2009 United Kingdom local elections

The 2009 United Kingdom local elections were elections held to all 27 County Councils, three existing Unitary Authorities and five new Unitary Authorities, all in England, on 4 June 2009.^[2][3] The elections were due to be held on 7 May 2009, but were delayed in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament.^[4][5]

2009 United Kingdom local elections

← 2008 4 June 2009 2010 →
All 27 county councils, 7 out of 55 unitary authorities, 1 sui generis authority, and 3 directly elected mayors
First party Second party Third party   Leader David Cameron Nick Clegg Gordon Brown Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour Leader since 6 December 2005 18 December 2007 24 June 2007 Percentage 38%[1] 28% 23% Swing 6% 3% 1% Councils 30 1 0 Councils +/– 7 1 4 Councillors 1,531 484 178 Councillors +/– 244 2 291
County council election results
Unitary authority and mayoral elections

The elections resulted in significant gains for the Conservatives. The party won Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire from Labour, as well as Devon and Somerset from the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats did however win a majority in Bristol. Despite the optimism for the Conservatives in seat and council gains, their share of the vote at 38% was 6% down on 2008. That said, they had a clear 10% lead over the Liberal Democrats who achieved a respectable second place on 28%. This was the last local elections until 2024 where the Liberal Democrats polled in second place

Labour, taking the blame in government from a worsening economic climate, soaring unemployment and the expenses scandal, lost all of its councils, with some authorities being swept clear of any Labour councillors at all. The party also performed poorly in the European elections on the same day.

Results

Party		Councillors		Councils
		Number	Change	Number	Change
	Conservative	1,531	244	30	7
	Liberal Democrats	484	2	1	1
	Labour	178	291	0	4
	Independent	97	6	0
	Green	18	8	0
	Residents	9	2	0
	UKIP	7	7	0
	BNP	3	3	0
	Mebyon Kernow	3		0
	Liberal	2		0
	Others	30	15	0
	No overall control	n/a	n/a	3	2

Source: BBC News Isles of Scilly Council not included in the above figures.

County councils

All 27 English County Councils were up for election. All seats on the councils were contested at this election.

Council	Previous control		Result		Details
Buckinghamshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Cambridgeshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Cumbria		No overall control		No overall control hold	Details
Derbyshire		Labour		Conservative gain	Details
Devon		Liberal Democrats		Conservative gain	Details
Dorset		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
East Sussex		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Essex		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Gloucestershire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Hampshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Hertfordshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Kent		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Lancashire		Labour		Conservative gain	Details
Leicestershire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Lincolnshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Norfolk		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
North Yorkshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Northamptonshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Nottinghamshire		Labour		Conservative gain	Details
Oxfordshire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Somerset		Liberal Democrats		Conservative gain	Details
Staffordshire		Labour		Conservative gain	Details
Suffolk		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Surrey		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Warwickshire		No overall control		Conservative gain	Details
West Sussex		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details
Worcestershire		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details

Unitary authorities

Existing authorities

Council	Proportion up for election	Previous control		Result		Details
Bristol	1/3		No overall control		Liberal Democrats gain	Details
Isle of Wight	All		Conservative		Conservative hold	Details

New authorities

Elections were held for five new unitary authorities. All councillors were elected at this election.

Council	Result		Details
Bedford		No overall control	Details
Central Bedfordshire		Conservative	Details
Cornwall		No overall control (Conservative/Independent Coalition)	Details
Shropshire		Conservative	Details
Wiltshire		Conservative	Details

Isles of Scilly

The Council of the Isles of Scilly was created by the Local Government Act 1888, meaning they lie outside the classifications of authorities used in the rest of England.

Council	Proportion up for election	Previous control		Result		Details
Isles of Scilly	All		Independent		Independent hold	Details

Mayoral elections

Local Authority	Previous Mayor		Candidate elected		Details
Doncaster		Martin Winter (Independent[6])		Peter Davies (English Democrats)	Details
Hartlepool		Stuart Drummond (Independent)		Stuart Drummond (Independent)	Details
North Tyneside		John Harrison (Labour)		Linda Arkley (Conservative)	Details

A mayoral election was also due to be held in Stoke-on-Trent, however voters in the city voted to abolish the directly elected mayor system in a referendum held in October 2008. The referendum decided to replace the mayor and executive system with a council leader and cabinet system of local government.^[7]

See also

• 2009 City of London Corporation election
• 2009 structural changes to local government in England
• 2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom