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2025 United Kingdom local elections

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2025 United Kingdom local elections
← 2024 1 May 2025 2026 →
1,641 council seats
23 county, unitary, and metropolitan councils
6 directly elected mayors
2 sui generis authorities
  First party Second party Third party
 
Official portrait of Nigel Farage MP crop 2.jpg
Official portrait of Ed Davey MP crop 3, 2024.jpg
Official portrait of Kemi Badenoch MP crop 3, 2024 (cropped).jpg
Leader Nigel Farage Ed Davey Kemi Badenoch
Party Reform UK Liberal Democrats Conservative
Leader since 3 June 2024 27 August 2020[n 1] 2 November 2024
Seats before 128 seats
0 councils 		3,009 seats
37 councils 		5,034 seats[3]
49 councils
Projected vote share[a] 30%
Increase 28pp 		17%
Steady 		15%
Decrease 10pp
Seats won (2025) 677 seats[1]
10 councils 		370 seats
3 councils 		317 seats
0 councils
Councillors (after) 805 seats
10 councils 		3,179 seats
40 councils 		4,358 seats
33 councils
Net change (notional) Increase 677
Increase 10 councils 		Increase 163
Increase 3 councils 		Decrease 676
Decrease 16 councils
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Official Portrait (cropped).jpg
Denyer and Ramsay official portraits (2024).png
Leader Keir Starmer Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay
Party Labour Green
Leader since 4 April 2020 1 October 2021
Seats before 6,322 seats
108 councils 		850 seats
1 council
Projected vote share[a] 20%
Decrease 14pp 		11%
Decrease 2pp
Seats won (2025) 98 seats
0 councils 		80 seats
0 councils
Councillors (after) 6,132 seats
107 councils 		895 seats
1 council
Net change (notional) Decrease 186
Decrease 1 council 		Increase 45
Steady 0 councils
  Reform UK
  Liberal Democrats
  Labour Party
  Conservative Party
  No overall control

The 2025 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2025 for 1,641 council seats across 24 local authorities.[4][5] All seats on 14 county councils and eight unitary authorities in England were up for election. They were the first local elections to follow the 2024 general election.[6] Most of these seats were last contested at the 2021 local elections.

There were also six mayoral elections, including the inaugural election for the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, and the inaugural election for the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire. The 2025 Runcorn and Helsby by-election was also held on 1 May.[7] In addition, elections for the Council of the Isles of Scilly were held.[4] The City of London Corporation held elections on 19 and 20 March.[8]

The elections were described as a sweeping victory for Reform UK. The party placed first, winning the most seats and took control of a number of local authorities.[9] The governing Labour Party and opposition Conservative Party suffered historic losses. This was the first time that Labour finished fourth in a local election; it was the first set of elections under the premiership of Keir Starmer.[10] There were major gains for the Liberal Democrats who won three new councils and won more seats than the Conservatives for the second local election in a row.[11]

Some elections originally scheduled for 2025 have been delayed by up to a year while reorganisation takes place.[12] The government announced that elections to nine councils would not take place in 2025 to allow restructuring, with elections to reformed or newly created replacement authorities taking place in 2026.[13]

Background

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Significance of these elections

[edit]

These elections were the first local elections to follow the general election held on 4 July 2024 which resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party. The combined vote share for Labour and the Conservatives reached a record low, with smaller parties doing well. Labour returned to being the largest party in Scotland and remained so in Wales. The election was noted as the most disproportionate in modern British history (i.e. Labour won 63% of seats with 34% of the vote),[14] mainly as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system.[15][16][17][18]

Keir Starmer won a landslide victory at the general election and became prime minister, but with the smallest share of the electoral vote of any majority government since record-keeping of the popular vote began in 1830. By the end of 2024, opinion polling for the Labour Party and Starmer's personal approval ratings had dropped significantly following several controversies including those regarding the abolition of Winter fuel payments and alleged trading of gifts for political influence, as well as a series of far-right anti-immigration riots fueled by the perception that his government mishandled its response to the Southport stabbings, protests by farmers over a proposed new inheritance tax on their farms, and continued government support for Israel in the Gaza war. These controversies culminated in an online petition in November 2024 calling for an early general election reaching over 2 million signatures within 2 days.[19][20]

On 2 November 2024, Kemi Badenoch won the 2024 Conservative leadership election to succeed Rishi Sunak.[21] In a December 2024 interview, Badenoch said the public "kicked out" the Conservative Party because it was not trusted and did not deliver; she dismissed concerns that her approach of not having specific policy positions would leave a vacuum that could be filled by Reform UK; and she acknowledged the 2025 local elections would be difficult for her party.[22] Nigel Farage's party Reform UK placed third in the share of the vote in the 2024 election and had MPs elected to the Commons for the first time.[23] Farage and his party Reform UK did well in opinion polls at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives.

Following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December 2024, which set out the Labour government's plans for local government reorganisation, some of the elections scheduled for May 2025 will be delayed by up to a year while reorganisation takes place.[12] County councils and unitary authorities had until 10 January 2025 to request to join the Government's Devolution Priority Programme and ask the Government to cancel or postpone their regularly scheduled elections.[24] At least 13 of the 21 county councils asked the government to delay their elections.[25] On 5 February 2025, the government announced that elections to nine councils (seven county councils and two unitary authorities) would not take place in 2025 to allow restructuring to take place, with elections to reformed or newly created replacement authorities taking place in 2026.[13]

These were the third set of local elections held under the Elections Act 2022, a controversial voter identification law that requires[26][27] voters to show photo ID when attending a polling station. This act also meant that the elections for directly-elected mayors would use the first-past-the-post voting system rather than the previously used supplementary vote system.

Campaign

[edit]
Aggregate seats contested by party[28]
Party Seats
Reform UK
1,624 / 1,641 (99%)
Conservative
1,595 / 1,641 (97%)
Labour
1,536 / 1,641 (94%)
Liberal Democrats
1,395 / 1,641 (85%)
Green
1,202 / 1,641 (73%)

Liberal Democrats

[edit]

Ed Davey launched the Liberal Democrats' campaign on 17 March in Great Missenden.[29] On 20 March the party's spring conference began in Harrogate.[30]

Davey said he wanted to replace the Conservatives as the "party of Middle England".[31]

Conservative

[edit]

Kemi Badenoch launched the Conservative Party's campaign on 20 March at an event in Buckinghamshire.[32] She warned activists of an "extremely difficult" challenge,[33] and promised to bring "lower taxes and better services."[34]

Badenoch suggested that Conservative Party councillors could form coalitions with Reform UK councillors, but Farage turned this suggestion down.[35]

Reform UK

[edit]

Nigel Farage launched the Reform UK campaign at an event on 28 March at Arena Birmingham.[36] Reform contested nearly all the council seats and the six mayoral elections.[37]

Labour

[edit]

Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched the Labour Party campaign on 3 April at an event in Derbyshire.[38]

Green

[edit]

Carla Denyer launched the Green Party campaign on 8 April in Warwickshire.[39][40]

Results

[edit]

Overall

[edit]

The table below shows the results of these elections, along with the overall number of councillors in Great Britain for each party following the elections.

Party Councillors Councils
Won After +/−[b] Won After +/−
Labour 99 6,132 Decrease 186 0 107 Decrease 1
Conservative 317 4,358 Decrease 676 0 33 Decrease 16
Liberal Democrats 370 3,179 Increase 163 3 40 Increase 3
Green 80 895 Increase 45 0 1 Steady
Reform UK 677 805 Increase 677 10 10 Increase 10
SNP —[c] 418 Steady —[c] 1 Steady
Plaid Cymru —[d] 201 Steady —[d] 3 Steady
Independent 94 2,602 Decrease 23 0 11 Steady
No overall control — 10 165 Increase 4
Total 1,637 18,590 — 23 371 —

County councils

[edit]

There are 21 county councils in England. All of them hold whole-council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025. However, 7 county councils (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex and Hampshire) had their elections postponed due to local government reorganisation. A total of 16 county councils applied for their elections to be postponed, though 9 (Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) had this request rejected and their elections went ahead as planned, as these places were not part of the Devolution Priority Programme.[41]

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Cambridgeshire 61 No overall control (Lib Dem-Lab-Ind coalition) Liberal Democrats Details
Derbyshire[e] 64 Conservative Reform UK Details
Devon 60 Conservative No overall control Details
Gloucestershire[e] 55 Conservative No overall control Details
Hertfordshire 78 Conservative No overall control Details
Kent 81 Conservative Reform UK Details
Lancashire 84 Conservative Reform UK Details
Leicestershire 55 Conservative No overall control Details
Lincolnshire 70 Conservative Reform UK Details
Nottinghamshire 66 Conservative Reform UK Details
Oxfordshire[e] 69 No overall control (Lib Dem-Lab-Grn coalition) Liberal Democrats Details
Staffordshire[e] 62 Conservative Reform UK Details
Warwickshire 57 Conservative No overall control Details
Worcestershire[e] 57 Conservative No overall control Details

Metropolitan boroughs

[edit]

Most metropolitan boroughs are elected by thirds across three years, with a fourth fallow year, which fell in 2025. However, City of Doncaster Council has been elected as a whole every four years from 2017, to coincide with the election of the Mayor of Doncaster.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Doncaster 55 Labour Reform UK Details

Unitary authorities

[edit]

There are 62 unitary authorities, which are single-tier local authorities. Ten of them were due to hold whole-council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025. However, Isle of Wight and Thurrock had their elections cancelled due to local government reorganisation. Owing to boundary changes several authorities will see a significant reduction in the number of councillors elected: Buckinghamshire reduces from 147 to 97, Durham goes from 126 to 98 and West Northamptonshire will elect 76 instead of 93.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Buckinghamshire[e] 97 Conservative No overall control Details
Cornwall 87 Conservative No overall control Details
County Durham[e] 98 No overall control (Lib Dem-Con-Ind-North East Party coalition) Reform UK Details
North Northamptonshire[e] 68 Conservative Reform UK Details
Northumberland[e] 69 Conservative No overall control Details
Shropshire[e] 74 Conservative Liberal Democrats Details
West Northamptonshire[e] 76 Conservative Reform UK Details
Wiltshire 98 Conservative No overall control Details

Combined authority mayors

[edit]
Combined authority Mayor before Mayor after Details
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Nik Johnson (Labour) Paul Bristow (Conservative) gain Details
West of England Dan Norris (Independent)[42] Helen Godwin (Labour) gain Details
Greater Lincolnshire None, inaugural election Andrea Jenkyns (Reform UK) new Details
Hull and East Yorkshire None, inaugural election Luke Campbell (Reform UK) new Details

Single-authority mayors

[edit]
Local Authority Previous Mayor Mayor-elect Details
Doncaster Ros Jones (Labour) Ros Jones (Labour) hold Details
North Tyneside Norma Redfearn (Labour) Karen Clark (Labour) hold Details

City of London Corporation

[edit]

The City of London Corporation held its elections on 20 March.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
City of London 100 Independent Independent Details

Isles of Scilly

[edit]

Fifteen of the sixteen seats on the Isles of Scilly were returned uncontested at the close of nominations, with only the island of St Martin's holding a poll on 1 May.[43]

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Isles of Scilly 16 Independent Independent Details

Elections delayed to 2026

[edit]

These elections were originally scheduled to be held in 2025, but on 5 February 2025 it was announced that they would be delayed by a year to 2026 to allow for reorganisation of local government structure. The relevant legislation had to pass the House of Lords, where some peers tried to prevent this happening.[44] A fatal motion, tabled by Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Pinnock, which would have prevented the postponement, was defeated by 63 votes to 163.[45]

Council Seats Party control
East Sussex 50 No overall control
Essex[e] 78 Conservative
Hampshire 78 Conservative
Norfolk[e] 84 Conservative
Surrey[e] 81 Conservative
Suffolk[e] 70 Conservative
West Sussex 70 Conservative
Isle of Wight 39 No overall control
Thurrock[e] 49 Labour

Analysis

[edit]

The elections saw Reform UK win the most seats and take control of a number of local authorities.[9] The governing Labour Party and opposition Conservative Party suffered historic losses.[10] There were major gains for the Liberal Democrats who won new councils.[11]

Projected National Share[46][47]
Party %
Reform UK 30%
Labour 20%
Liberal Democrats 17%
Conservative 15%
Greens 11%
Others 7%

Opinion polls

[edit]

Voting intention

[edit]
Date(s)
conducted 		Pollster Client Sample
size 		Area Con Lab LD Grn Ref Others
17 – 24 Apr 2025 More In Common[48] Channel 4 977 GB 25% 18% 17% 8% 26% 6%

Seat projections

[edit]
Date(s)
conducted 		Pollster Client Sample
size 		Area Con Lab LD Grn Ref Others
Results 317 99 370 80 677 94
1 – 10 Mar 2025 Electoral Calculus[49] The Daily Telegraph 5,421 GB 548 252 270 27 474 77
6 May 2021 2021 local elections – – 974 307 230 38 0 101

Lord Haywood, a Conservative peer and political pollster, predicted that the Conservative Party could lose between 475 and 525 councillors in the local elections.[50] He also suggested that the results would not be particularly positive for the Labour Party, forecasting little change in its overall number of councillors.[50] Haywood projected that Reform UK could gain between 400 and 450 seats. He further indicated that Labour could be at risk of losing control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK and might lose nearly all of its seats on either Oxfordshire or Cambridgeshire councils.[50]

On the day of the election, prior to the close of polls, the New Statesman published a forecast from Britain Elects[51] showing an expected result of the Conservatives on 483 seats, Labour on 334, the Liberal Democrats on 314, Reform on 311, Green on 56, and the remaining 109 for other parties.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ All vote shares in the infobox are projected national vote shares calculated by the BBC.
  2. ^ Because the number of council seats shifts every year due to boundary changes and local government reorganisation, changes are notional changes calculated by the BBC.
  3. ^ a b There were no local elections in Scotland in 2025.
  4. ^ a b There were no local elections in Wales in 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p New electoral boundaries

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Davey served as Acting Leader from 13 December 2019 to 27 August 2020 alongside the Party Presidents Baroness Brinton and Mark Pack, following Jo Swinson's election defeat in the 2019 general election. Davey was elected Leader in August 2020.[2]
  1. ^ "BBC 2025 Local Elections results". BBC. 2 May 2025.
  2. ^ Stewart, Heather (27 August 2020). "'Wake up and smell the coffee': Ed Davey elected Lib Dem leader". The Guardian.
  3. ^ "Councillors Breakdown by Party Latest". Open Council Data. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Election timetable in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Badenoch warns Tories of difficult local elections". BBC News. 20 March 2025.
  6. ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Runcorn by-election confirmed for 1 May". Sky News. 27 March 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  8. ^ Wardmote Book (PDF). City of London. 2022. pp. 2, 76. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Sir John Curtice: Reform's sweeping election wins shake Tory and Labour dominance". BBC News. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  10. ^ a b Dearden, Lizzie (2 May 2025). "Reform UK Surges as Conservatives Lose Seats: 4 Local Elections Takeaways". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Lib Dems take two councils after winning Conservative votes". BBC News. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. 16 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  13. ^ a b Whannel, Kate (5 February 2025). "Council shake-up sees elections delayed in nine areas". BBC News. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  14. ^ Gallagher, Michael. "Election Indices" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  15. ^ Surridge, Paula (5 July 2024). "Labour wins big but the UK's electoral system is creaking". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  16. ^ Curtice, John (5 July 2024). "Labour's strength in Commons is heavily exaggerated". The Times. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  17. ^ Topping, Alexandra (8 July 2024). "'Disproportionate' UK election results boost calls to ditch first past the post". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  18. ^ Chu, Ben (5 July 2024). "Biggest-ever gap between number of votes and MPs hits Reform and Greens". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Keir Starmer: I'm not surprised some want general election re-run". BBC News. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  20. ^ "Starmer rules out another general election after petition reaches two million signatures". Sky News. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  21. ^ Picheta, Rob (2 November 2024). "Kemi Badenoch wins Conservative leadership contest, pitching party to the right after blowout UK election loss". CNN. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  22. ^ "Kemi Badenoch says there is no 'quick fix' for Conservative Party". BBC News. 23 December 2024.
  23. ^ "Nigel Farage storms the UK parliament". Politico. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  24. ^ "Counties given 'extraordinary' deadline to cancel elections". Local Government Chronicle. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Tory party accused of 'bottling' May elections as county councils seek delay". The Guardian. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  26. ^ Kerslake, Bob (6 April 2022). "With all eyes on Ukraine, the UK is quietly set to disenfranchise 2 million citizens". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  27. ^ "Local elections 2023: Voters express anger at ID rule changes". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  28. ^ Election Maps UK [@ElectionMapsUK] (4 April 2025). "LE2025 Total Number of Candidates" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 April 2025 – via Twitter.
  29. ^ "Lib Dems launch election campaign in Buckinghamshire". Bucks Free Press. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  30. ^ "Harrogate to host Lib Dem Spring Conference for first time since 2009 this weekend". Harrogate Advertiser. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  31. ^ "Lib Dems aim to become 'party of Middle England', says Ed Davey". BBC News. 31 March 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  32. ^ "Badenoch warns Tories of difficult local elections". BBC News. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  33. ^ "Tories facing 'extremely difficult' local elections, Badenoch warns". The Independent. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  34. ^ "Kemi Badenoch Keeps Expectations Exceptionally Low With Bleak Forecast At Tory Local Election Launch". HuffPost UK. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  35. ^ Seddon, Paul (10 April 2025). "Nigel Farage rejects local Reform UK-Tory coalitions". BBC News. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  36. ^ Brassington, Jamie (3 February 2025). "Nigel Farage announces 'biggest ever' rally in Birmingham amid new poll". Birmingham Live. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  37. ^ "Reform UK launches 'most ambitious' local election campaign". BBC News. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  38. ^ "Labour launches local election campaign with promise of 'change'". BBC News. 3 April 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2025.
  39. ^ "Green Party launch local election campaign, promising 'record-breaking' gains". ITV News. 8 April 2025. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  40. ^ "Green Party to appeal to disillusioned voters as they head for "record breaking" local election results". Green Party of England and Wales. 8 April 2025. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  41. ^ "Local government reorganisation: letter to two-tier areas". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  42. ^ Wimperis, John (10 April 2025). "Dan Norris banned from Parliament and WECA offices". Somerset Live.
  43. ^ "Statements of Persons Nominated issued for Council election". Council of the Isles of Scilly. 2 April 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  44. ^ Calkin, Sarah (14 March 2025). "Peers bid to block elections postponement". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  45. ^ James, Rhiannon (24 March 2025). "Bid to reverse postponement of local elections defeated in the Lords". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 March 2025. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
  46. ^ Leigh, Suzanne (3 May 2025). "Farage hails election results, as Labour and Tories digest losses". BBC News. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
  47. ^ Fisher, Stephen (2 May 2025). "Local elections 2025 summary". Elections Etc. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
  48. ^ "Local Election Poll".
  49. ^ "MRP Local Election Poll March 2025".
  50. ^ a b c Penna, Dominic (23 April 2025). "Tories set to lose half of council seats amid Reform surge". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  51. ^ "Our forecast for today's local elections". Bluesky. @britainelects.com. 1 May 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
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