2009 United Kingdom local elections
The 2009 United Kingdom local elections were elections held to all 27 County Councils, three existing Unitary Authorities and five new Unitary Authorities, all in England, on 4 June 2009.[2][3] The elections were due to be held on 7 May 2009, but were delayed in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament.[4][5]
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35 English Local Authorities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The elections produced a political landscape on the map of England that was a sea of Conservative blue. The party snatched Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire from Labour, as well as Devon and Somerset from the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats did however win a majority in Bristol. Despite the optimism for the Conservatives in seat and council gains, their share of the vote at 38% was 6% down on 2008. That said, they had a clear 10% lead over the Liberal Democrats who achieved a respectable second place on 28%.
Labour, taking the blame in government from a worsening economic climate, soaring unemployment and the expenses scandal, lost all of its councils, with some authorities being swept clear of any Labour councillors at all. Its showing in the same day's European elections was similarly dismal, and although four years had passed since the last general election, there would be no general election in 2009; opinion polls all pointed at a heavy Labour defeat at the time.
Summary of results
| Party | Councillors | Councils | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Change | Number | Change | ||
| Conservative | 1,531 |  |
30 | | |
| Liberal Democrats | 484 |  |
1 | | |
| Labour | 178 | |
0 | | |
| Independent | 97 | |
0 |  | |
| Green | 18 | |
0 | | |
| Residents | 9 | |
0 | | |
| UKIP | 7 | |
0 | | |
| BNP | 3 | |
0 | | |
| Mebyon Kernow | 3 | |
0 | | |
| Liberal | 2 | |
0 | | |
| Others | 30 | |
0 | | |
| No overall control | n/a | n/a | 3 | | |
Source: BBC News Isles of Scilly Council not included in the above figures.
County councils
All 27 English County Councils were up for election. All seats on the councils were contested at this election.
Unitary authorities
Existing authorities
| Council | Proportion up for election |
Previous control | Result | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 1/3 | No overall control | Liberal Democrats gain | Details | ||
| Isle of Wight | All | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
| Isles of Scilly | All | Independent | Independent hold | Details | ||
New authorities
Elections were held for five new unitary authorities. All councillors were elected at this election.
| Council | Result | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | No overall control | Details | |
| Central Bedfordshire | Conservative | Details | |
| Cornwall | No overall control (Conservative/Independent Coalition) | Details | |
| Shropshire | Conservative | Details | |
| Wiltshire | Conservative | Details | |
Mayoral elections
| Local Authority | Previous Mayor | Candidate elected | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doncaster | Martin Winter (Independent[6]) | Peter Davies (English Democrats) | Details | ||
| Hartlepool | Stuart Drummond (Independent) | Stuart Drummond (Independent) | Details | ||
| North Tyneside | John Harrison (Labour) | Linda Arkley (Conservative) | Details | ||
A mayoral election was also due to be held in Stoke-on-Trent, however voters in the city voted to abolish the directly elected mayor system in a referendum held in October 2008. The referendum decided to replace the mayor and executive system with a council leader and cabinet system of local government.[7]
See also
References
- "BBC projected national vote shares for 2009". BBC News. 2009-06-05. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- "Communities and Local Government - Local government elections in 2009". Communities.gov.uk. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- Communities and Local Government - Moving the date of English Local Government elections to the date of the European Parliament elections in 2009 - Consultation Archived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (2008-11-04). "House of Commons Hansard Debates from 04 Nov 2008 - Local Government Motion". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- "'British expenses scandal dominates political debate', 23 May 2009". City Mayors. 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- Winter was twice elected mayor as the Labour Party's candidate, but he declared himself an independent following the 2008 local elections and was subsequently expelled from the Labour Party. He did not stand for re-election in 2009.
- "Mayor faces final months in power". BBC News. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
External links
- Elections 2009 BBC News
- Elections 2009: Councils A-Z BBC News
| General elections |
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| Local elections |
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| European elections | |
| Referendums | |
| County council elections |
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| Mayoral elections |
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| Unitary authorities | |||
| Other English councils |
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