England were last contested in the 2011 local elections.

Background

Elections would have been due in Northern Ireland given the previous elections to all 26 local councils in 2011, but these councils have since been scrapped and replaced by 11 super-councils, which had their inaugural elections in 2014.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who will be aged 18 or over on the day of the election were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who will be temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) are also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who have moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. Those who are registered to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) are entitled to vote in the local elections at either address, as long as they are not in the same local government area.

Results

Full results as reported by BBC News:

Party Councillors Councils
Number Change Number Change
Conservative 5,521 Increase541 163 Increase32
Labour 2,278 Decrease203 74 Decrease3
Liberal Democrats 658 Decrease411 4 Decrease4
UKIP 202 Increase176 1 Increase1
Green 87 Increase10 0 Steady
Residents 55 Increase2 0 Decrease1
Liberal 6 Decrease3 0 Steady
Health Concern 2 Decrease3 0 Steady
Independent 517 Decrease125 0 Decrease1
BNP 0 Decrease1 0 Steady
English Democrat 0 Decrease2 0 Steady
No overall control 36 Decrease25

Analysis

In 2015, direct elections were held in 279 of the 293 local districts in England: 36 metropolitan boroughs, 194 of the second-tier districts, and 49 of the unitary authorities. There were no local elections in London, Scotland, or Wales.

There were also six elections for directly elected mayors, as well as elections to many parish councils and town councils, and a few local referendums.

As was the case in the simultaneously-held general election, the Conservative Party was considered the clear winners of the local elections, winning overall control of more than thirty local councils, mostly from councils that before the election had no overall control (i.e., no majority held by any one party). The Conservatives retained control of the Solihull and Trafford councils, the only two metropolitan boroughs that it held before the election, slightly increasing its majority on both. Among the unitary councils, the Conservatives won control of Bath and North East Somerset for the first time.

As was the case in the general election, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats performed poorly. Labour lost control of the Walsall metropolitan borough and the Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent unitary authorities, both to no overall control.

The Green Party of England and Wales lost their status as the largest party on Brighton and Hove City Council to Labour.

The UK Independence Party won control of the Thanet District Council, going from two to 33 seats on that council. This marked the first time that UKIP won control of a local council.

According to an analysis by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, more than three-quarters of councils across the UK are now under the majority control of the two largest parties, Conservative and Labour—the highest percentage since the 1970s local government reform. The dominance of the Conservative and Labour parties was not limited to control of councils, but also extended to a seat count, with the two parties holding 77% of seats, the highest since 1980. Rallings and Thrasher found that the decline of the Liberal Democrats accounted for part of this trend. They concluded that "much is said about multi-party Britain but it is time instead to talk about two-party local government."

Metropolitan boroughs

In 35 of the 36 English metropolitan borough councils, one-third of their seats were up for re-election. In Doncaster, all seats were up for re-election due to ward-boundary changes there.

Council Previous control Result Details
Barnsley Labour Labour Details
Birmingham Labour Labour Details
Bolton Labour Labour Details
Bradford Labour Labour Details
Bury Labour Labour Details
Calderdale No overall control

(Con-Ind coalition with LD support)

No overall control

(Lab minority)

Details
Coventry Labour Labour Details
Doncaster Labour Labour Details
Dudley Labour Labour Details
Gateshead Labour Labour Details
Kirklees No overall control

(Labour minority)

No overall control

(Labour minority)

Details
Knowsley Labour Labour Details
Leeds Labour Labour Details
Liverpool Labour Labour Details
Manchester Labour Labour Details
Newcastle upon Tyne Labour Labour Details
North Tyneside Labour Labour Details
Oldham Labour Labour Details
Rochdale Labour Labour Details
Rotherham Labour Labour Details
St Helens Labour Labour Details
Salford Labour Labour Details
Sandwell Labour Labour Details
Sefton Labour Labour Details
Sheffield Labour Labour Details
Solihull Conservative Conservative Details
South Tyneside Labour Labour Details
Stockport No overall control

(LibDem-Ind minority)

No overall control

(LibDem-Ind minority)

Details
Sunderland Labour Labour Details
Tameside Labour Labour Details
Trafford Conservative Conservative Details
Wakefield Labour Labour Details
Walsall No overall control

(Labour minority)

No overall control

(Labour minority)

Details
Wigan Labour Labour Details
Wirral Labour Labour Details
Wolverhampton Labour Labour Details

Unitary authorities

Whole council

In 30 English unitary authorities the whole council is up for election.

These were the last elections to the unitary authorities for Bournemouth and Poole, as they are set to be merged into one, along with the area covered by Christchurch District Council into one new authority in 2019.

Council Previous control Result Details
Bath and North East Somerset No overall control Conservative Details
Bedford No overall control No overall control (Lab-LibDem coalition) Details
Blackpool Labour Labour Details
Bournemouth Conservative Conservative Details
Bracknell Forest Conservative Conservative Details
Brighton & Hove No overall control (Green minority) No overall control (Labour minority) Details
Central Bedfordshire Conservative Conservative Details
Cheshire East Conservative Conservative Details
Cheshire West and Chester Conservative Labour Details
Darlington Labour Labour Details
East Riding of Yorkshire Conservative Conservative Details
Herefordshire No overall control Conservative Details
Leicester Labour Labour Details
Luton Labour Labour Details
Medway Conservative Conservative Details
Middlesbrough Labour Labour Details
North Lincolnshire Conservative Conservative Details
North Somerset Conservative Conservative Details
Nottingham Labour Labour Details
Poole No overall control Conservative Details
Redcar and Cleveland No overall control No overall control (Labour minority) Details
Rutland Conservative Conservative Details
South Gloucestershire No overall control Conservative Details
Stockton-on-Tees No overall control Labour Details
Stoke-on-Trent Labour No overall control (Ind-Con-UKIP coalition) Details
Telford and Wrekin Labour No overall control (Labour minority) Details
Torbay Conservative Conservative Details
West Berkshire Conservative Conservative Details
Windsor and Maidenhead Conservative Conservative Details
York Labour No overall control (Con-LibDem coalition) Details

Third of council

In 19 English unitary authorities one third of the council is up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Blackburn with Darwen Labour Labour Details
Bristol No overall control No overall control (Lab minority) Details
Derby Labour Labour Details
Halton Labour Labour Details
Hartlepool Labour Labour Details
Kingston upon Hull Labour Labour Details
Milton Keynes No overall control No overall control (Lab minority) Details
North East Lincolnshire No overall control No overall control (Lab-LibDem coalition) Details
Peterborough No overall control No overall control (Con minority) Details
Plymouth Labour No overall control (Lab-Con coalition) Details
Portsmouth No overall control (Con with UKIP & Lab support) No overall control (Con with UKIP support) Details
Reading Labour Labour Details
Slough Labour Labour Details
Southampton Labour Labour Details
Southend-on-Sea No overall control (Ind-Lab-LibDem coalition) No overall control (Ind-Lab-LibDem coalition) Details
Swindon Conservative Conservative Details
Thurrock No overall control (Lab with UKIP support) No overall control (Lab minority) Details
Warrington Labour Labour Details
Wokingham Conservative Conservative Details

Non-metropolitan districts

Whole council

In 128 English district authorities the whole council is up for election.

These were the last elections to councils in Christchurch, Corby, East Dorset, East Northamptonshire, Forest Heath, Kettering, North Dorset, Northampton, Purbeck, South Northamptonshire, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal, Taunton Deane, Waveney, Wellingborough, West Dorset and West Somerset.

These councils are either being merged into larger districts, specifically those in Somerset and Suffolk at the 2019 local elections, while those in Northamptonshire and Dorset are due to have their county councils abolished and converted into 4 unitary authorities, with the new Dorset authorities electing in 2019 and the Northamptonshire authorities electing in 2020 - thus meaning all of the district and borough councillors in Northamptonshire have their terms extended for one year.

Council Previous control Result Details
Allerdale No overall control (Labour minority) No overall control (Labour minority) Details
Arun Conservative Conservative Details
Ashfield Labour Labour Details
Ashford Conservative Conservative Details
Aylesbury Vale Conservative Conservative Details
Babergh No overall control Conservative Details
Barrow-in-Furness Labour Labour Details
Bassetlaw Labour Labour Details
Blaby Conservative Conservative Details
Bolsover Labour Labour Details
Boston Conservative No overall control (Con-Ind coalition) Details
Braintree Conservative Conservative Details
Breckland Conservative Conservative Details
Broadland Conservative Conservative Details
Bromsgrove Conservative Conservative Details
Broxtowe No overall control Conservative Details
Canterbury Conservative Conservative Details
Charnwood Conservative Conservative Details
Chelmsford Conservative Conservative Details
Chesterfield Labour Labour Details
Chichester Conservative Conservative Details
Chiltern Conservative Conservative Details
Christchurch Conservative Conservative Details
Copeland Labour Labour Details
Corby Labour Labour Details
Cotswold Conservative Conservative Details
Dacorum Conservative Conservative Details
Dartford Conservative Conservative Details
Derbyshire Dales Conservative Conservative Details
Dover Conservative Conservative Details
Eastbourne Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
East Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative Details
East Devon Conservative Conservative Details
East Dorset Conservative Conservative Details
East Hampshire Conservative Conservative Details
East Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative Details
East Lindsey No overall control Conservative Details
East Northamptonshire Conservative Conservative Details
East Staffordshire No overall control Conservative Details
Eden No overall control Conservative Details
Epsom and Ewell Residents Association Residents Association Details
Erewash Conservative Conservative Details
Fenland Conservative Conservative Details
Forest Heath Conservative Conservative Details
Forest of Dean No overall control (Conservative minority) No overall control (Conservative minority) Details
Fylde Conservative Conservative Details
Gedling Labour Labour Details
Gravesham Labour Conservative Details
Guildford Conservative Conservative Details
Hambleton Conservative Conservative Details
Harborough Conservative Conservative Details
High Peak No overall control Conservative Details
Hinckley and Bosworth Liberal Democrats Conservative Details
Horsham Conservative Conservative Details
Kettering Conservative Conservative Details
King's Lynn and West Norfolk Conservative Conservative Details
Lancaster No overall control (Labour-Green coalition) No overall control (Labour minority) Details
Lewes No overall control Conservative Details
Lichfield Conservative Conservative Details
Maldon Conservative Conservative Details
Malvern Hills Conservative Conservative Details
Mansfield Labour Labour Details
Melton Conservative Conservative Details
Mendip Conservative Conservative Details
Mid Devon Conservative Conservative Details
Mid Suffolk Conservative Conservative Details
Mid Sussex Conservative Conservative Details
New Forest Conservative Conservative Details
Newark and Sherwood No overall control Conservative Details
North Devon No overall control (LibDem-Ind coalition) No overall control (Con-Ind coalition) Details
North Dorset Conservative Conservative Details
North East Derbyshire Labour Labour Details
North Kesteven Conservative Conservative Details
North Norfolk Conservative Conservative Details
North Warwickshire Labour Conservative Details
North West Leicestershire Conservative Conservative Details
Northampton Conservative Conservative Details
Oadby and Wigston Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Purbeck No overall control Conservative Details
Ribble Valley Conservative Conservative Details
Richmondshire No overall control Conservative Details
Rother Conservative Conservative Details
Rushcliffe Conservative Conservative Details
Ryedale Conservative Conservative Details
Scarborough No overall control Conservative Details
Sedgemoor Conservative Conservative Details
Selby Conservative Conservative Details
Sevenoaks Conservative Conservative Details
Shepway Conservative Conservative Details
South Bucks Conservative Conservative Details
South Derbyshire Conservative Conservative Details
South Hams Conservative Conservative Details
South Holland Conservative Conservative Details
South Kesteven Conservative Conservative Details
South Norfolk Conservative Conservative Details
South Northamptonshire Conservative Conservative Details
South Oxfordshire Conservative Conservative Details
South Ribble Conservative Conservative Details
South Somerset Liberal Democrats No overall control (LibDem-Ind coalition) Details
South Staffordshire Conservative Conservative Details
Spelthorne Conservative Conservative Details
St Edmundsbury Conservative Conservative Details
Stafford Conservative Conservative Details
Staffordshire Moorlands No overall control Conservative Details
Stratford-on-Avon Conservative Conservative Details
Suffolk Coastal Conservative Conservative Details
Surrey Heath Conservative Conservative Details
Swale Conservative Conservative Details
Taunton Deane No overall control Conservative Details
Teignbridge Conservative Conservative Details
Tendring Conservative No overall control (Con-Ind coalition) Details
Test Valley Conservative Conservative Details
Tewkesbury Conservative Conservative Details
Thanet No overall control UKIP Details
Tonbridge and Malling Conservative Conservative Details
Torridge No overall control Conservative Details
Uttlesford Conservative Conservative Details
Vale of White Horse Conservative Conservative Details
Warwick Conservative Conservative Details
Waveney No overall control Conservative Details
Waverley Conservative Conservative Details
Wealden Conservative Conservative Details
Wellingborough Conservative Conservative Details
West Devon Conservative Conservative Details
West Dorset Conservative Conservative Details
West Lindsey Conservative Conservative Details
West Somerset Conservative Conservative Details
Wychavon Conservative Conservative Details
Wycombe Conservative Conservative Details
Wyre Conservative Conservative Details
Wyre Forest No overall control Conservative Details

Third of council

In 66 English district authorities one third of the council is up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Amber Valley Labour Conservative Details
Basildon No overall control (Con-UKIP coalition) No overall control (Con minority) Details
Basingstoke and Deane No overall control Conservative Details
Brentwood No overall control Conservative Details
Broxbourne Conservative Conservative Details
Burnley Labour Labour Details
Cambridge Labour Labour Details
Cannock Chase Labour Labour Details
Carlisle Labour Labour Details
Castle Point Conservative Conservative Details
Cherwell Conservative Conservative Details
Chorley Labour Labour Details
Colchester No overall control

(LibDem-Lab-Ind Coalition)

No overall control

(LibDem-Lab-Ind Coalition)

Details
Craven Conservative Conservative Details
Crawley Labour Labour Details
Daventry Conservative Conservative Details
Eastleigh Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Elmbridge Conservative Conservative Details
Epping Forest Conservative Conservative Details
Exeter Labour Labour Details
Gloucester No overall control Conservative Details
Great Yarmouth No overall control (Lab minority) No overall control (Lab minority) Details
Harlow Labour Labour Details
Harrogate Conservative Conservative Details
Hart No overall control Conservative Details
Havant Conservative Conservative Details
Hertsmere Conservative Conservative Details
Huntingdonshire Conservative Conservative Details
Hyndburn Labour Labour Details
Ipswich Labour Labour Details
Lincoln Labour Labour Details
Maidstone No overall control (Con minority) No overall control (LibDem-Ind minority) Details
Mole Valley No overall control Conservative Details
Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour No overall control (Lab minority) Details
North Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative Details
Norwich Labour Labour Details
Pendle No overall control (Con-LibDem coalition) No overall control (Con-LibDem coalition) Details
Preston Labour Labour Details
Redditch Labour Labour Details
Reigate and Banstead Conservative Conservative Details
Rochford Conservative Conservative Details
Rossendale Labour Labour Details
Rugby Conservative Conservative Details
Runnymede Conservative Conservative Details
Rushmoor Conservative Conservative Details
St Albans No overall control Conservative Details
South Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative Details
South Lakeland Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Stevenage Labour Labour Details
Stroud No overall control

(Lab-Green-LibDem coalition)

No overall control

(Lab-Green-LibDem coalition)

Details
Tamworth Conservative Conservative Details
Tandridge Conservative Conservative Details
Three Rivers Liberal Democrats No overall control

(Con minority w/ Lab support)

Details
Tunbridge Wells Conservative Conservative Details
Watford Liberal Democrats No overall control (LibDem minority) Details
Welwyn Hatfield Conservative Conservative Details
West Lancashire No overall control Labour Details
West Oxfordshire Conservative Conservative Details
Weymouth and Portland No overall control (Lab minority) No overall control (Con minority) Details
Winchester No overall control Conservative Details
Woking Conservative Conservative Details
Worcester No overall control Conservative Details
Worthing Conservative Conservative Details

Mayoral elections

Six direct mayoral elections were held.

Local Authority Previous Mayor Mayor-elect
Bedford Dave Hodgson (Liberal Democrats) Dave Hodgson (Liberal Democrats)
Copeland New Post Mike Starkie (Independent)
Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby (Labour) Sir Peter Soulsby (Labour)
Mansfield Tony Egginton (Mansfield Independent Forum) Kate Allsop (Mansfield Independent Forum)
Middlesbrough Ray Mallon (Independent) Dave Budd (Labour)
Torbay Gordon Oliver (Conservative) Gordon Oliver (Conservative)

Local referendums results

A local referendum in Bedfordshire was held on a proposal by Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Olly Martins, to fund one hundred additional police officers through a 15.8% increase in the police precept (the portion of the council tax set by the police and crime commissioner). The proposal would provide an additional £4.5 million in revenue. The referendum was triggered because the proposed tax increase was above the 2% threshold. Voters decisively rejected the proposal, with 30.5% (91,086 votes) voting yes and 69.5% (207,551 votes) no.


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