Local Elections 2022: Results and analysis

Elections were held in 200 councils across Great Britain on 5 May 2022. England held elections in 146 councils, while all 32 councils in Scotland and 22 Welsh councils were up for election.

Across England, Wales and Scotland, elections were held for 6,863 seats. After the elections there were 15 seats across Great Britain left vacant for various reasons. There were also elections for six mayors and the second election of a metro-mayor in South Yorkshire. Bristol held a referendum on whether to change the current system of a directly elected mayor to a committee system.

Local election results in England

The changes in council control in England can be seen in the diagram below.

The results of the 146 elections in England were:

• Labour won or retained control of 65 of the councils with elections, including 21 of the 32 London Boroughs. This is eight fewer than it controlled when these seats were last up for election in 2018. Labour gained control of six councils as well as the newly created Cumberland council; it lost control of 15 councils compared with 2018.

• The Conservatives won or retained control of 35 councils in England, including winning the new North Yorkshire county council. This is seven fewer than in 2018. The Conservatives won their lowest proportion of seats up for election in the last 10 years (26%).

• The Liberal Democrats won or retained control of 16 councils, eight more than in 2018, including two new councils, Somerset and Westmorland and Furness. The party won 16% of seats up for election, four percentage points up on 2018.

• There were 28 councils with no overall control, nine more than the last time these seats were up for election in 2018.

• Aspire became the first party other than Labour, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats to control a council in London, taking Tower Hamlets from Labour. The Green Party, while not controlling any councils, won 116 seats, compared to 39 in 2018, equivalent to 3% of seats up for election in 2022.

Results in Scotland

Of the 32 councils which held elections in Scotland, 27 had no overall control, two fewer than at the last elections in 2017.

Labour, Liberal Democrats and the SNP each had their share of council seats increase by two percentage points.  

The SNP maintained its position with more seats than any other single party, winning 37% of seats. The Conservatives lost seats, winning 63 fewer than in 2017 and remained without control of any council in Scotland.

Both Labour (West Dunbartonshire) and SNP (Dumfries and Galloway) now control one council each. Most councils in Scotland have “no overall control”, 27 of 32, two fewer than in 2017.

Results in Wales

There are 22 councils in Wales. Eight are controlled by Labour, an increase of one from 2017, four by Plaid Cymru, a net gain of three, and nine have no overall control. Independent councillors make up the majority in Pembrokeshire.

The Conservatives lost control of their only council in Wales, Monmouthshire, to no overall control. Labour won the highest proportion of seats at 43%, while the Conservatives won 9% of seats, six points down on 2017.

Plaid Cymru maintained its share of 16% of seats in Wales. The party’s control of three additional councils was the highest for a party in Wales since Labour’s gain of eight in 2012.