On 1 May, the United Kingdom held local elections to elect 1,641 council seats across 24 local authorities, including 14 county councils and eight unitary authorities.
Winning 370 councillor seats in these set of elections, a net gain of 163, the Liberal Democrats became the second most voted party in England ahead of both the Labour and Conservative parties for the first time.
This represents a seventh consecutive set of gains in local elections for the Lib Dems, who continue to demonstrate benefits of ‘local champions’ and campaigning, and now have 3,179 seats in 40 councils across the UK.
Lib Dems took majority control of Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Shropshire County Councils for the first time ever.
They are also the largest party on Devon, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire County Councils, and could run the local authorities either through a coalition or minority leadership.
Crucially, the party now controls more councils than the Conservatives for the first time ever and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the party is on track to overtake them in the next UK general election as traditional Conservative voters turn to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party.
“These have been fantastic and historic results for the Liberal Democrats: across England, we’re now the largest party and have taken off so many seats from the Conservatives. I’m so proud of what we have achieved in these elections: we are now the party of middle England. For those people in our country, whatever your political persuasion, if you’re worried about the rise of divisive politicians like Donald Trump or Nigel Farage, it will be the Liberal Democrats standing up for true British values,” said Davey.
Photo: Lib Dems