2023 United Kingdom local elections

2023 United Kingdom local elections

4 May 2023 (England)
18 May 2023 (Northern Ireland)

230 of 369 councils in Great Britain
4 directly elected mayors
All 11 councils in Northern Ireland
Turnout32.0% (England)
54.7% (Northern Ireland)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Keir Starmer Rishi Sunak
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since 4 April 2020 24 October 2022
Seats before 5,982 seats
86 councils
6,823 seats
118 councils
Projected vote share 35%
26%
4%
Seats won (2023) 2,675
71 councils
2,296
33 councils
Councillors (after) 6,507
108 councils
5,702
70 councils
Net change (notional) 537
22 councils
1,063
48 councils

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Ed Davey Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay
Party Liberal Democrats Green
Leader since 27 August 2020 1 October 2021
Seats before 2,605 seats
25 councils
556 seats
0 councils
Projected vote share 20%
1%
12%
1%
Seats won (2023) 1,628
37 councils
481
1 council
Councillors (after) 789
1 council
Net change (notional) 407
12 councils
241
1 council

Map showing party control of councils following the elections.
  •   No election
  • otherwise see analysis table

The 2023 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday, 4 May 2023 in England and on Thursday 18 May 2023 in Northern Ireland. These included district councils, unitary authorities, and directly elected mayors in England, and included all local councils in Northern Ireland. Notably, these elections were the first to be held under the Elections Act 2022, a new voter identification law that required voters to show photo ID when attending a polling station, and was a cause for controversy.

The elections in England saw significant losses for the governing Conservative Party, which lost over 1,000 council seats. The Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales all made gains, with Labour becoming the party with most members elected to local government for the first time since 2002. The Greens won majority control of Mid Suffolk District Council, the party's first ever council majority.

In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party in local government for the first time. These elections were also the first since the creation of Northern Ireland in which nationalist candidates received more votes than unionists.