2007 United Kingdom local elections

2007 United Kingdom local elections
← 2006 3 May 2007 2008 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 45 out of 46 unitary authorities,
231 out of 238 English districts, all 32 Scottish council areas, and 3 directly elected mayors
  First party Second party
  David Cameron Tony Blair
Leader David Cameron Tony Blair
Party Conservative Labour
Leader since 6 December 2005 21 July 1994
Percentage 40% 27%
Swing Increase1% Increase1%
Councils 165 36
Councils +/- Increase39 Decrease18
Councillors 5,458 2,225
Councillors +/- Increase932 Decrease665
  Third party Fourth party
  Menzies Campbell Alex Salmond
Leader Menzies Campbell Alex Salmond
Party Liberal Democrats SNP
Leader since 2 March 2006 3 September 2004
Percentage 26% —
Swing Increase1% —
Councils 23 0
Councils +/- Decrease4 Decrease1
Councillors 2,337 363
Councillors +/- Decrease255 Increase182
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Entrance to a polling station in the market town of Haverhill, Suffolk on 3 May 2007. The posters on the left are lists of the candidates in wards contested (St Edmundsbury BC and Haverhill TC) and information about rules and laws about voting.
A polling station in a temporary cabin in position in the South of Coventry for the UK council elections on 3 May 2007.

The 2007 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern Ireland. Just over half of English councils and almost all the Scottish councils began the counts on Friday, rather than Thursday night, because of more complex arrangements regarding postal votes.

These elections were a landmark in the United Kingdom as it was the first time that 18- to 20-year-olds could stand as candidates for council seats. The change was due to an alteration of the Electoral Administration Act. At least fourteen 18- to 20-year-olds are known to have stood as candidates for council seats[1] and as a result William Lloyd became the youngest person to be elected to official office in Britain. There were also a number of councils which used new voting methods such as internet and telephone voting in addition to the traditional methods of polling stations and postal votes.

These were the final elections to be overseen by Labour leader and prime minister Tony Blair, who resigned the following month after a decade as prime minister to be succeeded by chancellor Gordon Brown. His party only finished in second place with a narrow lead over the third-placed Liberal Democrats, whose leader Menzies Campbell would also resign later in the year, while it was a strong showing for the Conservatives under David Cameron.

  1. ^ "Teenagers to run as councillors". BBC News. 4 April 2007.