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    2025 local elections handbook

    Final edition

    Scheduled council elections held between April and June 2025, from our ward results. This is the final edition. Where our results for a council are incomplete, its figures will be too low.

    Councils
    40
    Wards
    1,416
    Seats
    1,664
    Candidates
    8,207
    Votes
    5,506,276

    Seats won by party

    PartySeatsCandidatesVotesVote share*
    Reform UK
    6811,6401,774,61632.5%
    Liberal Democrats
    3711,403863,75315.8%
    Conservative
    3201,6031,259,93523.1%
    Labour
    1001,549833,48315.3%
    Independent
    97489210,3483.9%
    Green
    791,191448,2598.2%
    Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall
    3186,5240.1%
    Wycombe Independents
    222,3260.0%
    Our West Lancashire
    244,0660.1%
    Independent Network
    111,0780.0%
    Henley Residents Group
    111,4830.0%
    Lincolnshire Independents Lincolnshire First
    11023,9890.4%
    Broxtowe Independent Group
    144,4660.1%
    Ashfield Independents
    11010,5860.2%
    Broxtowe Alliance
    166,2180.1%

    *Note on vote share: this is each party's share of the votes cast in the wards we hold for 2025. It is not an estimate for the whole country: many councils did not vote this year, some of our results may be missing, and in wards with several seats each voter had several votes.

    National Equivalent Vote — our estimate

    What each party's share might have been if the whole of Great Britain had voted in 2025. Built from 1,394 wards that did vote, compared like-for-like with the last time each ward voted, then carried across the places that didn't vote using the change in their region. Shown beside the Elections Centre's published figure where we hold it.

    PartyOur estimateElections Centre
    REF
    30.0%32%
    LAB
    18.1%19%
    LD
    17.6%16%
    CON
    14.2%18%
    GRN
    9.4%7%
    IND
    5.0%—
    SNP
    1.7%—
    PC
    0.5%—

    How far to trust this: it is an estimate, not a count. It uses each party's best-placed candidate in each ward, so multi-seat wards don't inflate anyone. Parties that stand in only a few places stay in those places. Where our ward records are incomplete for a year, the estimate is less reliable — compare it with the Elections Centre column.

    Mayors and police and crime commissioners (2)

    Winner, runner-up and first-round votes. Where a second count was held, its votes are shown in brackets.

    PostWinnerVotesRunner-upVotes
    Mayor of Cambridgeshire and PeterboroughMayorPaul Bristow Conservative60,243Ryan Coogan Reform UK49,647
    Mayor of West of EnglandMayorHelen Godwin Labour51,197Arron Fraser Andrew Banks Reform UK45,252

    Councils changing hands (22)

    CouncilBeforeAfter
    BuckinghamshireConservativeNo overall control
    CambridgeshireNo overall controlLiberal Democrats
    CornwallConservativeNo overall control
    County DurhamNo overall controlReform UK
    DerbyshireConservativeReform UK
    DevonConservativeNo overall control
    DoncasterLabourReform UK
    GloucestershireConservativeNo overall control
    HertfordshireConservativeNo overall control
    KentConservativeReform UK
    LancashireConservativeReform UK
    LeicestershireConservativeNo overall control
    LincolnshireConservativeReform UK
    Newcastle Upon TyneLabourNo overall control
    North NorthamptonshireConservativeReform UK
    NottinghamshireConservativeReform UK
    OxfordshireNo overall controlLiberal Democrats
    ShropshireConservativeLiberal Democrats
    StaffordshireConservativeReform UK
    West NorthamptonshireConservativeReform UK
    WiltshireConservativeNo overall control
    WorcestershireConservativeNo overall control

    Every council (40)

    CouncilWardsSeatsBeforeAfter
    Buckinghamshire4997ConservativeNo overall control
    Cambridgeshire5961No overall controlLiberal Democrats
    Cheshire West & Chester12LabourLabour
    City Of London10OtherOther
    City of London Corporation13—Independent
    Cornwall8787ConservativeNo overall control
    County Durham5198No overall controlReform UK
    Derbyshire6262ConservativeReform UK
    Devon5860ConservativeNo overall control
    Doncaster2257LabourReform UK
    Erewash22LabourLabour
    Gloucestershire5555ConservativeNo overall control
    Hertfordshire7878ConservativeNo overall control
    Isles of Scilly516OtherOther
    Kent7081ConservativeReform UK
    Lancashire8284ConservativeReform UK
    Leicestershire5355ConservativeNo overall control
    Leicestershire County Council11——
    Lincolnshire7070ConservativeReform UK
    Mayor of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council11——
    Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority11——
    Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority11——
    Mayor of North Tyneside Council11——
    Newcastle Upon Tyne11LabourNo overall control
    North Devon11Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
    North Northamptonshire3166ConservativeReform UK
    Northumberland6969No overall controlNo overall control
    Northumberland County Council30——
    Nottinghamshire5664ConservativeReform UK
    Oxford88No overall controlNo overall control
    Oxfordshire5656No overall controlLiberal Democrats
    Shropshire7274ConservativeLiberal Democrats
    South Oxfordshire44Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
    Staffordshire6262ConservativeReform UK
    Stratford-On-Avon11Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
    Warwickshire5757ConservativeConservative
    West Lancashire11LabourLabour
    West Northamptonshire3272ConservativeReform UK
    Wiltshire9898ConservativeNo overall control
    Worcestershire5357ConservativeNo overall control

    See also Election Health for 2025's competitiveness figures and Council Control.