2025 United Kingdom local elections
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14 county councils 8 unitary authorities 1 metropolitan borough 4 directly elected combined authority mayors 2 directly elected single authority mayors Council of the Isles of Scilly City of London Corporation (on 19–20 March) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Councils up for election in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2025 United Kingdom local elections will be held on 1 May 2025.[2] All seats on 14 county councils in England and eight unitary authorities in England will be up for election. They are expected to be the first local elections following the 2024 general election.[3]
Two existing combined authority mayors and two existing single authority mayors will be up for election. In addition, the inaugural election for the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who will chair Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, is expected to take place on 1 May 2025, along with the inaugural election for the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.
In addition, the Council of the Isles of Scilly will be elected.[2]
The City of London Corporation will hold elections on 19 and 20 March.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6] At least 13 of the 21 county councils asked the government to delay their elections.[7] 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.[8]
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,[9] 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.[10]
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,[11] but will not be reorganised so will proceed as scheduled.
| Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous | Result | |||||
| Cambridgeshire | 61 | No overall control | Details | |||
| Derbyshire[a] | 64 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Devon | 60 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Gloucestershire[a] | 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[a] | 69 | No overall control | Details | |||
| Staffordshire[a] | 62 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Warwickshire | 57 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Worcestershire[a] | 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 they elect: 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[a] | 97 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Cornwall | 87 | Conservative | Details | |||
| County Durham[a] | 98 | No overall control | Details | |||
| North Northamptonshire[a] | 68 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Northumberland[a] | 69 | Conservative | Details | |||
| Shropshire[a] | 74 | Conservative | Details | |||
| West Northamptonshire[a] | 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 (Lab) | Details | ||
| Greater Lincolnshire | Did not exist | Details | ||
| Hull and East Yorkshire | Did not exist | Details | ||
Mayoralties covering a single local authority
[edit]| Local authority | Post | Type | Current mayor | Party | Established | Next election | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council | Mayor of Doncaster | Metropolitan borough | Ros Jones | Labour | 2002 | 2025 | 291,600 | |
| North Tyneside Council | Mayor of North Tyneside | Metropolitan borough | Norma Redfearn | Labour | 2002 | 2025 | 196,000 | |
City of London Corporation
[edit]| Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous | Result | |||||
| City of London | 100 | Independent | Details | |||
Isles of Scilly
[edit]| Council | Seats | Party control | Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous | Result | |||||
| Isles of Scilly | 16 | 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.
| Council | Seats | Party control | |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Sussex | 50 | No overall control | |
| Essex[a] | 78 | Conservative | |
| Hampshire | 78 | Conservative | |
| Norfolk[a] | 84 | Conservative | |
| Surrey[a] | 81 | Conservative | |
| Suffolk[a] | 70 | Conservative | |
| West Sussex | 70 | Conservative | |
| Isle of Wight | 39 | No overall control | |
| Thurrock[a] | 49 | Labour | |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ 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.[1]
- ^ Stewart, Heather (27 August 2020). "'Wake up and smell the coffee': Ed Davey elected Lib Dem leader". The Guardian.
- ^ a b "Election timetable in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
- ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
- ^ Wardmote Book (PDF). City of London. 2022. pp. 2, 76. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
- ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. 16 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Counties given 'extraordinary' deadline to cancel elections". Local Government Chronicle. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Tory party accused of 'bottling' May elections as county councils seek delay". The Guardian. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ Whannel, Kate (5 February 2025). "Council shake-up sees elections delayed in nine areas". BBC News. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
- ^ Hughes, David (2025-01-02). "Labour councillors quit with broadside at Starmer". The Standard. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- ^ "Twenty Broxtowe councillors quit Labour over Starmer's leadership". BBC News. 2025-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- ^ "Local government reorganisation: letter to two-tier areas". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
| Combined authority mayors | |
|---|---|
| Single authority mayors | |
| County councils | |
| Metropolitan boroughs | |
| Unitary authorities | |
| Other elections | |
