Local elections: Are You Ready for next year?

I know that we have just had elections for local councillors, and in my area Birmingham we are actually still (on saturday) awaiting announcement of the last result. Some of this round of elections were originally going to not be held due to changes that are due to come into force during the next few months, however press pressure and minority party pushing led to them being held.

Hold on didn’t the Government want to stop ALL local elections in 2026?

No, lets get this straight, the Government proposed, in order not to waste Tax payers money, to delay 600 of the council seat elections until 2027. Just over 12%, of the ones that went ahead.

So no, the Government didn’t want to stop ALL local elections, they wished to delay a small subset in order to not waste money. I’m not going to regurgitate what has been written elsewhere – and if you want more information check out – https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-elections-2026#:~:text=Voters%20across%20England%20will%20elect,councillors%20elected%20by%20over%20600.

Some of these councillors have been only elected for 1 or 2 years due to the resetting of boundaries and whether they were the most popular candidate of a lesser popular one.

Party	Total 2026 Winners	4-Year Terms (1st Place)	2-Year Terms (2nd Place)	1-Year Terms (3rd Place)
Labour	~2,250	950	700	600
Reform UK	~1,290	480	410	400
Lib Dem	~480	220	140	120
Green	~330	160	90	80
Conservative	~250	110	80	60

I get a bit confused because some reports say 5,000+ to be elected others say 4,800, which is right?

Ok we have a typical Apples and Oranges situation here. The 5,000 figure refers to councillors to be elected in the UK and the 4,800 figure refers to England only, ok so maybe not actually Apples and Oranges, possibly Apples verses English Apples.

Ok so what was actually achieved?

So we have just elected 5,066 councillors for 136 English local Authorities.

That may sound like a lot but – it does have to be pointed out is a little less than 1/3rd of all Councillors in the UK, there are a total of 18,645 councillors in the UK as of May 1st 2026 (According to Open Council Data UK.)

However next year roughly 10,550 of the council seats will be up for election, including some who won their seats in 2026. So if you thought this year was noisy – expect more noise next year.

Below is a rough estimate of how long, by party, councillors have left to serve.

Party	1 Year Left (Due 2027)	2 Years Left (Due 2028)	3 Years Left (Due 2029)	4+ Years Left (Due 2030+)	Total Mix
Labour	3,210	1,150	490	250	5,100
Conservative	2,540	780	330	250	3,900
Lib Dem	1,980	680	340	350	3,350
Reform UK	450	410	850	490	2,200
Green	330	270	380	270	1,250
Ind / Other	1,650	450	350	250	2,700
TOTAL	~10,160	~3,740	~2,740	~1,860	18,500

This number maybe slightly lower as there is a process of local Government Reorganisations going on which removes the previous double layer and replaces it with a single layer, this therefore ends up with less overall elections and a smaller number of representatives. These are being done to simplify responsibility, increase purchasing power and thereby improve local services – Apparently, lets see.

Ok, Ok so that explains why there are different narratives of the results.

Yep, so at the end of the current run, the Labour party lost roughly 60% of all seats they held, that were voted for. However as only a third of seats were up for election that didn’t stop them being the largest party in local councils. This is why we are also seeing people share graphics that show that although Reform won 1400 seats, this is less than 10% of all seats and they are still a minority party.

This table shows the rough split of councillors over the last few years by party, it is rough as there are always deaths, defections, resignations etc.

Year	Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	Reform / UKIP	Green	Ind / Other
2016	~7,100	~9,200	~1,800	~490 (UKIP)	~170	~2,100
2018	~6,500	~9,000	~1,900	~80	~180	~2,200
2021	~5,700	~7,300	~2,500	<10	~450	~2,600
2024	~5,800	~4,200	~3,100	<10	~800	~2,200
2025	6,124	4,403	3,197	804	895	2,546
2026 (Actual)	5,003	3,915	3,302	2,061	1,182	2,737

Also we have to be careful here as some people have been reporting on Council Wards rather than Council sears and only allocating a Ward to a party if they hold all relevant seats in that wards, so in councils which elect by thirds or halves, even if all councillors elected in May 2026 were reform the ward may not be a fully reform ward.

This is another classic where when someone shares a graphic with you, check exactly what they are counting and how they are counting.

The image below shows the split of wards – and the rise of the “Split ward”

You can now see how, although Reform has 11.3% of councillors they only have 6% of wards.

This is the route of the classic saying “There are lies, Damn Lies, and statistics”, true statistics are always accompanied by an explanation of the method and assumptions used to generate them, if this information is not easily found – dont trust them.

One of my lecturers pointed out, because of the accompanying documentation that should accompany published statistics, it is perfectly accurate and legal to present a set of statistics that you have totally made up, so long as in the accompanying documentation you say that you have made them up.

This was in fact a test that was presented to us students, it is interesting how many fail to read the accompanying methodology and assumptions documentation.

Well that’s all interesting but.. what about local elections?

Oops – yep back on topic.

Firstly let’s look at stayability – i.e. on average how many elected councillors defect, resign, get kicked out their party etc.

The table below was produced early May 2026 – it shows that a greater percentage of Reform councillors see a change in their status. Now being fair, this is actually 78 individuals, of whom 19 were kicked out of the party (and potentially became independents), 24 defected to other parties, 33 resigned their seat, 1 was suspended and 1 was disqualified. That still means the majority, 44 were still councillors just not reform councillors, this still means roughly double the share of reform councillors resign the job in the first year compared to Labour and Lib dems.

Party	Total Councillors (Approx.)	Total Departures (Est. Annual)	% Turnover
Reform UK	677	78	11.5%
Labour	5,800	~180	3.1%
Conservative	4,900	~295	6.0%
Lib Dems	3,100	~75	2.4%
Green	850	~22	2.6%

So if you have been surprised by the results this year, you may wish to see how the elected councillors actually behave over the next year. It will be interesting to see which parties lose elected councillors, remember that unless the resign their seat, even if they leave the party they stood for the councillors keep their seat.

Local councillors need to work together to improve an area, and have a limited remit – see my previous post Local Elections: Remember what you are voting for. for details of what they are responsible for.

Councillors who insist on discussing topics they cannot influence are just wasting precious time and will not improve their ward.

Whilst those who manage to work with others of all parties to meet the needs of their electorate, both those who voted for them and those who didn’t, are actually good councillors and doing what the job entails.

So if you are concerned, make sure to share with friends and family where your elected councillor does good and where they get distracted, this will help ensure that good councillors are elected in 2027.

If you feel that the elected representative, is not doing their job your options for holding them accountable are structured around the following routes:

1. File a Formal Complaint (Code of Conduct)

All councillors must follow a Code of Conduct based on the “Nolan Principles” (e.g., integrity, accountability, and leadership).

• How to do it: Submit a formal complaint to the council’s Monitoring Officer. They are the legal official responsible for ensuring councillors follow the rules.
• What happens: The officer will assess if the councillor breached the Code. If they did, they may be formally censured, removed from specific committees, or asked to apologize.
• Limitations: Councils cannot legally suspend or disqualify a councillor for code of conduct breaches.

2. Escalation to the Ombudsman

If you have completed the council’s internal complaints process and are unsatisfied with how it was handled, you can escalate the matter to an independent body:

• In England: Contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
• In Scotland: Contact the Ethical Standards Commissioner.
• In Wales: Contact the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

3. Contact the Political Party

If the councillor belongs to a political party, they are subject to that party’s own internal rules.

• Action: You can complain to the local or national party branch.
• Impact: Parties have the power to “withdraw the whip” (expel them from the party group), meaning the councillor would sit as an independent and lose party support at the next election.

4. Direct Accountability via Local Meetings

You have the right to attend public council meetings and, in many authorities, a right to:

• Public Question Time: Ask a question directly to the council leadership or your specific councillor.
• Petitions: Submit a local petition to the council to force a debate on a specific local issue the councillor is ignoring.

Summary of Voter Rights

Action	Outcome	Power to Remove?
Internal Complaint	Formal finding of breach, censure, or committee removal.	No.
Ombudsman Review	Review of whether the council followed its own rules.	No.
Party Complaint	Suspension from the political party.	No.
The Next Election	The definitive right to vote for a different representative.	Yes.

In extreme cases, a councillor can only be disqualified automatically if they fail to attend any meetings for six consecutive months without an approved excuse, or if they receive a prison sentence of three months or more.

Alas unlike MP’s where the TheyWorkForYou platform makes it easy for a voter to see exactly what their MP is doing, and if you have not signed up for notifications on your MP, I really recommend you do. There is no similar platform for local councillors.

However you can use the following methods:

Direct Monitoring Tools

• Local-Democracy.uk: A volunteer-led project specifically designed to track councillor performance, including meeting attendance records and how long they have been in office.
• WriteToThem: While primarily for contacting them, it is the best way to see a definitive list of your current local representatives by postcode.
• Open Council Data UK: Useful for looking up the political composition of your council and councillor contact details

Using Your Council’s Website

Your local council is legally required to publish specific data that acts as a paper trail for councillor activity:

• Attendance Records: Most councils publish a yearly table showing which meetings a councillor attended versus how many they were expected to attend.
• Register of Interests: You can see a councillor’s “Register of Members’ Interests,” which lists their other jobs, land ownership, and any gifts or hospitality they have received.

Summary of Where to Look

What you want to see	Best Source
Attendance	Local-Democracy.uk or your council’s “Attendance” page.
Voting/Speeches	Council Meeting Minutes or webcasts (found on your council’s “Meetings” calendar).
Conflicts of Interest	The Register of Interests on the councillor’s profile page on the council website.
Local Impact	FixMyStreet can show you what issues are being reported in your ward, which you can then ask your councillor about.

If you cannot find a specific voting record, you have a right to Public Question Time at full council meetings, where you can ask them directly to justify their stance on a local issue.

So is the England getting more Left or right wing?

Ok using the very simple definitions – i.e. Labour and Greens are left wing, Conservatives, Reform and UKIP are right wing, how is the overall split looking and changing. I have put the Lib Dems and all others into a “centralist” category, just for ease. Oh and to be clear we are using Councillors not wards for this analysis.

So overall the UK locally is still more “left wing” than right wing(just), and actually over time the biggest continual growth has been by the independents and Centralists.

This maybe the true narrative behind why the populous feels disconnected from politics and politicians, because we are not a country of extremes we are a country of even split. This means that in any election, the majority end up being run by a group voted in by the minority, and before I go off on my hobby horse, you know the best solution for this.

Right so thats the end of my 2026 local elections analysis, lets see what happens in 2027 when twice as many councillors are up for election, and lets see how the current elected representatives perform.

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