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2002 United Kingdom local elections

← 2001 2 May 2002 2003 →
All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 18 unitary authorities, 88 English districts and 7 directly elected mayors
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Tony Blair Iain Duncan Smith Charles Kennedy Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 13 September 2001 9 August 1999 Percentage 33%[a] 34% 27% Swing 2% 6% 2% Councils 64 42 15 Councils +/- 7 9 2 Councillors 2,416 2,007 1,250 Councillors +/- 334 238 37
Colours denote council control following elections, as shown in the main table of results.

The2002 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 2002. AllLondon borough council seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of theMetropolitan Boroughs. Manyunitary Authorities andDistrict councils also had elections. There were no local elections inScotland,Wales orNorthern Ireland. This was the last time thatLabour was the majority in local government until2023.

Simon Parker ofThe Guardian described the elections as "a round of embarrassing [sic] defeats for Labour in a set of council elections that also saw opposition parties making minor inroads into the party's dominant position in local government. [...] But the night really belonged to independents and the smaller parties, who made some high-profile gains as the voters expressed their dissatisfaction with mainstream politics."^[1]

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

‡ New ward boundaries

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

In six English Unitary authorities, the whole council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

In 12 English Unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.

In 46 English district authorities, the whole council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

In 42 English district authorities, one third of the council was up for election.

There were seven elections fordirectly elected mayors.

• Vote 2002 BBC News
• Local elections in England: 2 May 2002. House of Commons Library Research Paper 02/33.
• Full 2002 ward results
• The Guardian local election coverage

• 2002 United Kingdom local elections
• 2002 elections in the United Kingdom
• Premiership of Tony Blair

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