Local Elections 2025

Tories collapse, Labour stumbles, and Reform surges in a dramatic local election shake-up.

The traditional two-party system has been shaken up, with the Tories experiencing a dramatic collapse and Labour facing significant losses. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems have made moderate gains, and Reform UK has surged across the country, securing the most councillors in these local elections and gaining a safe Labour seat in a Westminster by-election.

---

Results

Councillors

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/local-elections-2025-results-live-council-mayors-reform-labour-runcorn-b2742894.html

Reform UK dramatically surpassed expectations in these local elections, securing 677 councillors in a stunning breakthrough. The Liberal Democrats also maintained their momentum, adding 163 councillors and extending their run of strong local performances.

In sharp contrast, the two traditional major parties suffered devastating losses. The Conservatives experienced a total collapse, shedding 679 councillors, while Labour fared even worse than in their dismal 2021 showing—losing a further 188 councillors.

Council Control

Source: https://electionmaps.uk/le2025

Councils:

REF: 10 (+10)

LD: 3 (+3)

CON: 0 (-16)

LAB: 0 (-1)

NOC: 10 (+4)

From the areas that have No Overall Control, the Tories are the largest party in two of them, the LibDems are largest in four and Reform also the largest in four.

Complete disaster for the Conservative party, who have lost all 16 councils they had control over, whilst Reform have had an amazing day, winning control over 10 councils. Furthermore, the LibDems continue to make inroads, gaining control of three councils, meanwhile Labour lose the one council they had control over before the elections, Doncaster, to Reform UK.

BBC’s National Vote Share Projection

Source: BBC News

The BBC’s national projected share of the vote is an attempt to estimate how the different parties would perform across the country if the results from local elections were applied on a national scale. Since local elections are held in different areas of the country, this projection extrapolates the results to provide a broader understanding of each party's national standing.

As we can see, taking into account the results from Thursday, Reform UK tops the polls with 30%, Labour behind them at 20%, and the LibDems leapfrog the Conservatives, who have fallen to 4th. If these were the results in a General Election, Reform would win a majority, something which was completely unthinkable a couple of years ago.

The Tories see a record low result since these projections have been made, dropping by a whopping 10pp from last year. The result would be even more catastrophic for Labour, who drop 14pp and lag behind Reform UK, receiving a shambolic result, showcasing the discontent among the general public with the way they have governed in the last 10 months.

---

Mayoral elections

These elections were held using the FPTP electoral system instead of the Alternative Vote system, which was used in the last elections, meaning there was no runoff between the top two candidates. Whoever got the most votes won, no matter if it was a mere 25% or a majority of 50% or more.

West of England - Labour Hold

A five way race, which was seen as anybody’s game, has narrowly been held by Labour, with their candidate Karen Goodwin winning with just25% of the vote and a majority of 5,945 votes.

The Green Party had high hopes of taking the seat but ultimately came in third and Reform UK performed better than expected, finishing in second place with their candidate, Arron Banks—known for being a major donor to UKIP.

Greater Lincolnshire - Reform Gain

Former Conservative cabinet member, Andreya Jenkins, wins the mayoral race, bringing Reform UK their first mayorship.

Lincolnshire is a strongly Conservative and Eurosceptic area, with the race expected to be between the Tories and Reform; however, in the end, it was not even close, and Reform managed to finish 16pp ahead.

Doncaster - Labour Hold

Ros Jones, the current Labour Mayor of Doncaster, has successfully secured a fourth term in office. However, her 19.6pp majority from 2021 has been drastically reduced to a mere 1pp, with Reform UK surging to second place.

Following the announcement of the results, Ros Jones criticised Keir Starmer, stating that he “needs to listen to the men, women, and businesses on the street.” and expressed her opposition to the proposed winter fuel allowance cuts, arguing that this decision had worked against Labour's chances in the local elections.

North Tyneside - Labour Hold

Another Mayorship that Labour has just about managed to cling on to, with Karen Clark winning with 30.2% of the vote.

Labour won this seat in 2021 with 53.4%, but now they have dropped to just 30.2%, with Reform UK once again putting up a strong fight in these traditionally safe Labour areas.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough - CON Gain

The Conservatives have gained this seat from Labour, with Paul Bristow now the new mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

However, while the Tories secured the win this time, the situation is different from the 2021 election. In that race, the Tories led in the first round of voting but ultimately lost to Labour in the runoff. This year, the mayoral election used the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system, rather than the Alternative Vote (AV) system, which makes the victory less significant in comparison. When comparing the Tory result to their performance in the previous first round, their vote share has dropped by 12pp.

Hull and East Yorkshire - Reform Gain

The two-party system has been completely broken in Hull and East Yorkshire, with Reform coming first and the Liberal Democrats coming second. Meanwhile, the share of the vote gathered by both the Tories and Labour is less than 1/3rd of all votes cast.

The new mayor is former Boxer and Olympic Gold medalist Luke Campbell, who won with 36% of the vote and a majority of 10,981.

---

By-Election in Runcorn and Helsby

Reform UK won the seat with a narrow majority of just six votes, marking the closest by-election result in British history. This is a significant victory for Farage’s party, which managed to flip Labour’s 49th safest seat in the country, reducing Labour's 14,000-vote majority that was secured only 10 months ago.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Mike Amesbury, who stepped down after being sentenced to prison for assaulting a constituent.

The newly elected MP for Reform, Sarah Pochin, will increase the party's representation in Westminster to five seats.