Local elections in the United Kingdom There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (commonly called 'general elections' when all seats are contested), elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local electio ...

took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotland and Wales in 2017. The elections coincided with the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three month ...

. In 91 cases, most of them in Wales, council seats were uncontested, each having only one candidate. Three seats in Scotland remained unfilled as no one nominated to fill them.

Overall

Across

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

had a net loss of 487 seats in comparison to

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

in Scotland and Wales and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

in England, whilst

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

gained 108 seats (22 in England, 20 in Scotland, and 66 in Wales). The Liberal Democrats and Greens made gains of 224 seats and 87 seats, respectively, which exceeded those of the Labour Party in England but were also seen to a more modest extent in Scotland and Wales. The Scottish National Party (SNP) gained 22 seats in Scotland whilst

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

made a net loss of 6 seats in Wales.

By party

Used to project a general election

The results may be further processed to project the result of a hypothetical concurrent general election.

England

By party

Councils

Background

In total, 4,411 council seats are being contested in England, including irregular by-elections. Most seats in England up for election in 2022 were last elected in 2018. The exceptions are local authorities which have undergone recent boundary reviews. In the 2018 local elections, the Labour Party made gains in London at the expense of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, who in turn made gains in the rest of England at the expense of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP). Few councils changed overall control. Overall, UKIP lost 237 of the 243 seats it had held before the elections. According to the BBC's analysis, the results reflected a national political situation with Labour and the Conservatives "neck-and-neck".

County councils

County councils are the upper tier of a two-tier system of local government, with the area each council covers subdivided into district councils with different responsibilities. These are

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

elections with a mixture of single-member and multi-member electoral divisions.

County councils A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

are elected in full every four years, with the last election having been in 2021. However, due to consultations about possible unitarisation, elections for three county councils were postponed to 2022. The government has announced plans to replace the councils with unitary authorities pending Parliamentary approval. Elections to the new

Somerset Council Somerset Council is the unitary authority that will replace Somerset County Council and four district councils (Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Mendip, and Sedgemoor) on 1 April 2023. History The Conservative governments of ...

took place on 5 May 2022 for a unitary authority to run concurrently with the district councils until their abolition in April 2023. In a similar way, members of

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council is a future unitary local authority in England covering most of the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. The new authority was approved by Parliament on 17 March 2022, and elections to the new council took place on 5 M ...

were elected at the same time, with its councillors to serve as county councillors for one year and then to serve an additional four-year term as unitary councillors. Cumbria's two new unitary authorities were elected as "shadow authorities" which would go live after gaining their powers in 2023.

London boroughs

Elections for all councillors in all thirty-two London boroughs were held in 2022 in line with their normal election schedule. All twenty-five London borough councils which have not had a boundary review since before 2013 were elected based on new boundaries. The previous elections to London borough councils were held in

, which saw Labour win its second-best result in any London election and the Conservatives return their lowest-ever number of councillors in the capital. In 2018, Labour won control of

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

council which had previously been under no overall control, but did not gain control of Barnet,

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

councils, which the party had targeted. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats gained control of

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

and

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

borough councils from the Conservatives. The 2022 elections saw Labour gain all three of Barnet, Wandsworth and Westminster councils which they had unsuccessfully targeted in 2018. The Conservatives gained control of Harrow from Labour as well as winning the new position of

mayor of Croydon The Mayor of Croydon is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Croydon London Borough Council. The current mayor is Jason Perry of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2022, and the first holder of the post. ...

, with Croydon's council under no overall control, having previously been control by Labour. Lutfur Rahman gained the position of

mayor of Tower Hamlets The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough counci ...

from Labour, with his Aspire party winning a majority of seats.

Metropolitan boroughs

There are thirty-six metropolitan boroughs, which are single-tier local authorities. Thirty-three of them elect a third of their councillors every year for three years, with no election in each fourth year. These councils hold their elections on the same timetable, which includes elections in 2022.

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

holds its elections on a four-year cycle from 2018, so is also due to hold an election in 2022. Due to boundary changes, three councils which generally elect their councillors in thirds will elect all of their councillors in 2022. They will then return to the thirds schedule, apart from St Helens Council, which is moving to all-out elections every four years starting in 2022. Several other boundary reviews have been delayed to 2023 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The scheduled elections in Liverpool in 2022 have been cancelled and instead the city is expected to move to all-out elections from 2023 on new ward boundaries.

Elections for all councillors

Election for one third of councillors

By-elections or uncontested wards can cause the seats up for election to be above or below one third of the council.

District councils

Election of all councillors

Some councils which elect all their councillors every four years did so in 2022. Gosport usually elects its councillors in halves, but all seats will be up for election due to new election boundaries. St Albans usually elects by thirds but all seats were up on new boundaries. Harrogate was due to elect all its councillors, but the election was cancelled due to the unitarisation of North Yorkshire, with councillors' terms being extended to April 2023, after which the district councils in North Yorkshire will cease to exist.

Election of councillors by halves

District councils which elect their candidates in halves did so in 2022.

Election of councillors by thirds

District councils which elect by thirds that held elections in 2022. Carlisle, Craven and South Lakeland had been due to have a third of councillors up for election but these were cancelled due to the creation of Cumberland, North Yorkshire, and Westmorland and Furness Unitary authorities.

Unitary authorities

Election of all councillors

Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a ceremonia ...

will have all its councillors elected on new ward boundaries. The new unitary authority

will hold its first election under the old Somerset County Council boundaries, with twice as many councillors being elected as previously. Shadow authorities for the two new unitary authorities replacing

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it is an elected local government body respon ...

and its districts will also be elected, as will councillors for the new

ahead of its creation in 2023. Notably, the count for the Skipton West and West Craven seat ended in a tie between independent candidate Andy Solloway and the Labour candidate Peter Madeley. After various methods for deciding the tie were mooted, including drawing from a deck of cards, the candidates drew straws with Andy Solloway drawing the long straw, thus being declared the winner.

Election of councillors by thirds

Unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

that elect councillors in thirds did so in 2022.

City of London Corporation

The

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. Elections are held at least every four years. It is largely composed o ...

is the main decision-making body of the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

, which governs the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. The 100 councillors were elected across twenty-five wards. Elections were due on 18 March 2021, but as a result of the coronavirus pandemic were delayed to 23 March 2022.

Mayors

There were six local authority mayoral elections and one metropolitan mayoral election.

Combined authorities

Local authorities

There was also a referendum in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

on whether to continue using the mayor-and-cabinet system or to change to the committee system, with 59% voting to abolish the position of mayor.

Scotland

By party

Councils

Elections were held for all councillors in all 32 local authorities in Scotland. Local elections in Scotland are conducted by the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

(STV), which results in the number of seats won by each party more proportionally reflecting their share of the vote. As a consequence, local elections in Scotland result more often in no overall control and local authorities being governed by minority or coalition administrations. In this election two of the 32 councils came under one-party majorities - Dundee (SNP) and West Dunbartonshire (Labour).

Wales

Elections were held for all councillors in all 22 local authorities as well as for all

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

seats in Wales. In all twenty-two councils, the elections were contested under new boundaries. This was the first time Welsh councils could choose between conducting the vote with the current first-past-the-post system or the proportional

(STV) system, although practically this will not come into effect until at least 2027, as councils need to give advance notice of such a change.

By party

Councils

Opinion polling

England

Scotland

Northern Ireland

The 2022 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place on 5 May 2022. The

Northern Ireland local elections Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

are due in 2023.

Notes

References

{{United Kingdom elections 2022 elections in the United Kingdom

2022 United Kingdom local elections Local elections in the United Kingdom took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotlan ...

Overall

By party

Used to project a general election

England

By party

Councils

Background

County councils

London boroughs

Metropolitan boroughs

Elections for all councillors

Election for one third of councillors

District councils

Election of all councillors

Election of councillors by halves

Election of councillors by thirds

Unitary authorities

Election of all councillors

Election of councillors by thirds

City of London Corporation

Mayors

Combined authorities

Local authorities

Scotland

By party

Councils

Wales

By party

Councils

Opinion polling

England

Scotland

Northern Ireland

See also

Notes

References