- United Kingdom local elections, 2003
Local elections took place in various parts of the
United Kingdom onMay 1 ,2003 , on the same day as the Scottish Parliamentary and the Welsh Assembly elections. There were local elections for all councils inScotland and in most ofEngland . There were no elections inWales ,Northern Ireland orLondon .The ruling Labour Party lost a considerable 833 seats, while both the main opposition parties, Conservative and Liberal Democrat, polled strongly.
Fifty nine councils held electoral pilot schemes to try and boost turnout figures. Schemes included all postal voting, mobile
polling station s, alterations to voting hours and various kinds ofElectronic voting . The most successful in raising turnout was all-postal voting which saw turnout rise to an average of 50%. In comparison turnout across the whole of England was only 33%The Results
The Labour party lost a considerable 833 seats, losing control of councils such as
Birmingham andCoventry , both of which the party had controlled for 20 years.The Conservative party extended its lead over the Labour party by 1,399 councillors, however their celebrations were tempered by the resignation of Conservative front bencher
Crispin Blunt , who described the party leader,Ian Duncan Smith as a "handicap" and called for him to be replaced. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2994993.stm]The Liberal Democrat party gained its highest ever share of the vote ever at 30% only one percent behind the Labour party.
Unitary Authorities
Whole council
In 27 English Unitary authorities the whole council was up for election.
One third of council
In 82 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.
sequence
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* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk_politics/2003/vote_2003/ BBC Vote 2003]
* [http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/publications/briefings/pilotingalternativevotingmethods.htm Voting Pilots in 2003]
* [http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovelections/0,8145,467148,00.html The Guardian 2003 election coverage]
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