The 2005 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 5 May 2005, with various councils and local government seats being contested in England and Northern Ireland, and a local referendum taking place on the Isle of Wight on the issue of a directly elected mayor. These local elections were held in conjunction with the 2005 general election across the entire United Kingdom.
Despite losing the general election held on the same day, the Conservatives made some gains at Labour's expense, providing some comfort to the party. Conservative leader Michael Howard resigned soon afterwards and was succeeded by David Cameron, who had a decent platform to build on in his challenge to lead the Conservatives to a general election victory; the party had increased its share of council seats and importantly its share of seats in parliament.
Summary of results
Party Councillors Councils Number Change Number Change 1,193 152 24 7 612 114 6 1 493 40 3 3 182 51 2 2 126 18 0 115 39 0 101 16 0 30 2 0 20 14 0 8 6 0 8 3 0 3 3 0 2 3 0 2 2 0 United Unionist 2 0 1 5 0 Newtownabbey Ratepayers 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 Other 96 26 0 n/a n/a 4 9
BBC News Election 2005
Like in 2001, many results were in line with the general election on the same day.
The Liberal Democrats gained Cornwall, whilst simultaneously winning Camborne & Falmouth from Labour, and thus holding every parliamentary seat in Cornwall. Similarly in Somerset too, where they regained Taunton from the Conservatives.
The Conservative gain in Gloucestershire coincided with their gain of Forest of Dean from Labour, the swing towards them in Cheltenham where the previous Lib Dem MP had retired and their near-miss result where Labour narrowly held on to Stroud. Worcestershire's result coincided with reduced Labour majorities in Worcester and Redditch, whilst overtaking Labour for second place in Wyre Forest. The Isle of Wight was also in line with the general election, which saw a huge increase in the Conservative majority on the island.
Northamptonshire coincided with Labour's losses in Kettering, Wellingborough and Northampton South, all of which were extremely marginal seats that the Conservatives narrowly lost in 1997 and where they failed to make any progress in 2001. Shropshire similarly coincided with 3 gains in the general elections for the Conservatives, where they took The Wrekin and Shrewsbury & Atcham from Labour and took Ludlow from the Liberal Democrats. Suffolk coincided with no actual seat gains in the general election, but swings to the Conservatives of at least 3% in all seven constituencies. The swings were larger in their own five constituencies, with a swing of almost 7% in Bury St Edmunds.
The Liberal Democrat gain in Devon, however, happened despite a mixed bag of results in the general election. They lost Devon West & Torridge to the Conservatives, and in Torbay, the Conservatives reduced their majority. There were small swings to the Lib Dems in Totnes, Teignbridge and Devon North, though a big swing away from them in Tiverton and Honiton.
England
Non-metropolitan county councils In 34 shire county county councils, all seats were up for re-election.
Council Previous control Result Details Bedfordshire ‡ holdDetails Buckinghamshire ‡ holdDetails Cambridgeshire ‡ holdDetails Cheshire holdDetails Cornwall ‡ gainDetails Cumbria holdDetails Derbyshire ‡ holdDetails Devon ‡ gainDetails Dorset ‡ holdDetails Durham ‡ holdDetails East Sussex ‡ holdDetails Essex ‡ holdDetails Gloucestershire ‡ gainDetails Hampshire ‡ holdDetails Hertfordshire holdDetails Kent ‡ holdDetails Lancashire ‡ holdDetails Leicestershire ‡ holdDetails Lincolnshire holdDetails Norfolk ‡ holdDetails North Yorkshire ‡ holdDetails Northamptonshire gainDetails Northumberland holdDetails Nottinghamshire ‡ holdDetails Oxfordshire ‡ gainDetails Shropshire ‡ gainDetails Somerset gainDetails Staffordshire ‡ holdDetails Suffolk ‡ gainDetails Surrey ‡ holdDetails Warwickshire ‡ holdDetails West Sussex ‡ holdDetails Wiltshire ‡ holdDetails Worcestershire ‡ gainDetails ‡ New electoral division boundaries
Unitary authorities
Whole council In two unitary authorities the whole council were up for election and one had a third of the council up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Isle of Wight gainDetails Stockton-on-Tees ‡ gainDetails ‡ New ward boundaries
Third of council
Council Previous control Result Details Bristol holdDetails
Sui generis
Council Previous control Result Details Isles of Scilly holdDetails
Mayoral elections Four direct mayoral elections were held.
Local Authority Previous Mayor Mayor-elect Details Doncaster Martin Winter (Labour) Martin Winter (Labour) Hartlepool Stuart Drummond (Independent) Stuart Drummond (Independent) North Tyneside Linda Arkley (Conservative) John Harrison (Labour)Details Stoke-on-Trent Mike Wolfe (Independent) Mark Meredith (Labour)
Northern Ireland
All seats were up for election in the 26 districts of Northern Ireland. The many parties and the use of the single transferable vote meant that most councils ended up in no overall control. The DUP gained majority control of three councils: Ards, Ballymena, and Castlereagh.
Results summary Party Councillors Votes Change Total % share Total +5118230208,278 +1812623163,205 -3911518126,317 -1610117121,991 +230535,149 -1420427,677 +3315,703 -2214,591United Unionist020.32,064Newtownabbey Ratepayers010.31,897 000.21,321 000.21,164 000.11,052 000.1828 -100.1738 -200.1734
Council Control Council Previous control Result DetailsAntrim DetailsArds DetailsArmagh DetailsBallymena DetailsBallymoney DetailsBanbridge DetailsBelfast DetailsCarrickfergus DetailsCastlereagh DetailsColeraine DetailsCookstown DetailsCraigavon DetailsDerry DetailsDown DetailsDungannon and South Tyrone DetailsFermanagh DetailsLarne DetailsLimavady DetailsLisburn DetailsMagherafelt DetailsMoyle DetailsNewry and Mourne DetailsNewtownabbey DetailsNorth Down DetailsOmagh DetailsStrabane Details
Source: ARK research and knowledge groupLocal Government Elections 2005, Northern Ireland, ARK research and knowledge group
References
Local and Mayoral elections 2005. House of Commons Library Research Paper 05/93