Local Elections UK 2022 - Results

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-61235136

Summary

  • Polls closed at 22:00 BST on Thursday after millions cast their ballots in elections across the UK
  • More than half of English councils where elections were held will count overnight with the rest beginning on Friday morning
  • Counts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to begin on Friday
  • Opposition parties are hoping to make gains at the expense of the Conservatives, who are braced for losses
  • All 32 Scottish councils and 22 Welsh local authorities are being contested
  • In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein and the DUP are battling to be the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly
  • In England there are 4,360 seats on 146 councils up for grabs as well as a handful of mayoral elections
  • More than 1,800 of those seats are in London, where every seat in every borough will be contested
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What council seats are up for grabs in these elections?

In Scotland and Wales all council seats were up for election. In England, elections only took place in 146 of the 333 local authorities in England.

And even in those councils, not all seats were up for election this year.

A lot of the areas where elections are being held are Labour strongholds - London, for example.

As you can seat from the chart below, Labour have the most seats to defend.

You may also notice that the graphic does not include Northern Ireland. This is because there were no council elections there - only elections for the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Labour hold Halton Borough Council

Labour has retained overall control of Halton Borough Council in north-west England after two of 18 seats were declared.

The party already had a majority of 42 after the last election in 2021.

The council was expected to be held by Labour, which has been in control since it officially formed as an authority in 1974.

Labour hold Sunderland

One of the big early results has come in Sunderland, where Labour has retained control. But its majority has been cut from 11 to eight.

The party lost one of its seats, as did the Conservatives - both to the Liberal Democrats.

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Tories ‘throwing in the towel’ in Worcester

Counting is only just starting in Worcester but Tory leader Marc Bayliss has effectively thrown in the towel and is heading home.

He expects his party to have lost several seats tonight and said the people have “given their verdict on the government”.

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Tories hold Nuneaton and Bedworth Council

The Conservative Party have held on to Nuneaton and Bedworth Council where they look to be having a good night.

The Tories gained the authority last year when they added 10 seats and, with 17 up for grabs tonight, they have won seven so far to ease into a majority, with several seats yet to be declared.

Redditch Council held by Conservative Party

Redditch Council has been held by the Conservatives after they held two of their seats in early declarations at the count.

The Tories only needed 17 for a majority and, with 16 of their seats not being contested at this election, have moved quickly back into control.

However the Conservative leader, Matt Dormer, said success would be holding what they have got. “It hasn’t been too great on the doorsteps, to be honest. It’s been tough," he told me.

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Council Results

20 of 146 councils counted

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Pointers from key ward results so far

Professor Sir John Curtice

Polling expert

With well over 150 key wards now declared, the Conservatives are down by 3 percentage points on their performance the last time these areas were contested in 2018, Labour is down 1 point, and the Liberal Democrats are up 4 points.

If we compare the results with last year, then Labour is up 4 points, the Tories are down 6 points, and the Liberal Democrats are up 3 points.

So while the Liberal Democrats have so far stolen some of the headlines and Labour’s advance has been limited, it’s still the case that the Conservatives have lost considerable ground since 12 months ago.

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Lib Dems take Hull from Labour

The Lib Dems have pulled off the first decisive victory of the night, taking control of Hull City Council from Labour.

The Lib Dems added three seats to their tally, giving them 26 in total and a majority of one.

This was a rare direct battle between the Lib Dems and Labour, whose majority was reduced at the last election in 2021.

The council had been controlled by Labour since 2011, when it took over from the Lib Dems.

Now the Lib Dems are back in power after a result that will dismay Labour.

The constituencies of Kingston upon Hull East and North are both held by Labour MPs.

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Council Results

47 of 146 councils counted

  • Early results show small swings from the Conservatives to Labour
  • The Liberal Democrats see an increase in support so far - particularly in Conservative areas
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Tories hold Tamworth but majority shrinks

A third of the authority’s 30 seats were being contested this year and the Tories held seven.

But they lost one to an Independent. Labour held their two seats.

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First seat for Greens as Labour keeps hold of Coventry

Coventry City Council remains in Labour’s control and they have kept their majority as the Tories lost a councillor to the Green Party.

The win for the Greens, as Stephen Gray took the Holbrook ward, gave the party their first ever seat in the city.

Labour remain the largest party with 39 councillors, 25 ahead of the Conservatives as their total fell to 14.

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Labour win flagship Tory council in London

Labour have taken control of Wandsworth, in south London, where the Conservatives had held power since 1978.

The party gained 8 seats from the Tories.

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Council Results

56 of 146 councils counted

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Conservatives lose Southampton to Labour

Another Labour gain - this time in Southampton, which the party have taken from the Conservatives.

Labour increased their number of seats by four, while the Conservatives lost the same number.

Conservatives lose West Oxfordshire

The Conservatives have lost control of West Oxfordshire council, but no party has a majority.

West Oxfordshire is home to Witney, the former constituency of ex-Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Tories have so far lost three seats - two to the Liberal Democrats and one to the Greens.

The Liberal Democrats saw a 13% increase in their share of the vote.

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Council Results

England

68 of 146 councils counted

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Latest scores from England

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As the graphic shows, it’s the Liberal Democrats who’ve had the biggest net gain in England so far - adding 58 councillors.

Labour has gained a net 33 councillors, with eye-catching wins in London but slow progress elsewhere.

With around half of council results declared, the Conservatives have lost 120 councillors so far, although this loss is less dramatic than some had expected.

Meanwhile, there’s been a strong performance from the Greens, who’ve added 23 seats to their total.

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We now have a first indication of the verdict voters delivered in Thursday’s local elections. Nearly half of the councils in England that held an election have counted their results overnight - the rest, along with all the councils in Scotland and Wales, are counting today, as is the Assembly in Northern Ireland.*

These early results have produced the much-anticipated reverse in electoral fortunes for the Conservatives. The party’s share of the vote in over 500 key wards where the BBC has collected the detailed voting figures is down by four points since 2018, when the seats were last up for grabs.

Meanwhile, their loss of support is as much as six points compared with last year’s local election contests. These losses confirm that the party is now electorally weaker than at any point since Boris Johnson won his majority of 80 in 2019.

But as was also anticipated, this fall in support has not resulted in spectacular losses of seats. That reflects the fact that the Conservatives were defending many fewer wards than Labour. Even so, the loss of 120 seats as of 10.30 BST represents one in five of the seats the party was trying to defend.

Although it has so far only lost control of five councils, among those losses are the totemic councils of Wandsworth and Westminster, where hitherto the local Tories’ low council tax policy had seemingly helped them keep control even when the national tide was running against their party. Labour have also wrestled Barnet from Conservative control.

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Council Results

England

94 of 146 councils counted

Scotland

4 of 32 counted

Wales

0 of 22 counted

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