2010 United Kingdom local elections
The 2010 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 6 May 2010, concurrently with the 2010 general election.[1] Direct elections were held to all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 76 second-tier district authorities, 20 unitary authorities and various Mayoral posts, all in England. For those authorities elected "all out" these were the first elections since 2006. The results provided some comfort to the Labour Party, losing the general election on the same day, as it was the first time Conservative councillor numbers declined since 1996.
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All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 20 out of 55 unitary authorities, 76 out of 212 district councils, and 4 directly elected mayors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. |
Summary of results
Party | Councillors | Councils | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Change | Number | Change | ||
Conservative | 3,462 | ![]() |
66 | ![]() | |
Labour | 2,976 | ![]() |
37 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | 1,730 | ![]() |
14 | ![]() | |
Residents | 63 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
Green | 36 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
BNP | 19 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
Liberal | 15 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
UKIP | 9 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
Others | 298 | ![]() |
0 | ![]() | |
No overall control | n/a | n/a | 47 | ![]() |
London boroughs

All seats in the 32 London Boroughs were up for election.
Metropolitan boroughs

One third of the seats in all 36 Metropolitan Boroughs were up for election.
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barnsley | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Birmingham | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Bolton | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Bradford | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Bury | Conservative | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Calderdale | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Coventry | No overall control | Labour gain | Details | ||
Doncaster | No overall control | Labour gain | Details | ||
Dudley | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
Gateshead | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Kirklees | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Knowsley | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Leeds | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Liverpool | Liberal Democrats | Labour gain | Details | ||
Manchester | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Newcastle upon Tyne | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats hold | Details | ||
North Tyneside | Conservative | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Oldham | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Rochdale | Liberal Democrats | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Rotherham | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
St. Helens | No overall control | Labour gain | Details | ||
Salford | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Sandwell | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Sefton | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Sheffield | Liberal Democrats | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Solihull | Conservative | No overall control gain | Details | ||
South Tyneside | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Stockport | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats hold | Details | ||
Sunderland | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Tameside | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Trafford | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
Wakefield | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Walsall | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
Wigan | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Wirral | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Wolverhampton | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details |
Unitary authorities
One third of the council seats were up for election in 20 unitary authorities.
Council | Previous control | New Control | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blackburn with Darwen | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Bristol | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats | Details | ||
Derby | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Halton | Labour | Labour | Details | ||
Hartlepool | No overall control | Labour | Details | ||
Kingston upon Hull | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats | Details | ||
Milton Keynes | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
North East Lincolnshire | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Peterborough | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Plymouth | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Portsmouth | No overall control | Liberal Democrats | Details | ||
Reading | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Slough | Labour | Labour | Details | ||
Southampton | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Southend-on-Sea | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Stoke-on-Trent | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Swindon | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Thurrock | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Warrington | No overall control | No overall control | Details | ||
Wokingham | Conservative | Conservative | Details |
The elections in Stoke-on-Trent had originally been cancelled following a referendum result which decided to abolish the existing Mayor and Cabinet system of governance, with replacement elections to take place in 2011 following a review of the council by the Boundary Committee for England.[2] However, it was later decided to hold elections to one-third of the council in 2010 as planned.[3]
Non-metropolitan districts
The elections that were due to be held in Exeter and Norwich were cancelled due to structural changes.[4][5] Following the 2010 general election, the structural changes were cancelled, leading to elections in both cities in September 2010 (see 2010 Exeter City Council election and 2010 Norwich City Council election).
Half of council
Seven district councils had half of their seats up for election.
Council | Previous control | New Control | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adur | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Cheltenham | No overall control | Liberal Democrats | Details | ||
Fareham | Conservative | Conservative | Details | ||
Gosport | No overall control | Conservative | Details | ||
Hastings | No overall control | Labour | Details | ||
Nuneaton and Bedworth | Conservative | No overall control | Details | ||
Oxford | No overall control | Labour | Details |
Third of council
69 district councils had one third of their seats up for election.
Mayoral elections
There were four mayoral elections.
Local Authority | Previous Mayor | New Mayor | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hackney | Jules Pipe (Labour) | Jules Pipe (Labour) | Details | ||
Lewisham | Sir Steve Bullock (Labour) | Sir Steve Bullock (Labour) | Details | ||
Newham | Sir Robin Wales (Labour) | Sir Robin Wales (Labour) | Details | ||
Watford | Dorothy Thornhill (Liberal Democrat) | Dorothy Thornhill (Liberal Democrat) | Details |
References
- Siddique, Haroon (6 April 2010). "Gordon Brown confirms 6 May general election date". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
- "Strengthening local leadership and improving services in Stoke-on-Trent". Ministry of Communities and Local Government. 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
- "Notice of Election - City of Stoke on Trent". Stoke on Trent City Council. 10 April 2010. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- "The Norwich and Norfolk (Structural Changes) Order 2010 No. 997". Legislation.gov.uk. Office of Public Sector Information. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- "The Exeter and Devon (Structural Changes) Order 2010 No. 998". Office of Public Sector Information. 24 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2010.