2008 United Kingdom local elections

← 2007 1 May 2008 2009 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 23 out of 50 unitary authorities, 78 out of 238 English districts, all 22 Welsh principal councils, and 1 directly elected mayor
First party Second party Third party   Leader David Cameron Gordon Brown Nick Clegg Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 6 December 2005 24 June 2007 18 December 2007 Percentage 44% 24% 25% Swing 4% 3% 1% Councils 65 18 12 Councils +/– 12 9 1 Councillors 3,154 2,368 1,805 Councillors +/– 256 331 34
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The2008United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137EnglishLocal Authorities and allWelshCouncils.^[1]

There were also extraordinary elections held for four of thenew unitary authorities being created, inNorthumberland,County Durham andCheshire (two councils –Cheshire East andCheshire West and Chester).^[2] Scheduled elections forPenwith inCornwall,Shrewsbury and Atcham inShropshire,Bedford andSouth Bedfordshire inBedfordshire and five district councils in Cheshire were cancelled, due to the up-coming unitary authorities being established in those counties.

The Labour Party finished in 3rd place by vote share, trailing the Conservatives by 20%, the largest such margin ever between the two main parties. Aside from the strong showing forDavid Cameron's Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems each made net gains of over 30 seats and the BNP made 10 net gains to finish with over 30 seats.

The strong showing for the Conservatives and the disappointing showing by Labour reflected the change in the political mood of Britain at the time, where the Labour government, now led by prime ministerGordon Brown, had suffered a slump in popularity due to the2008 financial crisis and economic fears which were affecting Britain at the time.

Party		Councillors		Councils
		Number	Change	Number	Change
	Conservative	3,155	257	65	12
	Labour	2,365	334	18	9
	Liberal Democrats	1,804	33	12	1
	Plaid Cymru	205	31	0	1
	Green	47	5	0
	Residents	43	11	0
	BNP	37	10	0
	Liberal	20	2	0
	Health Concern	10		0
	UKIP	8	3	0
	Respect	4	1	0
	Socialist	2		0
	Others	716	4	0
	No overall control	n/a	n/a	64	3

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

In 19 Englishunitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.

Elections were held in three of the currentnon-metropolitan counties ofCheshire,County Durham andNorthumberland for four new unitary authorities which were established in 2009. These councils were "shadow councils" until then.

In 4 English district authorities the whole council was up for election followingward boundary changes.

In 7 English district authorities, half of the council was up for election.

In 67 English district authorities, a third of the council was up for election.

In all 22 Welsh councils the whole of the council was up for election.

• 2008 London mayoral election
• 2008 London Assembly election

• 2008 United Kingdom local elections
• 2008 elections in the United Kingdom
• David Cameron
• Nick Clegg
• Premiership of Gordon Brown
• Impacts of the Iraq War

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