2019 United Kingdom local elections

← 2018 2 May 2019 2021 →
33 out of 36 metropolitan boroughs, 47 out of 55 unitary authorities, 168 out of 192 district councils, all 11 Northern Irish councils and 6 directly elected mayors
First party Second party Third party   Leader Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn Vince Cable Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 11 July 2016 12 September 2015 20 July 2017 Last election 5,521 seats 163 councils 2,278 seats 74 councils 702 seats 4 councils Projected Popular vote[n 1] 28% 28% 19% Swing[n 2] 7pp 7pp 3pp Councils 93 84 18 Councils +/– 44 6 10 Councillors 3,564 2,021 1,351 Councillors +/– 1,330 84 704   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jonathan Bartley and Siân Berry Arlene Foster Michelle O'Neill[n 4] Party Green DUP Sinn Féin Leader since 4 September 2018 17 September 2015 10 February 2018 Last election 87 seats[2] Seats before 130 105 Seats won 273[n 3] 122 105 Seat change 198 8
Map showing council control in England and largest parties by council in Northern Ireland following the election. Areas of England in pale cream did not hold an election, those in light grey are other parts of the United Kingdom which also did not hold elections. Black indicates a council in no overall control; all councils in Northern Ireland are in no overall control.
Map showing the party with the most votes by ward.

The 2019 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested.^[3]

A total of 8,886 councillors were elected: terms were up for 8,861 seats, but eight elections for a total of 14 seats were postponed due to the death of a candidate;^[4][5] there were also casual vacancies to be filled: 38 in England (including on nine councils with no other elections) and one on Dundee City Council in Scotland.^[6]

With the exception of areas whose electoral cycle has temporarily changed (due to a boundary review) or permanently changed, or that have been reorganised, the seats up for election in England were last contested in the 2015 local elections, on the same day as the general election of that year. The seats in Northern Ireland were last regularly contested in 2014.

The biggest winners were the Liberal Democrats, who gained 704 seats to make a total of 1,351 councillors. The biggest losers were the Conservative Party down 1,333 from their previous total to 3,561 seats. Labour also lost seats, down by 84 to 2,021 seats. The Green Party gained 194 seats for a total of 265 seats. UKIP lost 145 seats, having only 31 councillors elected.

Voters

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on the day of the election were entitled to vote in the local elections.^[7]

A person with two homes (such as a university student having a term-time address and living at home during holidays) could register to vote at both addresses as long as the addresses are not in the same electoral area, and can vote in the local elections for the two different local councils.^[8]

Ten local authorities in England required voters to provide identification as part of trial schemes.^[9][10]

Background

A majority of the councils up for election in this year were last elected in 2015, the same day as the general election.^[11][12] The result of the 2018 local elections saw the collapse of the United Kingdom Independence Party's vote, largely to the benefit of the Conservatives.^[13] The Liberal Democrats made gains in 2018; David Cutts, a professor of political science at the University of Birmingham, argued that the 2019 elections would be more a test of their relevance as the elections were in old strongholds of theirs.^[14]

In the run-up to the elections, Facebook announced that they would only allow political adverts from authenticated accounts.^[15] The government also funded a grant scheme for disabled candidates to participate, funding 60 candidates.^[16]

Brexit dominated UK politics leading up to the local elections. In March, there was a demonstration in London, the Put it to the People March, in favour of a second referendum on EU membership, with an attendance reported to be between several hundred thousand and over one million.^[17] In addition, an online petition calling for revocation of the UK's withdrawal notification under Article 50 TEU reached over 6 million signatures, becoming the fastest signed petition ever in the UK.^[18] On 29 March thousands of pro-Brexit marchers demonstrated in Parliament Square in London.^[19] Though the UK was set to leave the European Union on 29 March, this was initially delayed till 12 April,^[20] then was further delayed to 31 October.^[21] Because of this longer extension, the UK participated within elections to the European Parliament in order to avoid a no-deal scenario on 1 June.^[21]

In April, protests in London around Parliament Square and Westminster organised by the environmental pressure group Extinction Rebellion took place, in which activist blocked roads, bridges and glued themselves to public buildings.^[22] A total of 1,130 people were arrested during the demonstrations.^[23]

Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, announced on 14 March that he would be stepping down from that role, with a new leadership election to be held after the May local elections.^[24] There has been pressure within the Conservative party on prime minister Theresa May to resign following the local elections, triggering a new leadership election.^[25]

Campaigning

The Conservatives stood candidates in 96% of the available seats, Labour contested 77%, the Liberal Democrats 53%, the Green Party of England and Wales 30% and UKIP 16%.^[26]

According to the Electoral Reform Society, there were 148 councillors who were elected unopposed, largely Conservatives.^[27] New parties the Brexit Party and Change UK, although both standing in European elections later in the month, did not stand in the local elections.^[28] Chuka Umunna, Change UK's spokesperson, recommended voters support anti-Brexit parties like the Liberal Democrats or Greens.^[29] Leave.EU encouraged people to spoil their ballot paper in protest at delays in Brexit.^[30]

Nationally, Labour organised their campaign on raising awareness of the impact of the austerity programme by the Conservative-led government on local councils, which led subsequently to higher council tax and reduced local services.^[31] As an effect of cuts to council budgets, council spending per person has fallen 30% since 2010.^[32] The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, commented that the economic policies of Preston City Council, where Labour took control of the council in 2011, were a model that he wanted other Labour councils to follow. Their changes saw the public procurement budget rise significantly, unemployment decrease and quality of life improve.^[33] Labour sought to avoid talking about Brexit, but internal rows over their Brexit policy continued to create headlines.^[34]

Similarly, the Conservatives focused their campaign away from Brexit and instead on efficient local services, low council tax and green credentials.^[35][36][37] This detraction from Brexit, however, was quite difficult. Internal party sources voiced a negative outlook on the success of these elections,^[38] with the deputy chair of the party saying it was an opportunity for voters to protest against the party's handling of the Brexit negotiations.^[39] ConservativeHome interviewed ten Conservative councillors about how the campaigning had gone across the country and found a negative attitude.^[12] Defence secretary Gavin Williamson was sacked the day before the elections, which was predicted to be unhelpful for the Conservative campaign.^[40]

There were isolated incidents of politically motivated violence during the election campaign. There were a few cases of councillors, from the Labour and Conservative parties, being assaulted whilst campaigning.^[41] A currently unknown assailant fired shots at the home of a Labour councillor in Sheffield.^[42] Homes with Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green signs were damaged in Lewes,^[43] and a Liberal Democrat candidate's car was attacked and painted with swastikas in Faversham.^[44]

Results

England

Party		Councillors		Councils		Votes[citation needed]		Projected national equivalent[n 1]
		Number	Change	Number	Change	Number	Share
	Conservative	3,564	1,330	93	44	2,985,959	31.4%	28%
	Labour	2,021	84	60	6	2,531,907	26.6%	28%
	Liberal Democrats	1,351	704	18	10	1,602,042	16.8%	19%
	Green	265	194	0		878,485	9.2%	25%
	UKIP	31	145	0		430,455	4.5%
	RA	119	49	2	1	1,080,328	11.4%
	Health Concern	8	6	0
	Liberal	7	1	0
	Independent and minor parties	1,045	606	2	2
	No overall control	—		73	37	—

^† Final results^[45]

The Conservatives lost control of 44 councils and more than 1,300 council seats. It was the worst Conservative local election performance since 1995, when the party lost more than 2,000 seats.^[46] Labour, despite topping national polls, lost 6 councils and more than 80 seats.^[47]

Parties supporting remaining in the EU performed well.^[48] The Liberal Democrats made the most gains of any party,^[49][50] while the Greens also picked up seats with the largest percentage growth. This election was the largest rise in Green council seat gains in 20 years.^[51] There was also a significant increase in the number of independent and local party councillors, with their number of seats more than doubling. Similarly, in Northern Ireland, Alliance (the Lib Dems' sister party), some smaller parties and independents also made significant gains.^[52]

The elections were marked by a number of spoiled ballots expressing anger toward the Brexit stances of the Conservative and Labour parties.^[53] In the voter ID trial areas an average of 102 voters in each pilot area failed to vote due to not having the required documentation, compared with 70 per pilot area in 2018.^[51]

Analysis

Leading up to the election, journalists had noted the Conservatives' had performed well when these council seats had last been elected in the 2015 local elections due to those elections coinciding with the 2015 general election, where the party made gains.^[12][11] Defending those gains was predicted to be difficult, and when combined with Theresa May's struggle to deliver on Brexit, various sources predicted a loss of between 500 and 1000 seats for the Conservatives.^[54][55] Conservative peer Lord Robert Hayward projected that his party would lose at least 800 seats, with 500 to go to the Liberal Democrats and 300 to Labour.^[56]

The BBC and other analysts calculated projected national vote shares from these local election results. These projections aim to assess what the council results indicate the UK-wide vote would be if the results were repeated at a general election. The BBC's estimate put Labour and the Conservatives on 28% (both down 7% from the local elections the previous year), the Liberal Democrats on 18% (up 2%) and all other parties combined on 25%.^[1]

Sir John Curtice, who calculated the BBC's national projected vote share, commented that the rise of smaller parties and in particular the independents showed a dissatisfaction with the party system presently. Additionally, Curtice noted how the Green party benefited from recent climate protests across the country.^[57]

Some argued that the Conservatives had set their expectations so low so that the perceived significance of their losses was reduced.^[58] Media reports described the results as poor for both Labour and the Conservatives, with many noting decline of Labour representation in some leave areas. It was also regarded as a disappointing result for Labour because of expectations that they would make gains.^{[n 5]}

Will Jennings, a professor at the University of Southampton analysed ward-level data and found little correlation between Labour's decline and the level of Brexit support in a ward. Labour made both gains and loses in areas that both voted to leave and remain in the 2016 referendum. Jennings instead noted the results better fit the transition in British politics at that time; where large cities, areas with high student populations, and professionals were moving towards Labour, whilst deindustrialised towns were moving towards the Conservatives.^[59]

Simon Briscoe, statistician and director of The Data Analysis Bureau, was critical of the idea that the Liberal Democrats had experienced a surge on the scale that commentators described. He instead attributed their gains to a much lower turnout when compared to the 2015 local elections. An example of this is that any swings in vote share towards the Liberal Democrats masked the fact that the number of votes for them hadn't changed significantly from 2015.^[60]

Martin Baxter, the creator of the political analytics website Electoral Calculus, suggested that the election data indicated that the next general election could produce a Labour-Scottish Nationalist coalition government.^[61]

England

In England, council elections were held in 33 metropolitan boroughs, 168 of the second-tier districts, and 47 of the unitary authorities, as well as for six directly elected mayoral posts. 248 of the 343 English local councils held elections, with the exception of eight unitary authorities, the Isles of Scilly, the 26 counties, 24 non-metropolitan districts and boroughs, three metropolitan boroughs, the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. 8,399 seats were up for election (but elections are postponed for 14), with a further 38 casual vacancies to be filled, so 8,423 councillors were elected. Elections also took place for most English parish councils.

By-elections were held for seven county council seats (in Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Kent (two seats), Surrey and West Sussex) and for two seats in the London Borough of Lewisham.^[6] Other casual vacancies to be filled (variously by by-election or multiple vacancy election) are indicated in the tables below by a superscript addition (⁺ⁿ).

Metropolitan boroughs

In 33 of the 36 English metropolitan borough councils, one-third of their seats were up for election. Elections were not held in Birmingham, Doncaster or Rotherham.