- United Kingdom local elections, 2007
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United Kingdom local elections, 2007 
2006 ← 3 May 2007 → 2008 312 English district councils and all Scottish councils First party Second party Third party 
Leader David Cameron Tony Blair Menzies Campbell Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrat Leader since 6 December 2005 21 July 1994 2 March 2006 Last election 39% 26% 25% Percentage 40% 27% 26% Councils 165 34 23 Councils +/- +39 -8 -4 Councillors 5315 1877 2171 Councillors +/- +911 −504 -246 
Entrance to a polling station in the market town of Haverhill, Suffolk on 3 May 2007. The posters on the left are lists of the candidates in wards contested (St Edmundsbury BC and Haverhill TC) and information about rules and laws about voting.
A polling station in a temporary cabin in position for the UK council elections on 3 May 2007.The 2007 UK local government elections were held on 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern Ireland. Just over half of English councils and almost all the Scottish councils began the counts on Friday, rather than Thursday night, because of more complex arrangements regarding postal votes.
These elections were a landmark in the United Kingdom as it was the first time that 18-20 year olds could stand as candidates for council seats. The change is due to an alteration of the Electoral Administration Act. At least fourteen 18-20 year olds are known to have stood as candidates for council seats[1] and as a result William Lloyd became the youngest person to be elected to official office in Britain. There were also a number of councils which used new voting methods such as internet and telephone voting in addition to the traditional methods of polling stations and postal votes.
Contents
English council elections
There was a suggestion in February 2006 that many of the 2007 local elections in England would be cancelled due to a reform of local government.[2] However since then possible reforms are still in the consultation stage and no decisions have yet been made.
Summary of results
312 English district councils, nearly all districts in England held some form of election – either thirds or full – on Thursday, 3 May 2007.
The final results are summarised below; firstly, with a table ranked by the party with the greatest number of councillors elected.
Party Councils Councillors Gain Loss Change Total Gain Loss Change Total Conservative 47 8 +39 165 +911 5315 Liberal Democrat 5 9 -4 23 -246 2171 Labour 3 10 -8 34 −504 1877 Residents Associations 0 0 0 1 -19 67 Green 0 0 0 0 +17 62 BNP 0 0 0 0 +1 10 Liberal 0 0 0 0 -1 9 Mebyon Kernow 0 0 0 0 2 1 +1 7 UKIP 0 0 0 0 -1 5 Health Concern 0 0 0 0 2 1 +1 4 Respect 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 3 Socialist Alternative 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1 0 Other 0 4 -162 949 No overall control -27 85 – – – – Metropolitan boroughs
All 36 English Metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.
Unitary authorities
Whole council
In 25 English Unitary authorities the whole council was up for election.
Third of council
In 20 English Unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.
Non-metropolitan districts
Whole council
In 153 English district authorities the whole council was up for election.
Third of council
In 78 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.
English mayoral elections
Council Independent Conservative Labour Liberal Democrat Green Elected Result Bedford 15,967 10,710 4,757 10,551 1,538 Frank Branston Independent hold Mansfield 13,756 2,770 8,774 1,944 1,489 Tony Egginton Independent hold Middlesbrough 17,455 1,733 3,539 7,026 no candidate Ray Mallon Independent hold Scottish council elections
All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election - all Scottish councils are unitary authorities. These local elections were held on the same day as the Scottish Parliament general election. They were the first election for local government in mainland Great Britain to use the Single Transferable Vote (the system is used in Northern Ireland), as implemented by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.[3]
Summary of results
Party Councils - majority Councils - in coalition/minority Councillors SNP 0 11 363 Labour 2 11 348 Liberal Democrats 0 12 166 Conservative 0 8 143 Scottish Green 0 0 8 Scottish Socialist Party 0 0 1 Solidarity 0 0 1 Other 3 9 193 No overall control 27 - - Councils
The notional results in the following table are based on a document that John Curtice and Stephen Herbert (Professors at the University of Strathclyde) produced on 3 June 2005, calculating the effect of the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote on the 2003 Scottish Local Elections.[4]
Pre-election predictions
A Newsnight poll by the analysts Rallings and Thrasher some days before the election predicted the following results for the English council elections:
Con 38% (Conservatives gaining 330 seats and losing 2% of the vote on 2006)
Lab 24% (Labour losing 500 seats and losing 2% of the vote on 2006)
LD 29% (Liberal Democrats gaining 110 seats and gaing 2% of the vote on 2006)
However, these predictions, as in 2006, were largely inaccurate, underestimating Conservative support and grossly overestimating the Lib Dems' performance. However, it did accurately predict the number of seats Labour would lose.
External links
- Results table (BBC News)
- Overview of councils up for election
- CityMayors article
- Young candidates article
Notes and references
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6527015.stm
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Council polls could be scrapped
- ^ Elections to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales
- ^ http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-05/SB05-31.pdf
- ^ Labour minority control. The council was previously run by a coalition of Scottish Liberal Democrats, Independents and the SNP.
- ^ Liberal Democrats lack a majority (LD: 12 councillors; opposition: 12 councillors)
- ^ Labour lack a majority, after by election loss to Scottish National Party (Lab: 29 councillors; opposition: 29 councillors)
- ^ Labour minority administration
- ^ Conservative and Unionist control, on a cut of the cards (Con: 15 councillors; opposition: 15 councillors)
- ^ Labour lack a majority, after by election loss to Scottish National Party (Lab: 11 councillors; opposition: 11 councillors)
Preceded by
United Kingdom local elections, 2006UK local elections Succeeded by
United Kingdom local elections, 2008
Elections and referendums in the United KingdomGeneral elections 1801 co-option · 1802 · 1806 · 1807 · 1812 · 1818 · 1820 · 1826 · 1830 · 1831 · 1832 · 1835 · 1837 · 1841 · 1847 · 1852 · 1857 · 1859 · 1865 · 1868 · 1874 · 1880 · 1885 · 1886 · 1892 · 1895 · 1900 · 1906 · 1910 (Jan) · 1910 (Dec) · 1918 · 1922 · 1923 · 1924 · 1929 · 1931 · 1935 · 1945 · 1950 · 1951 · 1955 · 1959 · 1964 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 (Feb) · 1974 (Oct) · 1979 · 1983 · 1987 · 1992 · 1997 · 2001 · 2005 · 2010 · NextLocal elections European elections Referendums 1975 · 2011Elections and referendums in Great Britain • Ireland • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales(2006 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 2007 (→ 2008)Metropolitan boroughs Barnsley · Birmingham · Bolton · Bradford · Bury · Calderdale · Coventry · Doncaster · Dudley · Gateshead · Kirklees · Knowsley · Leeds · Liverpool · Manchester · Newcastle upon Tyne · North Tyneside · Oldham · Rochdale · Rotherham · Salford · Sandwell · Sefton · Sheffield · Solihull · South Tyneside · St Helens · Stockport · Sunderland · Tameside · Trafford · Wakefield · Walsall · Wigan · Wirral · WolverhamptonUnitary authorities Bath and North East Somerset · Blackburn with Darwen · Blackpool · Bournemouth · Bracknell Forest · Brighton & Hove · Bristol · Darlington · Derby · East Riding of Yorkshire · Halton · Hartlepool · Herefordshire · Kingston upon Hull · Leicester · Luton · Medway · Middlesbrough · Milton Keynes · North East Lincolnshire · North Lincolnshire · North Somerset · Nottingham · Peterborough · Plymouth · Poole · Portsmouth · Reading · Redcar and Cleveland · Rutland · Slough · South Gloucestershire · Southampton · Southend-on-Sea · Stockton-on-Tees · Stoke-on-Trent · Swindon · Telford and Wrekin · Thurrock · Torbay · Warrington · West Berkshire · Windsor and Maidenhead · Wokingham · YorkDistrict councils Allerdale · Alnwick · Amber Valley · Arun · Ashfield · Ashford · Aylesbury Vale · Babergh · Barrow-in-Furness · Basildon · Basingstoke and Deane · Bassetlaw · Bedford · Berwick-upon-Tweed · Blaby · Blyth Valley · Bolsover · Boston · Braintree · Breckland · Brentwood · Bridgnorth · Broadland · Bromsgrove · Broxbourne · Broxtowe · Burnley · Cambridge · Cannock Chase · Canterbury · Caradon · Carlisle · Carrick · Castle Point · Castle Morpeth · Charnwood · Chelmsford · Cherwell · Chester · Chester-le-Street · Chesterfield · Chichester · Chiltern · Christchurch · Chorley · Colchester · Congleton · Copeland · Corby · Cotswold · Craven · Crawley · Crewe and Nantwich · Dacorum · Dartford · Daventry · Derbyshire Dales · East Hampshire · Eastleigh · Ellesmere Port and Neston · Elmbridge · Epping Forest · Exeter · Fenland · Fylde · Gedling · Gloucester · Guildford · Gravesham · Great Yarmouth · Harlow · Harrogate · Hart · Havant · Hertsmere · High Peak · Huntingdonshire · Hyndburn · Ipswich · Kettering · Lancaster · Macclesfield · Maidstone · Mole Valley · Newcastle-under-Lyme · North Devon · North West Leicestershire · Northampton · Norwich · Nuneaton and Bedworth · Pendle · Penwith · Preston · Purbeck · Redditch · Reigate and Banstead · Rochford · Rossendale · Rugby · Runnymede · Rushmoor · Ryedale · Scarborough · Sedgefield · Shepway · Shrewsbury and Atcham · South Bedfordshire · South Cambridgeshire · South Lakeland · South Ribble · St Albans · Stevenage · Stratford-on-Avon · Stroud · Swale · Tamworth · Tandridge · Three Rivers · Tonbridge and Malling · Tunbridge Wells · Tynedale · Warwick · Watford · Waveney · Welwyn Hatfield · West Lancashire · West Lindsey · West Oxfordshire · West Wiltshire · Weymouth and Portland · Winchester · Woking · Worcester · Worthing · Wyre · Wyre ForestScottish councils Aberdeen · Aberdeenshire · Angus · Argyll and Bute · Clackmannanshire · Dumfries and Galloway · Dundee City · East Ayrshire · East Dunbartonshire · East Lothian · East Renfrewshire · Edinburgh · Falkirk · Fife · Glasgow · Highland · Inverclyde · Midlothian · Moray · Comhairle nan Eilean Siar · North Ayrshire · North Lanarkshire · Orkney · Perth and Kinross · Renfrewshire · Scottish Borders · Shetland · South Ayrshire · South Lanarkshire · Stirling · West Dunbartonshire · West LothianCategories:- Council elections in the United Kingdom
- United Kingdom local elections, 2007
- 2007 elections in the United Kingdom
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