2026 Local Elections

The 2026 Local Elections are scheduled to take place on Thursday 7th May 2026 - the same date as the Holyrood & Senedd elections.

Approximately 4,992 councillors are set to be elected across 136 councils, as well as 6 local authority mayors.

63 councils are having all-out elections (32 London Boroughs, 16 Metropolitan Boroughs, 6 Unitary Authorities,  6 County Councils, and 3 District Councils), whilst the remaining 73 councils are having partial elections (45 District Councils, 16 Metropolitan Boroughs, 12 Unitary Authorities. As part of Local Government Reorganisation, 2 new councils are being elected (East & West Surrey).

The current breakdown of defences by party is as follows [Includes Suspensions / Defections, but doesn’t take impact of boundary changes into account]:

LAB: 2,196, CON: 1,134, LDM: 663, GRN: 170, RFM: 78, Localists: 49, Ind/Oth: 406, 34 vacant and 162 newly created seats. - Source: Open Council Data UK