Local Elections 

Share

Latest news on local elections, covering UK council results, Reform UK gains, Labour losses, the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election and 2027 polls.

Local elections across England were held on 7 May 2026, with more than 5,000 council seats contested across 136 local authorities, including all 32 London boroughs. The results delivered a historic realignment: Reform UK gained 1,453 councillors and took control of 14 councils, taking its total English council tally to 24, while Labour lost 1,496 councillors and control of 38 councils. The Greens gained 411 seats and took four councils, and the Liberal Democrats added 155 seats and one council.

Reform UK's advance was most dramatic in traditional Labour heartlands, with the party's vote share surging into the mid-twenties in Birmingham as Labour slumped by a similar margin. The Conservatives fell back too, losing more than 560 seats and six councils, though they retained strongholds such as Bromley and Wandsworth. Polling analyst John Curtice said the results confirmed a fragmentation of British politics, with projected vote shares compressed into a narrow band between roughly 14 and 27 per cent.

The Green Party posted arguably the most striking local story, winning its first ever directly elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham and taking council control in Waltham Forest, Norwich and Hastings, all from Labour. The scale of Labour's losses prompted calls from some of the party's MPs for a change of leadership, pressure that fed into a wider reshuffle at the top of the governing party later that summer.

That reshuffle brought Andy Burnham, previously the mayor of Greater Manchester and known locally as the 'King of the North', into Downing Street as Labour leader. His departure from the Greater Manchester mayoralty triggered a by-election for the role, with Reform UK fielding Wythenshawe councillor Sian Astley in a contest seen as a test of whether the party's council gains can extend to a devolved mayoralty.

Councillors sit at the frontline of democratic life, overseeing planning decisions, local budgets and essential services from housing and social care to transport. Local elections have long served as a barometer of national political mood between general elections, with turnout typically between 30 and 40 per cent of the electorate.

Our NewsNow local elections feed brings together the latest results, analysis and political reaction from across England, Scotland and Wales, tracking seat changes, mayoral contests and the ongoing implications for national politics. The next round of English local elections is scheduled for 6 May 2027, covering around 195 local authorities alongside all Scottish and Welsh councils, with local government reorganisation continuing to reshape the landscape in the meantime.