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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
 
Leader Kemi Badenoch Keir Starmer Ed Davey
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Leader since 2 November 2024 4 April 2020 27 August 2020[n 1]
Last election 1,182 seats[1] 336 seats[1] 247 seats[1]
Total seats before[a] 5,064 seats
81 councils 		6,405 seats
154 councils 		3,043 seats
70 councils
 
Leader Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay Nigel Farage
Party Green Reform
Leader since 1 October 2021 3 June 2024
Last election 37 seats[1] 0 seats[1]
Total seats before[a] 810 seats
1 council 		125 seats
0 councils
Map of local authorities with elections (excluding combined authority mayors)
  County Council
  County Council/unitary authority (cancelled election)
  Unitary authority
  Sui generis council[c]
  Metropolitan borough council and mayoral
  Mayoral (single authority area)
  None

The 2025 United Kingdom local elections will be held on 1 May 2025 for 1,641 council seats across 24 local authorities.[3][4] All seats on 14 county councils and eight unitary authorities in England will be up for election. They will be the first local elections to follow the 2024 general election.[5] Most of these seats were last contested at the 2021 local elections.

There will also be 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 will also be held on the first of May.[6] In addition, the Council of the Isles of Scilly will be elected.[3]

The City of London Corporation held elections on 19 and 20 March.[7]

Background

[edit]

Following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December 2024, which set out the government's plans for local government reorganisation, some of the elections scheduled for May 2025 will delayed by up to a year while reorganisation takes place.[8] 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.[9] At least 13 of the 21 county councils asked the government to delay their elections.[10] 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.[11]

On 2 January 2025, 20 Borough of Broxtowe councillors in Nottinghamshire resigned from the Labour party to form the Broxtowe Independents in protest against Keir Starmer. They criticised Labour national policy on the winter fuel payment, the WASPI women, bus fare increases, the two-child benefit cap, the war in Gaza,[12] and plans to reorganise local government, which could see district and borough councils scrapped. They said that 10 of their members were prevented from standing for Labour in the upcoming Nottinghamshire County Council election due to their criticism of government policy. The resignations resulted in Labour losing control of Broxtowe Borough Council, with the number of Labour councillors dropping from 26 to 6, with Broxtowe Independents saying they intended to run the council as a minority administration and run a full slate of candidates in the 2025 local elections.[13]

Campaign

[edit]
Aggregate seats contested by party[14]
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]

On 17 March, Ed Davey launched the Liberal Democrat campaign in Great Missenden.[15] On 20 March, the party's spring conference began in Harrogate.[16]

Davey said he wants to replace the Conservatives as the "party of Middle England".[17]

Conservative

[edit]

Kemi Badenoch launched the Conservative Party campaign on 20 March at an event in Buckinghamshire.[18] She warned activists of an "extremely difficult" challenge.[19] The Tory leader also promised to bring "lower taxes and better services".[20]

Badenoch has suggested that Conservative Party councillors could form coalitions with Reform UK councillors.[21]

Reform UK

[edit]

Nigel Farage launched the Reform UK campaign at an event on 28 March at Arena Birmingham.[22] Reform will contest nearly all the council seats and the six mayoral elections.[23]

Labour

[edit]

The Labour Party campaign was launched on 3 April at an event in Derbyshire.[24]

Green

[edit]

The Green Party launched its local election campaign on 8 April in Warwickshire.[25][26]

Main issues

[edit]

High rates of Council Tax is reportedly an important issue to voters.[27] [28]

England

[edit]

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 cancelled due to local government reorganisation. A total of 16 county councils applied for their elections to be cancelled. Further, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire applied for their elections to be cancelled,[29] but will not be reorganised so will proceed as scheduled.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Cambridgeshire 61 No overall control Details
Derbyshire[d] 64 Conservative Details
Devon 60 Conservative Details
Gloucestershire[d] 55 Conservative Details
Hertfordshire 78 Conservative Details
Kent 81 Conservative Details
Lancashire 84 Conservative Details
Leicestershire 55 Conservative Details
Lincolnshire 70 Conservative Details
Nottinghamshire 66 Conservative Details
Oxfordshire[d] 69 No overall control Details
Staffordshire[d] 62 Conservative Details
Warwickshire 57 Conservative Details
Worcestershire[d] 57 Conservative Details

Metropolitan boroughs

[edit]
Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Doncaster 55 Labour 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[d] 97 Conservative Details
Cornwall 87 Conservative Details
County Durham[d] 98 No overall control Details
North Northamptonshire[d] 68 Conservative Details
Northumberland[d] 69 Conservative Details
Shropshire[d] 74 Conservative Details
West Northamptonshire[d] 76 Conservative Details
Wiltshire 98 Conservative Details

Combined authority mayors

[edit]
Combined authority Mayor before Mayor after Details
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Nik Johnson (Lab) Details
West of England Dan Norris[30] (Ind) Details
Greater Lincolnshire None, inaugural election Details
Hull and East Yorkshire None, inaugural election Details

Metropolitan Borough mayors

[edit]
Local authority Mayor before Party Mayor after Details
Doncaster Ros Jones Labour
North Tyneside Norma Redfearn Labour

City of London Corporation

[edit]
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.[31]

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 has to pass the House of Lords, where some peers are trying to prevent this happening.[32]

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

Opinion polls

[edit]

Seat projections

[edit]
Date(s)
conducted 		Pollster Client Sample
size 		Area Con Lab LD Grn Ref Others
1 – 10 Mar 2025 Electoral Calculus[33] Daily Telegraph 5,421 GB 548 252 270 27 474 77
6 May 2021 2021 local elections – – 1,182 336 247 37 0 147

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Total seats held across all councils prior to election.
  2. ^ All vote shares in the infobox are projected national vote shares calculated by the BBC.
  3. ^ City of London Corporation and Isles of Scilly Council
  4. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e "Local Council Political Compositions". Keith Edkins. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  2. ^ Stewart, Heather (27 August 2020). "'Wake up and smell the coffee': Ed Davey elected Lib Dem leader". The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b "Election timetable in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  4. ^ Badenoch warns Tories of difficult local elections
  5. ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  6. ^ "Runcorn by-election confirmed for 1 May". Sky News. 27 March 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  7. ^ Wardmote Book (PDF). City of London. 2022. pp. 2, 76. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. 16 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  9. ^ "Counties given 'extraordinary' deadline to cancel elections". Local Government Chronicle. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Tory party accused of 'bottling' May elections as county councils seek delay". The Guardian. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  11. ^ Whannel, Kate (5 February 2025). "Council shake-up sees elections delayed in nine areas". BBC News. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  12. ^ Hughes, David (2025-01-02). "Labour councillors quit with broadside at Starmer". The Standard. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  13. ^ "Twenty Broxtowe councillors quit Labour over Starmer's leadership". BBC News. 2025-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  14. ^ Election Maps UK [@ElectionMapsUK] (April 4, 2025). "LE2025 Total Number of Candidates" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 April 2025 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Lib Dems launch election campaign in Buckinghamshire". Bucks Free Press. 2025-03-17. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  16. ^ "Harrogate to host Lib Dem Spring Conference for first time since 2009 this weekend". Harrogate Advertiser. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  17. ^ "Lib Dems aim to become 'party of Middle England', says Ed Davey". BBC News. 2025-03-31. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  18. ^ "Badenoch warns Tories of difficult local elections". BBC News. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  19. ^ "Tories facing 'extremely difficult' local elections, Badenoch warns". The Independent. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  20. ^ "Kemi Badenoch Keeps Expectations Exceptionally Low With Bleak Forecast At Tory Local Election Launch". HuffPost UK. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  21. ^ Seddon, Paul (10 April 2025). "Nigel Farage rejects local Reform UK-Tory coalitions". BBC News. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  22. ^ Brassington, Jamie (2025-02-03). "Nigel Farage announces 'biggest ever' rally in Birmingham amid new poll". Birmingham Live. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  23. ^ "Reform UK launches 'most ambitious' local election campaign". BBC News. 2025-03-28. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  24. ^ "Labour launches local election campaign with promise of 'change'". BBC News. 2025-04-03. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
  25. ^ "Green Party launch local election campaign, promising 'record-breaking' gains". ITV News. 8 April 2025. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  26. ^ "Green Party to appeal to disillusioned voters as they head for "record breaking" local election results". greenparty.org.uk. Green Party of England and Wales. 8 April 2025. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  27. ^ ”‘Awful April’: bill rises Britons face, from council tax to energy and cars” https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/31/awful-april-bill-rises-council-tax-energy-tv-licence-car-tax
  28. ^ Holl-Allen, Genevieve; Corfe, Ollie (2025-03-20). "How Labour councils are increasing tax more than Tory ones". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  29. ^ "Local government reorganisation: letter to two-tier areas". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
  30. ^ https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/dan-norris-banned-parliament-weca-10095323
  31. ^ "Statements of Persons Nominated issued for Council election". Council of the Isles of Scilly. 2 April 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  32. ^ Calkin, Sarah (2025-03-14). "Peers bid to block elections postponement". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  33. ^ "MRP Local Election Poll March 2025".
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