2025 Local Elections

The 2025 Local Elections will be held on the 1st of May 2025. Some 1,641 councillors will be elected in 23 Councils - 14 County Councils, 8 Unitary Authorities, and 1 Metropolitan Borough.

15 of these councils are currently controlled by the Conservative Party compared to just 1 for Labour, whilst 7 councils are under no overall control (NOC). Of these 7, four are run by Conservative minority administrations, two by Liberal Democrats, and one by Independents.

Alll of these councils were last contested in 2021. This was a particularly strong year for the Conservative Party, widely attributed to the ‘vaccine bounce’ - which could scupper any hope of the party making significant gains in its first local election cycle contested from opposition since 2010.

Additionally, 4 combined authority mayoral elections are due to take place, including 2 new contests. Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and the West of England were both won by Labour in 2021, whilst Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire will be heading to the polls to elect a mayor for the first time. Doncaster and North Tyneside will also be electing single authority mayors, both of which are currently held by Labour.

Boundary changes are taking place in 11 councils, making it difficult to put an exact number to how many seats each party is defending - approximate values are as follows:

• Conservative: 940

• Labour 290

• Liberal Democrat 220

• Independent 120

• Green 40

• Localist Groups 40