In this year’s local elections on May 1st there were no elections in Dorset. However there were 23 County Council elections across the rest of England mainly in Conservative held areas.
The Green Party continued with its steady growth in councillor numbers. Greens made a net gain of 43 seats, taking our tally to 859 seats on 181 councils. The party held 38 seats, gained 48 and lost just 5.
After this set of elections Reform now have 805 seats and control 10 councils, The Lib Dems 3,179 seats and control 40 councils, Tories 4,358 seats and control 33 councils, Labour 6,132 seats and control 107 councils, the Greens 859 seats controlling 1 council (Bristol).
The Greens gained from both the Conservatives and Labour and lost no seats to either. 24 seats were gained from the Conservatives, while 17 were gained from Labour. There were also 6 gains from the Lib Dems, with just one loss, and 3 gains from Independents. Four seats were lost to Reform.
The Green Party won its first councillors on Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire County Councils.
The Lib Dems broke through on three county councils winning an overall majority in Shropshire (with Reform in second place), Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Councils now under No Overall Control include Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Cornwall, Worcestershire, Devon and Northumberland. In some of those the Lib Dems are the largest party and the Greens could conceivably become part of a coalition.
Elections Nearest to Dorset
The local elections nearest to us in Dorset were in Wiltshire, Devon and the West of England Combined Authority Mayoral election.
In Devon, Greens gained four new councillors including Sara Wilson winning Ilfracombe from the Tories, and pictured below from left to right Andy Ketchin, Jack Eade and Thomas Richardson, all in Exeter, bringing their total to six. With 31 seats needed for a majority in Devon, the Lib Dems have 27, Reform 18, Con 7, Green 6, Independents 2 and Labour 0. We wait to see who will form a coalition.
Jack Eade’s victory in Exeter was a close-run thing, winning 25 votes more than Reform and 33 more than Labour.
The West of England mayoral authority covers a huge area shown below. A YouGov poll out a week prior to the election showed the Greens in first place with Reform second and Labour third. However in the event, Labour won the election with 25%, Reform got 22% and the Greens’ Mary Page came in third place with 20%. Greens will hope this mayoralty can be won next time around.
Close Results
These elections seem to have produced more close results than previously, perhaps because vote share is now split five ways. In Maidstone Central in Kent, Stuart Jeffrey won for the Greens with a majority of one vote over Reform. And in Worcestershire, The Littletons (Wychavon) the result was a tie between Greens and Reform. After a successful ‘lucky dip’, Hannah Robson was elected for the Greens.
Young Greens
Chris Williams, Green Party’s Head of Elections, writes: “A highlight of this election has been the stunning performance of the Young Greens (under 30s). Greens gained 14 Young Green Councillors. 19% of all Green wins so far have been Young Green candidates. We now have 57 Young Green Councillors in total. A huge well done to Young Greens. We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings when there is a much bigger set of elections.”
Reform
The big story in these elections of course is Reform winning 10 councils, two mayoralties and the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary by-election, espousing anti-immigration and anti-net zero policies. Reform took control of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Kent, Doncaster, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire and Durham County Councils.
Reform’s vote share seems to have broken through the threshold whereby the FPTP voting system now works in their favour. If ever there was a time for a change to a fairer, proportional voting system, this would be it. Meanwhile Reform will now face a lot more scrutiny actually running local councils.