A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
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All 32 London boroughs, 34 out of 36 metropolitan boroughs, 17 out of 55 unitary authorities, 67 out of 201 district councils, and 6 directly elected mayors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map showing council control following the election. Conservative: Labour: Liberal Democrats: No overall control: No election: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2018 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 2018,[2] with local council elections taking place in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 67 district and borough councils and 17 unitary authorities.[3] There were also direct elections for the mayoralties of Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.
With the exception of those areas that have had boundary changes, the seats up for election were last contested in the 2014 local elections.
A parliamentary by-election in West Tyrone took place the same day.[4] Various other local by-elections also took place.
Seats held prior to the election
According to a BBC News estimate, taking into account boundary changes, the major political parties are effectively defending the following 'notional' numbers of council seats on election day:
- Labour Party – 2,278 seats
- Conservative Party – 1,365 seats
- Liberal Democrats – 462 seats
- UK Independence Party – 126 seats
- Greens – 31 seats
These numbers are how many seats each party won at the previous comparable election, generally in 2014, rather than which party held the seat on the eve of the election.[5] Some other news agencies, such as the Press Association, compare against the party holding a seat on the eve of the election, leading to a different analysis of gains and losses.[6][7]
There are also 48 Residents Associations' councillors, and 100 'other' / independent councillors.[8]
Eligibility to vote
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) aged 18 or over[9] on polling day were entitled to vote in the local elections.[10] A person with two homes (such as a university student having a term-time address and living at home during holidays) was able to register to vote at both addresses as long as the addresses were not in the same electoral area, and was able to vote in the local elections for the two different local councils.[11]
In certain councils, there was a trial system in place where photo ID was required to vote. These councils were: Swindon, Gosport, Woking, Bromley, and Watford.[12] An estimated 4,000 electors were turned away from polling stations across these trial areas as a result of not having the appropriate form of ID.[13]
Results
The number of councils controlled by each party following the election are shown in the table below. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats made modest gains in terms of their respective number of councillors, whereas the Conservatives made a net loss of 35 seats. UKIP lost nearly all of the 126 seats they were defending, with only 3 councillors elected.[14]
Overall results
| Party | Councillors | Councils | Votes | Projected national equivalent[n 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Change | Number | Change | Number[15] | Share | |||
| Labour | 2,353 |  79
|
74 | 
|
3,154,753 | 41.2% | 35% | |
| Conservative | 1,332 |  35
|
46 | 3
|
2,444,204 | 31.9% | 35% | |
| Liberal Democrats | 542 | 76
|
9 | 4
|
1,067,660 | 13.9% | 16% | |
| Green | 39 | 8
|
0 |
|
500,580 | 6.5% | 14% | |
| UKIP | 3 | 123
|
0 |
|
101,866 | 1.3% | ||
| Independent | 96 | 17
|
0 |
|
392,139 | 5.2% | ||
| Residents | 44 | 3
|
0 |
| ||||
| Liberal | 1 | 1
|
0 |
| ||||
| PATH | 1 | 1
|
0 |
| ||||
| Harold Hill Independent | 1 | 1
|
0 |
| ||||
| No overall control | — | 21 | 1
|
— | — | — | ||
Results in London
The following table shows the aggregate results for the 32 councils that were up for election in London.