United Kingdom local elections, 2009

United Kingdom local elections, 2009
United Kingdom
4 June 2009

35 English Local Authorities
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader David Cameron Nick Clegg Gordon Brown
Party Conservative Liberal Democrat Labour
Leader since 6 December 2005 18 December 2007 24 June 2007
Last election 44%[1] 25%[1] 24%[1]
Percentage 38%[2] 28%[2] 23%[2]
Swing Decrease6% Increase3% Decrease1%
Councils 30 1 0
Councils +/– Increase7 Decrease1 Decrease4
Councillors 1531 484 178
Councillors +/– Increase244 Decrease2 Decrease291

The 2009 United Kingdom local elections were elections held to all 27 County Councils, three existing Unitary Authorities and five new Unitary Authorities, all in England, on 4 June 2009.[3][4] The elections were due to be held on 7 May 2009, but were delayed in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament.[5][6]

The elections produced a political landscape on the map of England that was a sea of Conservative blue. The party snatched Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire from Labour, as well as Devon and Somerset from the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats did however win a majority in Bristol. Despite the optimism for the Conservatives in seat and council gains, their share of the vote at 38% was 6% down on 2008. That said, they had a clear 10% lead over the Liberal Democrats who achieved a respectable second place on 28%.

Labour, taking the blame in government from a worsening economic climate, soaring unemployment and the expenses scandal, lost all of its councils, with some authorities being swept clear of any Labour councillors at all. Its showing in the same day's European elections was similarly dismal, and although four years had passed since the last general election, there would be no general election in 2009; opinion polls all pointed at a heavy Labour defeat at the time.

Summary of results

Party Councillors Councils
+/− Total +/− Total
Conservative +244 1,531 +7 30
Liberal Democrat −2 484 −1 1
Labour −291 178 −4 0
Independent +6 97 0 0
Green +8 18 0 0
Residents +2 9 0 0
UKIP +7 7 0 0
Mebyon Kernow 0 3 0 0
BNP +3 3 0 0
Liberal 0 2 0 0
Others +15 30 0 0
No overall control n/a n/a −2 3
Mapped results

Source: BBC News Isles of Scilly Council not included in the above figures.

County councils

All 27 English County Councils were up for election. All seats on the councils were contested at this election.

Council Previous control Result Details
Buckinghamshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Cumbria No overall control No overall control hold Details
Derbyshire Labour Conservative gain Details
Devon Liberal Democrat Conservative gain Details
Dorset Conservative Conservative hold Details
East Sussex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Essex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gloucestershire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hampshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Kent Conservative Conservative hold Details
Lancashire Labour Conservative gain Details
Leicestershire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Lincolnshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Norfolk Conservative Conservative hold Details
North Yorkshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Northamptonshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Nottinghamshire Labour Conservative gain Details
Oxfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Somerset Liberal Democrat Conservative gain Details
Staffordshire Labour Conservative gain Details
Suffolk Conservative Conservative hold Details
Surrey Conservative Conservative hold Details
Warwickshire No overall control Conservative gain Details
West Sussex Conservative Conservative hold Details
Worcestershire Conservative Conservative hold Details

Unitary authorities

Existing authorities

Council Proportion up
for election
Previous control Result Details
Bristol 1/3 No overall control Liberal Democrat gain Details
Isle of Wight All Conservative Conservative hold Details
Isles of Scilly All Independent Independent hold Details

New authorities

Elections were held for five new unitary authorities. All councillors were elected at this election.

Council Result Details
Bedford No overall control Details
Central Bedfordshire Conservative Details
Cornwall No overall control (Conservative/Independent Coalition) Details
Shropshire Conservative Details
Wiltshire Conservative Details

Mayoral elections

Local Authority Previous Mayor Candidate elected Details
Doncaster Martin Winter (Independent[7]) Peter Davies (English Democrats) Details
Hartlepool Stuart Drummond (Independent) Stuart Drummond (Independent) Details
North Tyneside John Harrison (Labour) Linda Arkley (Conservative) Details

A mayoral election was also due to be held in Stoke-on-Trent, however voters in the city voted to abolish the directly elected mayor system in a referendum held in October 2008. The referendum decided to replace the mayor and executive system with a council leader and cabinet system of local government.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "BBC projected national vote shares from 2008". BBC News. 2008-05-04. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  2. 1 2 3 "BBC projected national vote shares for 2009". BBC News. 2009-06-05. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  3. "Communities and Local Government - Local government elections in 2009". Communities.gov.uk. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  4. Communities and Local Government - Moving the date of English Local Government elections to the date of the European Parliament elections in 2009 - Consultation
  5. Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (2008-11-04). "House of Commons Hansard Debates from 04 Nov 2008 - Local Government Motion". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  6. "'British expenses scandal dominates political debate', 23 May 2009". City Mayors. 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  7. Winter was twice elected mayor as the Labour Party's candidate, but he declared himself an independent following the 2008 local elections and was subsequently expelled from the Labour Party. He did not stand for re-election in 2009.
  8. "Mayor faces final months in power". BBC News. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-06-06.

External links

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