1998 United Kingdom local elections

← 1997 7 May 1998 1999 →
All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 10 out of 46 unitary authorities and 88 out of 238 English districts
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Tony Blair William Hague Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 19 June 1997 16 July 1988 Percentage 38% 32% 25% Councils 94 8 14 Councils +/- 2 1 7 Councillors 2,240 1,085 853 Councillors +/- 88 256 114
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the table of results.

The1998 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 1998.^[1][2] AllLondon borough council seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of theMetropolitan Boroughs. Someunitary authorities andDistrict councils also had elections. There were no local elections inScotland,Wales orNorthern Ireland.

These elections took place on the same day as thereferendum on establishing theGreater London Authority.

The governing Labour Party, contesting its first national elections since returning to government 12 months previously, enjoyed great success, now having control of 94 councils, with the second placed Liberal Democrats now controlling 14 and the opposition Conservatives (now led byWilliam Hague) a mere eight.

A by-election for theEuropean Parliament was also held in theYorkshire South constituency; Labour retained the seat.

Party		Councils				Councillors
		Gain	Loss	Change	Total	Gain	Loss	Change	Total
	Labour			+2	94			-88	2,240
	Liberal Democrats			-7	14			-114	853
	Conservative			+1	8			+256	1,085
	Other	0	0	0	0			-57	146
	No overall control			+4	50	—	—	—	—

In all 32London boroughs the whole council was up for election.

All 36 EnglishMetropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

The whole of the Isle of Wight council was up for election.

In 9 English Unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.

In 88 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

• Vote 1998 BBC News
• The local elections of 7 May 1998 and the London referendum. House of Commons Library Research Paper 98/59.
• "Local Elections results",The Times 9 May 1998 page 46

• 1998 United Kingdom local elections
• 1998 elections in the United Kingdom
• Premiership of Tony Blair

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