2014 United Kingdom local elections

Posted on by
before-content-x4

The 2014 United Kingdom local elections were held on 22 May 2014. Usually these elections are held on the first Thursday in May but were postponed to coincide with the 2014 European Parliament Elections. Direct elections were held for all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 74 district/borough councils, 19 unitary authorities and various mayoral posts in England and elections to the new councils in Northern Ireland.

after-content-x4

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.

The BBC’s projected national vote share (PNV) put Labour on 31%, the Conservatives on 29%, UKIP on 17%, and the Liberal Democrats on 13%.[1]Rallings and Thrasher of Plymouth University’s national equivalent vote share (NEV) estimated 31% for Labour, 30% for the Conservatives, 18% for UKIP, and 11% for the Liberal Democrats.[2]

For the fourth year running, the Labour Party enjoyed the largest share of the vote in local elections, but its share of the vote was its smallest since 2010. UKIP, which topped the same day’s European Parliament elections, finished third in vote share, claiming council seats from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Overview of results[edit]

UK-wide results[edit]

England results[edit]

The Respect Party lost both their remaining councillors.[3]

English Councils – shift of control[edit]

This table depicts how the control of local councils shifted in this election.

after-content-x4

The data along the diagonal represents no shift in control in that number of councils: for example, Chorley was among the solid colour no change 73 Labour controlled councils. The other cells represent the shifts of control: for example, Harrow was one of five councils of which Labour gained control from No Overall Control. The intensity of the colour in a table cell other than the diagonal reflects the relative number of losses in council control suffered by each party.

after election → N.O.C. Labour Cons. Lib.
Dem. 		Old
total 		losses
↓ before election
No Overall Control 19 5 – – 24 − 5
Labour 4 73 – – 77 − 4
Conservative 8 4 40 – 52 −12
Liberal Democrats 1 – 1 6 8 − 2
New total 32 82 41 6 161 –
gains +13 + 9 + 1 – – –
Net change + 8 + 5 −11 − 2 – –

Last updated at 11:30:10 on 27 May 2014[4]

Northern Ireland results[edit]

Party Councillors % of councillors First preference votes % of FP votes
2011[5] 2014 +/- 2011[5] 2014 +/- 2011[6] 2014[7] +/- 2011 2014 +/-
DUP 145 130 Decrease15 31.4% 28.1% Decrease3.3% 179,436 144,928 Decrease 27.2% 23.1% Decrease4.1%
Sinn Féin 115 105 Decrease10 24.9% 22.7% Decrease2.2% 163,712 151,137 Decrease 24.8% 24.1% Decrease0.7%
Ulster Unionist 77 88 Increase11 16.7% 19.0% Increase2.3% 100,643 101,385 Increase 15.2% 16.1% Increase0.9%
SDLP 67 66 Decrease1 14.5% 14.2% Decrease0.3% 99,325 85,237 Decrease 15.0% 13.6% Decrease1.4%
Alliance 34 32 Decrease2 7.4% 6.9% Decrease0.5% 48,859 41,769 Decrease 7.4% 6.7% Decrease0.7%
TUV 3 13 Increase10 0.6% 2.8% Increase2.2% 13,079 28,310 Increase 2.0% 4.5% Increase2.5%
PUP 1 4 Increase3 0.2% 0.8% Increase0.6% 3,858 12,753 Increase 0.6% 2.0% Increase1.4%
Green (NI) 1 4 Increase3 0.2% 0.8% Increase0.6% 6,317 5,515 Decrease 1.0% 0.8% Decrease0.2%
UKIP 1 3 Increase2 0.2% 0.6% Increase0.4% 2,550 9,311 Increase 0.4% 1.4% Increase1.0%
NI21 0 1 Increase1 0.0% 0.2% Increase0.2% 0 11,495 Increase 0.0% 1.8% Increase1.8%
People Before Profit 0 1 Increase1 0.0% 0.2% Increase0.2% 1,721 1,923 Increase 0.3% 0.3% Increase0.0%
NI Conservatives 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 1,321 2,527 Increase 0.2% 0.4% Increase0.2%
éirígí 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 2,062 1,756 Decrease 0.3% 0.3% Decrease0.0%
Workers’ Party 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 760 985 Increase 0.1 0.2% Increase0.1%
Fermanagh Against Fracking 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 555 Increase 0.0% 0.1% Increase0.1%
Republican Network for Unity 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 502 Increase 0.0% 0.1% Increase0.1%
Community Partnership 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 800 388 Decrease 0.1 0.1% Decrease0.0%
Socialist Party 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 682 272 Decrease 0.1% 0.0% Decrease0.1%
BNP 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 491 174 Decrease 0.1% 0.0% Decrease0.1%
Democracy First 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 173 Increase 0.0% 0.0% Increase0.0%
Others 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 2,142 0 Decrease 0.3% 0.0% Decrease0.3%
Independent 18 15 Decrease 3 3.9% 3.2% Decrease0.7% 32,151 26,682 Decrease 4.9% 4.2% Decrease0.7%
Total 462 462 Steady 100% 100% Steady 660,631 627,777 Decrease 100% 100% Steady

London boroughs[edit]

All seats in the 32 London Borough Councils were up for election.

Summary of results[edit]

Party[8] Votes won % votes Change Seats % seats Change Councils Change
Labour 944,967 37.6 +5.1 1,060 57.3 +185 20 +3
Conservative 663,847 26.4 −5.3 612 33.1 −105 9 −2
Liberal Democrats 267,769 10.6 −11.8 116 6.3 −130 1 −1
Green 246,805 9.8 +3.2 4 0.2 +2 0 ±0
UKIP 239,001 9.5 +8.4 12 0.6 +12 0 ±0
Others 152,684 6.1 +0.4 47 2.5 +26 0 ±0
No overall control — 2 −6

Individual council results[edit]

Harrow’s Council was elected in 2010 with a Labour majority but divisions within this majority in 2013 led to a coalition struck between the Conservatives and the Independent Labour Group (formed of eight ex-Labour councillors). Conservatives withdrew their support for Independent Labour on 16 September 2013 leading to a brief Conservative minority administration.

Metropolitan boroughs[edit]

One third of the seats in all 36 Metropolitan Boroughs were up for election (showing those elected and each party’s total in the new council).

Council Previous control Result
Con Lab LD UKIP Others
Barnsley Labour Labour 1, 4 18, 52 2, 7
Birmingham Labour Labour 13, 31 22, 77 5, 12
Bolton Labour Labour 5, 15 13, 40 1, 3 2, 2
Bradford Labour Labour 7, 21 17, 46 3, 8 1, 1 1,3Grn
2,11Ind
Bury Labour Labour 2, 11 15, 38 0, 1 0, 1
Calderdale No overall control No overall control
(Lab minority, then
Con-Ind minority)		 6, 19 9, 25 1, 6 1, 1
Coventry Labour Labour 6, 11 13, 43
Doncaster Labour Labour 3, 8 15, 48 1, 1 2, 6
Dudley Labour Labour 7, 20 10, 40 7, 9 0,1Grn
0,2Ind
Gateshead Labour Labour 18, 55 4, 11
Kirklees No overall control No overall control
(Lab minority)		 6, 18 10, 32 5, 11 1,5Grn
1,3Ind
Knowsley Labour Labour 21, 63
Leeds Labour Labour 6, 19 20, 62 4, 9 1,3Grn
2,6Ind
Liverpool Labour Labour 27, 79 0, 3 2,4Grn
1,4Ind
Manchester Labour Labour 33, 95 1, 1
Newcastle upon Tyne Labour Labour 18, 52 8, 24 0, 2
North Tyneside Labour Labour 3, 12 15, 44 1, 4
Oldham Labour Labour 0, 2 14, 45 3, 10 2, 2 1, 1
Rochdale Labour Labour 3, 11 16, 48 1, 1
Rotherham Labour Labour 0, 2 11, 50 10, 10 0, 1
St Helens Labour Labour 1, 3 14, 43 1, 2
Salford Labour Labour 3, 8 17, 52
Sandwell Labour Labour 0, 1 23, 70 1, 1
Sefton Labour Labour 2, 7 13, 40 6, 17 1, 2
Sheffield Labour Labour 18, 60 6, 17 3, 3 2,4Grn
Solihull Conservative Conservative 9, 29 0, 2 3, 8 1, 1 4,10Grn
South Tyneside Labour Labour 0, 1 17, 49 0, 1 1, 3
Stockport No overall control No overall control
(Lib Dem minority)		 4, 10 7, 22 9, 28 1, 3
Sunderland Labour Labour 3, 8 21, 63 1, 4
Tameside Labour Labour 2, 6 17, 51
Trafford Conservative Conservative 12, 33 9, 27 1, 3
Wakefield Labour Labour 1, 6 17, 54 2, 2 1, 1
Walsall No overall control No overall control
(Lab minority)		 6, 21 9, 30 0, 3 3, 3 1, 3
Wigan Labour Labour 1, 2 23, 62 1, 11
Wirral Labour Labour 8, 22 11, 37 2, 6 1,1Grn
Wolverhampton Labour Labour 4, 12 15, 45 0, 2 1, 1
Totals 117,
373		 563,
1,741		 62,
189		 33,
37		 28,
104

Unitary authorities[edit]

Two unitary authorities had all of their seats up for election following boundary changes.

One third of the council seats were up for election in 17 unitary authorities (elected and totals shown).

Non-metropolitan districts[edit]

Whole council[edit]

  • Two district councils had all of their seats up for election following boundary changes

Half of council[edit]

  • Seven district councils had half of their seats up for election (showing those elected and the new council)
Council Previous control Result
Con Lab LD UKIP Others
Adur Conservative Conservative 9, 20 0, 1 4, 6 1, 2
Cheltenham Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats 4, 11 13, 24 2, 5
Fareham Conservative Conservative 11, 23 3, 5 1, 1 1, 2
Gosport Conservative Conservative 12, 21 2, 6 2, 6 0, 1
Hastings Labour Labour 5, 8 11, 24
Nuneaton and Bedworth Labour Labour 2, 3 14, 28 1,2Grn
0,1Ind
Oxford Labour Labour 17, 33 5, 8 3,6Grn
0,1Ind
Totals 43, 86 44, 92 23, 43 5, 8 7, 19

Third of council[edit]

  • 65 district councils had one third of their seats up for election
Council Previous control Result
Con Lab LD UKIP Others
Amber Valley Conservative Labour 4, 21 11, 23 0, 1
Basildon Conservative No overall control Con minority 4, 17 0, 10 0, 1 11, 12 0, 2
Basingstoke and Deane No overall control No overall control Con minority 8, 28 8, 17 3, 9 1, 2 2, 4
Bassetlaw Labour Labour 3, 11 12, 34 1, 3
Brentwood Conservative No overall control LibDem/Ind/Lab coalition 6, 18 1, 3 5, 11 0, 5
Broxbourne Conservative Conservative 9, 26 1, 3 1, 1
Burnley Labour Labour 1, 5 10, 28 4, 12
Cambridge No overall control Labour 0, 1 10, 25 4, 14 1, 2
Cannock Chase Labour Labour 1, 6 6, 25 1, 2 4, 6 1, 2
Carlisle Labour Labour 7, 19 9, 29 0, 2 1, 2
Castle Point Conservative No overall control Con minority 20, 20 5, 5 0, 16
Cherwell Conservative Conservative 12, 40 4, 7 1, 2 0, 1
Chorley Labour Labour 3, 13 13, 32 1, 2
Colchester No overall control No overall control LibDem/Lab/Ind coalition 8, 23 2, 8 9, 25 1, 4
Craven Conservative Conservative 7, 18 0, 2 2, 10
Crawley Conservative Labour 5, 16 8, 20 0, 1
Daventry Conservative Conservative 10, 28 0, 4 0, 1 2, 3
Eastleigh Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats 2, 4 13, 40
Elmbridge Conservative Conservative 12, 33 2, 6 4, 21
Epping Forest Conservative Conservative 0, 37 0, 1 2, 3 0, 2 0,1Grn
5,14Ind
Exeter Labour Labour 2, 10 10, 27 1, 3
Gloucester No overall control No overall control Con minority 8, 18 3, 9 4, 9
Great Yarmouth Labour No overall control Lab minority 2, 14 1, 15 10, 10
Harlow Labour Labour 3, 11 4, 17 5, 5
Harrogate Conservative Conservative 9, 34 8, 15 2, 5
Havant Conservative Conservative 10, 31 1, 4 1, 1 2, 2
Hertsmere Conservative Conservative 11, 34 2, 5
Huntingdonshire Conservative Conservative 11, 34 0, 1 1, 6 3, 7 0,4Grn
2,3Ind
Hyndburn Labour Labour 2, 8 7, 23 0, 2 2, 2
Ipswich Labour Labour 4, 10 12, 35 1, 3
Lincoln Labour Labour 2, 6 9, 27
Maidstone Conservative No overall control Con minority 5, 25 1, 2 9, 19 4, 4 1, 5
Mole Valley No overall control No overall control 6, 19 4, 15 1, 1 3, 6
Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour Labour 5, 16 11, 32 5, 6 0,5 0,1Grn
North Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative 12, 33 5, 12 0, 3 0, 1
Norwich Labour Labour 8, 21 1, 3 5,15Grn
Pendle No overall control No overall control 5, 19 7, 18 3, 11 1, 1
Preston Labour Labour 6, 19 7, 32 2, 5 0, 1
Purbeck † No overall control No overall control Con minority 6, 12 2, 11 0, 1
Redditch Labour Labour 3, 9 6, 17 2, 2 0, 1
Reigate and Banstead Conservative Conservative 12, 37 1, 2 1, 1 1,3Grn
2,8Ind
Rochford Conservative Conservative 6, 26 1, 1 1, 3 3, 3 1,2Grn
1,4Ind
Rossendale Labour Labour 5, 10 6, 24 1, 2
Rugby Conservative Conservative 7, 23 3, 10 3, 7 2, 2
Runnymede Conservative Conservative 12, 35 0, 1 2, 6
Rushmoor Conservative Conservative 8, 24 4, 12 1, 3
St Albans No overall control No overall control Con minority 12, 29 3, 10 7, 17 0,1Grn
0,1Ind
South Cambridgeshire Conservative Conservative 10, 35 0, 1 7, 13 2, 8
South Lakeland Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats 2, 15 0, 3 15, 33
Stevenage Labour Labour 2, 2 34, 34 3, 3
Stratford-on-Avon Conservative Conservative 15, 35 0, 1 3, 12 0, 5
Stroud No overall control No overall control Lab/Green/LibDem coalition 10, 22 6, 20 0, 2 2,6Grn
0,1Ind
Tamworth Conservative Conservative 6, 16 3, 12 1, 1 0, 1
Tandridge Conservative Conservative 13, 34 1, 6 0, 2
Tunbridge Wells Conservative Conservative 14, 38 1, 3 1, 3 0, 2 0, 2
Watford Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats 1, 1 4, 11 7, 23 1,1Grn
Welwyn Hatfield Conservative Conservative 13, 31 4, 14 1, 2 0, 1
West Lancashire Conservative No overall control Con minority 11, 27 8, 27
West Oxfordshire Conservative Conservative 15, 40 1, 5 1, 3 0, 1
Weymouth and Portland No overall control No overall control Lab/LibDem coalition 4, 11 5, 15 1, 6 1, 1 1, 1
Winchester No overall control No overall control Con minority 11, 28 1, 3 7, 25 0, 1
Woking Conservative Conservative 7, 23 1, 1 3, 11 1, 1
Worcester No overall control No overall control Con minority 6, 17 6, 16 0, 1 0,1Grn
Worthing Conservative Conservative 9, 27 1, 7 1, 1 1,1Grn
0,1Ind
Wyre Forest No overall control No overall control 5, 15 2, 9 5, 5 1, 13
Totals 446, 1,348 283, 796 163, 421 66, 88 47, 211

† Elected councillors will hold office for one year only as Purbeck District will adopt whole council elections from 2015.[10][11]

Mayoral elections[edit]

There were five mayoral elections.

In Copeland, there was a referendum to establish a post of directly elected mayor, which passed.

Northern Ireland[edit]

These were the first elections to the 11 new ‘super-councils’ in Northern Ireland, following a reorganisation. These will operate in shadow form for one year, with the current 26 councils existing in parallel.[12]

Sinn Féin (dark green) won more seats than any other party in (1) Belfast, (9) Mid-Ulster, (10) Derry & Strabane and (11) Fermanagh & Omagh. Sinn Féin and the SDLP elected more councillors (14 each) than did any other party in (5) Newry, Mourne & Down . The Democratic Unionist Party (dark orange) won more seats than any other party in each of the other six councils, and won as many as all the other parties combined in (4) Lisburn & Castlereagh.

Leading party in each new council

Party composition of new councils[edit]

The party abbreviations in this table are explained in the total-vote table that follows it.

Votes cast[edit]

These elections used the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representation. Votes and percentages for each party reflect the first preference on each ballot.

Party Councillors % of councillors First preference votes % of FP votes
2011 (notional)[13] 2014 +/- 2011 (notional) 2014 +/- 2011[6] 2014[7] +/- 2011 2014 +/-
DUP 145 130 Decrease15 31.4% 28.1% Decrease3.3% 179,436 144,928 Decrease 27.2% 23.1% Decrease4.1%
Sinn Féin 115 105 Decrease10 24.9% 22.7% Decrease2.2% 163,712 151,137 Decrease 24.8% 24.1% Decrease0.7%
Ulster Unionist 77 88 Increase11 16.7% 19.0% Increase2.3% 100,643 101,385 Increase 15.2% 16.1% Increase0.9%
SDLP 67 66 Decrease1 14.5% 14.2% Decrease0.3% 99,325 85,237 Decrease 15.0% 13.6% Decrease1.4%
Alliance 34 32 Decrease2 7.4% 6.9% Decrease0.5% 48,859 41,769 Decrease 7.4% 6.7% Decrease0.7%
TUV 3 13 Increase10 0.6% 2.8% Increase2.2% 13,079 28,310 Increase 2.0% 4.5% Increase2.5%
PUP 1 4 Increase3 0.2% 0.8% Increase0.6% 3,858 12,753 Increase 0.6% 2.0% Increase1.4%
Green (NI) 1 4 Increase3 0.2% 0.8% Increase0.6% 6,317 5,515 Decrease 1.0% 0.8% Decrease0.2%
UKIP 1 3 Increase2 0.2% 0.6% Increase0.4% 2,550 9,311 Increase 0.4% 1.4% Increase1.0%
NI21 0 1 Increase1 0.0% 0.2% Increase0.2% 0 11,495 Increase 0.0% 1.8% Increase1.8%
People Before Profit 0 1 Increase1 0.0% 0.2% Increase0.2% 1,721 1,923 Increase 0.3% 0.3% Increase0.0%
NI Conservatives 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 1,321 2,527 Increase 0.2% 0.4% Increase0.2%
éirígí 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 2,062 1,756 Decrease 0.3% 0.3% Decrease0.0%
Workers’ Party 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 760 985 Increase 0.1 0.2% Increase0.1%
Fermanagh Against Fracking 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 555 Increase 0.0% 0.1% Increase0.1%
Republican Network for Unity 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 502 Increase 0.0% 0.1% Increase0.1%
Community Partnership 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 800 388 Decrease 0.1 0.1% Decrease0.0%
Socialist Party 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 682 272 Decrease 0.1% 0.0% Decrease0.1%
BNP 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 491 174 Decrease 0.1% 0.0% Decrease0.1%
Democracy First 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 0 173 Increase 0.0% 0.0% Increase0.0%
Others 0 0 Steady 0.0% 0.0% Steady 2,142 0 Decrease 0.3% 0.0% Decrease0.3%
Independent 18 15 Decrease 3 3.9% 3.2% Decrease0.7% 32,151 26,682 Decrease 4.9% 4.2% Decrease0.7%
Total 462 462 Steady 100% 100% Steady 660,631 627,777 Decrease 100% 100% Steady

Electoral administration[edit]

Eligibility to vote[edit]

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. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections,[14] although those who have moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. Those who were registered to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) were entitled to vote in the local elections at each address, as long as they were not in the same local government area.[15][16]

Enacting legislation[edit]

These elections were held on 22 May 2014 as provided by ‘The Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Elections in 2014) Order 2013’ (S.I. 2013/2277).[12][17][18][19]

See also[edit]

  1. ^ All vote shares in the infobox are projected national vote shares calculated by the BBC.
  2. ^ Swing figures are between the BBC national projected vote share extrapolation from 2013 local elections, and the BBC equivalent vote share projection from these local elections held in different areas
  3. ^ a b England: 163 councillors (+161 net). Northern Ireland: 3 councillors (+2 net)

References[edit]


after-content-x4