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.
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. To date these are the last local elections to coincide with a general election in the United Kingdom.
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 WonAfter+/-WonAfter+/- 5,5218,77954116319332 2,2786,885203741153 6581,809411464 202496176111 colspan=1 41602 871801000 colspan=1 17000 5801,53813206 colspan=3 368227 Total 9,326 20,273 — 278 405 —
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.Chris Game, The forgotten local elections – Conservatives defy predictions in council votes too, The Conversation (May 11, 2015). There were no local elections in London, Scotland, or Wales.The English local government bodies which did not hold local elections were seven unitary authorities (Cornwall, Durham, the Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Isles of Scilly, Shropshire and Wiltshire), seven district and borough councils (Adur, Cheltenham, Fareham, Gosport, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Oxford), and the 32 London boroughs.
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.Elections 2015: Green Party loses Brighton Council to Labour, BBC News (May 10, 2015).
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.Election 2015: UKIP controls Thanet Council, BBC News (May 10, 2015).David Feeney, Ukip wins control of its first UK council, Guardian (May 9, 2015).
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.Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Local elections analysis: Talk of multi-party England is premature, Local Government Chronicle (May 11, 2015). 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 Details Birmingham Details Bolton Details Bradford Details Bury Details Calderdale (Con-Ind coalition with LD support) (Lab minority)Details Coventry Details Doncaster Details Dudley Details Gateshead Details Kirklees (Labour minority) (Labour minority)Details Knowsley Details Leeds Details Liverpool Details Manchester Details Newcastle upon Tyne Details North Tyneside Details Oldham Details Rochdale Details Rotherham Details St Helens Details Salford Details Sandwell Details Sefton Details Sheffield Details Solihull Details South Tyneside Details Stockport (LibDem-Ind minority) (LibDem-Ind minority)Details Sunderland Details Tameside Details Trafford Details Wakefield Details Walsall (Labour minority) (Labour minority)Details Wigan Details Wirral Details Wolverhampton Details
Unitary authorities
Whole council In 30 English unitary authorities the whole council was 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 Details Bedford (Lab-LibDem coalition)Details Blackpool Details Bournemouth Details Bracknell Forest Details Brighton & Hove (Green minority) (Labour minority)Details Central Bedfordshire Details Cheshire East Details Cheshire West and Chester Details Darlington Details East Riding of Yorkshire Details Herefordshire Details Leicester Details Luton Details Medway Details Middlesbrough Details North Lincolnshire Details North Somerset Details Nottingham Details Poole Details Redcar and Cleveland (Labour minority)Details Rutland Details South Gloucestershire Details Stockton-on-Tees Details Stoke-on-Trent (Ind-Con-UKIP coalition)Details Telford and Wrekin (Labour minority)Details Torbay Details West Berkshire Details Windsor and Maidenhead Details York (Con-LibDem coalition)Details
Third of council In 19 English unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Blackburn with Darwen Details Bristol (Lab minority)Details Derby Details Halton Details Hartlepool Details Kingston upon Hull Details Milton Keynes (Lab minority)Details North East Lincolnshire (Lab-LibDem coalition)Details Peterborough (Con minority)Details Plymouth (Lab-Con coalition)Details Portsmouth (Con with UKIP & Lab support) (Con with UKIP support)Details Reading Details Slough Details Southampton Details Southend-on-Sea (Ind-Lab-LibDem coalition) (Ind-Lab-LibDem coalition)Details Swindon Details Thurrock (Lab with UKIP support) (Lab minority)Details Warrington Details Wokingham Details
Non-metropolitan districts
Whole council In 128 English district authorities the whole council was 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 (Labour minority) (Labour minority)Details Arun Details Ashfield Details Ashford Details Aylesbury Vale Details Babergh Details Barrow-in-Furness Details Bassetlaw Details Blaby Details Bolsover Details Boston (Con-Ind coalition) Details Braintree Details Breckland Details Broadland Details Bromsgrove Details Broxtowe Details Canterbury Details Charnwood Details Chelmsford Details Chesterfield Details Chichester Details Chiltern Details Christchurch Details Copeland Details Corby Details Cotswold Details Dacorum Details Dartford Details Derbyshire Dales Details Dover Details Eastbourne Details East Cambridgeshire Details East Devon Details East Dorset Details East Hampshire Details East Hertfordshire Details East Lindsey Details East Northamptonshire Details East Staffordshire DetailsEden Details Epsom and Ewell Details Erewash Details Fenland Details Forest Heath Details Forest of Dean (Conservative minority) (Conservative minority)Details Fylde Details Gedling Details Gravesham Details Guildford Details Hambleton Details Harborough Details High Peak Details Hinckley and Bosworth Details Horsham Details Kettering Details King's Lynn and West Norfolk Details Lancaster (Labour-Green coalition) (Labour minority)Details Lewes Details Lichfield Details Maldon Details Malvern Hills DetailsMansfield Details Melton Details Mendip Details Mid Devon Details Mid Suffolk Details Mid Sussex Details New Forest Details Newark and Sherwood Details North Devon (LibDem-Ind coalition) (Con-Ind coalition)Details North Dorset Details North East Derbyshire Details North Kesteven Details North Norfolk Details North Warwickshire Details North West Leicestershire Details Northampton Details Oadby and Wigston Details Purbeck Details Ribble Valley DetailsRichmondshire Details Rother Details Rushcliffe Details Ryedale Details Scarborough Details Sedgemoor Details Selby Details Sevenoaks Details Shepway Details South Bucks Details South Derbyshire Details South Hams Details South Holland Details South Kesteven Details South Norfolk Details South Northamptonshire Details South Oxfordshire Details South Ribble Details South Somerset (LibDem-Ind coalition)Details South Staffordshire Details Spelthorne Details St Edmundsbury Details Stafford Details Staffordshire Moorlands Details Stratford-on-Avon Details Suffolk Coastal Details Surrey Heath Details Swale Details Taunton Deane Details Teignbridge Details Tendring (Con-Ind coalition)Details Test Valley Details Tewkesbury Details Thanet Details Tonbridge and Malling DetailsTorridge Details Uttlesford Details Vale of White Horse Details Warwick Details Waveney Details Waverley Details Wealden Details Wellingborough Details West Devon Details West Dorset Details West Lindsey Details West Somerset Details Wychavon Details Wycombe Details Wyre Details Wyre Forest Details
Third of council In 66 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Amber Valley Details Basildon (Con-UKIP coalition) (Con minority)Details Basingstoke and Deane Details Brentwood Details Broxbourne Details Burnley Details Cambridge Details Cannock Chase Details Carlisle Details Castle Point Details Cherwell Details Chorley Details Colchester