2008 United Kingdom local elections

1 May 2008

137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils
  First party Second party Third party
  David Cameron Gordon Brown Nick Clegg
Leader David Cameron Gordon Brown Nick Clegg
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Leader since 6 December 2005 24 June 2007 18 December 2007
Percentage 44% 24% 25%
Swing Increase4% Decrease3% Decrease1%
Councils 65 18 12
Councils +/– Increase12 Decrease9 Increase1
Councillors 3,154 2,368 1,805
Councillors +/– Increase256 Decrease331 Increase34

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils.[1]

There were also extraordinary elections held for four of the new unitary authorities being created, in Northumberland, County Durham and Cheshire (two councils – Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester).[2] Scheduled elections for Penwith in Cornwall, Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, Bedford and South Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire and five district councils in Cheshire were cancelled, due to the up-coming unitary authorities being established in those counties.

The Labour Party finished in 3rd place by vote share, trailing the Conservatives by 20%, the largest such margin ever between the two main parties. Aside from the strong showing for David Cameron's Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems each made net gains of over 30 seats and the BNP made 10 net gains to finish with over 30 seats.

The strong showing for the Conservatives and the disappointing showing by Labour reflected the change in the political mood of Britain at the time, where the Labour government, now led by prime minister Gordon Brown, had suffered a slump in popularity due to the financial crisis and economic fears which were affecting Britain at the time.

Summary of results

Party Councillors Councils
Number Change Number Change
Conservative 3,155 Increase257 65 Increase12
Labour 2,365 Decrease334 18 Decrease9
Liberal Democrats 1,804 Increase33 12 Increase1
Plaid Cymru 205 Increase31 0 Decrease1
Green 47 Increase5 0 Steady
Residents 43 Decrease11 0 Steady
BNP 37 Increase10 0 Steady
Liberal 20 Decrease2 0 Steady
Health Concern 10 Steady 0 Steady
UKIP 8 Increase3 0 Steady
Respect 4 Increase1 0 Steady
Socialist Alternative 2 Steady 0 Steady
Others 716 Increase4 0 Steady
No overall control n/a n/a 64 Decrease3

England

Metropolitan boroughs

All 36 English metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Barnsley Labour Labour hold Details
Birmingham No overall control No overall control hold Details
Bolton No overall control No overall control hold Details
Bradford No overall control No overall control hold Details
Bury No overall control Conservative gain Details
Calderdale No overall control No overall control hold Details
Coventry Conservative No overall control gain Details
Doncaster No overall control No overall control hold Details
Dudley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gateshead Labour Labour hold Details
Kirklees No overall control No overall control hold Details
Knowsley Labour Labour hold Details
Leeds No overall control No overall control hold Details
Liverpool Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Manchester Labour Labour hold Details
Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
North Tyneside No overall control Conservative gain Details
Oldham Labour No overall control gain Details
Rochdale Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Rotherham Labour Labour hold Details
Salford Labour Labour hold Details
Sandwell Labour Labour hold Details
Sefton No overall control No overall control hold Details
Sheffield No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Solihull No overall control Conservative gain Details
South Tyneside Labour Labour hold Details
St Helens No overall control No overall control hold Details
Stockport Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Sunderland Labour Labour hold Details
Tameside Labour Labour hold Details
Trafford Conservative Conservative hold Details
Wakefield Labour Labour hold Details
Walsall Conservative Conservative hold Details
Wigan Labour Labour hold Details
Wirral No overall control No overall control hold Details
Wolverhampton Labour No overall control gain Details

Unitary authorities

Existing councils

In 19 English unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Blackburn with Darwen No overall control No overall control hold Details
Derby No overall control No overall control hold Details
Halton Labour Labour hold Details
Hartlepool Labour No overall control gain
Kingston upon Hull No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Milton Keynes No overall control No overall control hold Details
North East Lincolnshire No overall control No overall control hold
Peterborough Conservative Conservative hold Details
Plymouth Conservative Conservative hold
Portsmouth No overall control No overall control hold Details
Reading Labour No overall control gain
Slough No overall control Labour gain Details
Southampton No overall control Conservative gain Details
Southend-on-Sea Conservative Conservative hold Details
Stoke-on-Trent No overall control No overall control hold Details
Swindon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Thurrock No overall control No overall control hold Details
Warrington No overall control No overall control hold
Wokingham Conservative Conservative hold Details

New councils

Elections were held in three of the current non-metropolitan counties of Cheshire, County Durham and Northumberland for four new unitary authorities which were established in 2009. These councils were "shadow councils" until then.

Council Result Details
Cheshire East Conservative Details
Cheshire West and Chester Conservative Details
Durham Labour Details
Northumberland No overall control

District councils

Whole council

In 4 English district authorities the whole council was up for election following ward boundary changes.

Council Previous control Result Details
Barrow-in-Furness No overall control No overall control hold Details
Basingstoke and Deane No overall control Conservative gain Details
South Lakeland Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Welwyn Hatfield Conservative Conservative hold Details

Half of council

In 7 English district authorities, half of the council was up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Adur Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cheltenham No overall control No overall control hold Details
Fareham Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gosport No overall control No overall control hold Details
Hastings No overall control No overall control hold Details
Nuneaton and Bedworth Labour Conservative gain Details
Oxford No overall control No overall control hold Details

Third of council

In 67 English district authorities, a third of the council was up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Amber Valley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Basildon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Bassetlaw Conservative Conservative hold Details
Brentwood Conservative Conservative hold Details
Broxbourne Conservative Conservative hold Details
Burnley No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Cambridge Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Cannock Chase No overall control No overall control hold Details
Carlisle No overall control No overall control hold Details
Castle Point Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cherwell Conservative Conservative hold Details
Chorley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Colchester Conservative No overall control gain Details
Craven No overall control No overall control hold Details
Crawley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Daventry Conservative Conservative hold Details
Eastleigh Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Elmbridge No overall control Conservative gain Details
Epping Forest Conservative Conservative hold Details
Exeter No overall control No overall control hold Details
Gloucester No overall control No overall control hold Details
Great Yarmouth Conservative Conservative hold Details
Harlow No overall control Conservative gain Details
Harrogate No overall control No overall control hold Details
Hart No overall control No overall control hold Details
Havant Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hertsmere Conservative Conservative hold Details
Huntingdonshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hyndburn Conservative Conservative hold Details
Ipswich No overall control No overall control hold Details
Lincoln Conservative Conservative hold Details
Maidstone No overall control Conservative gain Details
Mole Valley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Newcastle-under-Lyme No overall control No overall control hold Details
North Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Norwich No overall control No overall control hold Details
Pendle Liberal Democrats No overall control gain Details
Preston No overall control No overall control hold Details
Purbeck No overall control No overall control hold Details
Redditch No overall control Conservative gain Details
Reigate and Banstead Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rochford Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rossendale No overall control Conservative gain Details
Rugby Conservative Conservative hold Details
Runnymede Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rushmoor Conservative Conservative hold Details
South Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
St Albans No overall control Liberal Democrats gain Details
Stevenage Labour Labour hold Details
Stratford-on-Avon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Stroud Conservative Conservative hold Details
Swale Conservative Conservative hold Details
Tamworth Conservative Conservative hold Details
Tandridge Conservative Conservative hold Details
Three Rivers Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Tunbridge Wells Conservative Conservative hold Details
Watford Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats hold Details
Waveney Conservative Conservative hold Details
West Lancashire Conservative Conservative hold Details
West Lindsey Liberal Democrats Conservative gain Details
West Oxfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Weymouth and Portland No overall control No overall control hold Details
Winchester Conservative Conservative hold Details
Woking Conservative Conservative hold Details
Worcester No overall control No overall control hold Details
Worthing Conservative Conservative hold Details
Wyre Forest No overall control Conservative gain Details

Mayoral elections

Local Authority Previous Mayor Mayor-elect Details
London Ken Livingstone (Labour) Boris Johnson (Conservative) gain Details

Wales

Map showing council control (left) and ward control (right).

In all 22 Welsh councils the whole of the council was up for election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Blaenau Gwent Labour No overall control gain Details
Bridgend No overall control No overall control hold Details
Caerphilly Labour No overall control gain Details
Cardiff No overall control No overall control hold Details
Carmarthenshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Ceredigion No overall control No overall control hold Details
Conwy No overall control No overall control hold Details
Denbighshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Flintshire Labour No overall control gain Details
Gwynedd Plaid Cymru No overall control gain Details
Isle of Anglesey Independent Independent hold DetailsI
Merthyr Tydfil Labour Independent gain Details
Monmouthshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Neath Port Talbot Labour Labour hold Details
Newport Labour No overall control gain Details
Pembrokeshire Independent Independent hold Details
Powys Independent Independent hold Details
Rhondda Cynon Taff Labour Labour hold Details
Swansea No overall control No overall control hold Details
Torfaen Labour No overall control gain Details
Vale of Glamorgan No overall control Conservative gain Details
Wrexham No overall control No overall control hold Details

See also

References

  1. "Trailer – Local Elections May 2008". Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  2. "Green light for five flagship Unitary Councils". Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
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