2025 United Kingdom local elections

2025 United Kingdom local elections
← 2024 1 May 2025 2026 →
All 21 county councils
10 unitary authorities
1 metropolitan borough
4 directly elected combined authority mayors
2 directly elected single authority mayors
Council of the Isles of Scilly
City of London Corporation (on 19–20 March)
  Keir Starmer Ed Davey
Leader Kemi Badenoch Keir Starmer Ed Davey
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Leader since 2 November 2024 4 April 2020 27 August 2020 [n 1]
Last election 1,448 seats 365 seats 293 seats
Current seats 1,311 350 313
  Carla Denyer (left) and Adrian Ramsay (right) Nigel Farage
Leader Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay Nigel Farage
Party Green Reform UK
Leader since 1 October 2021 3 June 2024
Last election 59 seats 2 seats
Current seats 64 12

The 2025 United Kingdom local elections will be held on 1 May 2025.[2] All seats on all 21 county councils in England and ten unitary authorities in England will be up for election. They are expected to be the first local elections following the 2024 general election.[3]

Two existing combined authority mayors and two existing single authority mayors will be up for election. In addition, the inaugural election for the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who will chair Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, is expected to take place on 1 May 2025, along with the inaugural election for the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.

In addition, the Council of the Isles of Scilly will be elected.[2]

The City of London Corporation will hold elections on 19–20 March.[4]

Following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December 2024, which set out the government's plans for local government reorganisation, some of the elections scheduled for May 2025 may be delayed by up to a year while reorganisation takes place.[5] County councils have until 10 January 2025 to decide to cancel or postpone the elections.[6]

England

County councils

There are 21 county councils in England. All of them hold whole-council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Cambridgeshire 61 No overall control Details
Derbyshire[a] 64 Conservative Details
Devon 60 Conservative Details
East Sussex 50 No overall control Details
Essex[a] 78 Conservative Details
Gloucestershire[a] 55 Conservative Details
Hampshire 78 Conservative Details
Hertfordshire 78 Conservative Details
Kent 81 Conservative Details
Lancashire 84 Conservative Details
Leicestershire 55 Conservative Details
Lincolnshire 70 Conservative Details
Norfolk[a] 84 Conservative Details
Nottinghamshire 66 Conservative Details
Oxfordshire[a] 69 No overall control Details
Staffordshire[a] 62 Conservative Details
Suffolk[a] 70 Conservative Details
Surrey[a] 81 Conservative Details
Warwickshire 57 Conservative Details
West Sussex 70 Conservative Details
Worcestershire[a] 57 Conservative Details

Metropolitan boroughs

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Doncaster 55 Labour Details

Unitary authorities

There are 62 unitary authorities, which are single-tier local authorities. Ten of them hold whole-council elections on a four-year cycle that includes 2025. Due to boundary changes several authorities will see a significant reduction in the number of councillors they elect: Buckinghamshire reduces from 147 to 97, Durham goes from 126 to 98 and West Northamptonshire will elect 76 instead of 93.

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Buckinghamshire[a] 97 Conservative Details
Cornwall 87 Conservative Details
County Durham[a] 98 No overall control Details
Isle of Wight 39 No overall control Details
North Northamptonshire[a] 68 Conservative Details
Northumberland[a] 69 Conservative Details
Shropshire[a] 74 Conservative Details
Thurrock[a] 49 Labour Details
West Northamptonshire[a] 76 Conservative Details
Wiltshire 98 Conservative Details

Combined authority mayors

Combined authority Mayor before Mayor after Details
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Nik Johnson (Lab) Details
West of England Dan Norris (Lab) Details
Greater Lincolnshire Did not exist Details
Hull and East Yorkshire Did not exist Details

Mayoralties covering a single local authority

Local authority Post Type Current mayor Party Established Next election Population
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Mayor of Doncaster Metropolitan borough Ros Jones Labour 2002 2025 291,600
North Tyneside Council Mayor of North Tyneside Metropolitan borough Norma Redfearn Labour 2002 2025 196,000

City of London Corporation

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
City of London 100 Independent Details

Isles of Scilly

Council Seats Party control Details
Previous Result
Isles of Scilly 16 Independent Details

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p New electoral boundaries

References

  1. ^ Davey served as Acting Leader from 13 December 2019 to 27 August 2020 alongside the Party Presidents Baroness Brinton and Mark Pack, following Jo Swinson's election defeat in the 2019 general election. Davey was elected Leader in August 2020.[1]
  1. ^ Stewart, Heather (27 August 2020). "'Wake up and smell the coffee': Ed Davey elected Lib Dem leader". The Guardian.
  2. ^ a b "Election timetable in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  3. ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  4. ^ Wardmote Book (PDF). City of London. 2022. pp. 2, 76. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Some local elections could be delayed by up to a year, says Angela Rayner". Sky News. 16 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Counties given 'extraordinary' deadline to cancel elections". Local Government Chronicle. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.