The local elections of 4 May Research Paper 95/ May 1995

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1 The local elections of 4 May 1995 Research Paper 95/59 10 May 1995 This paper provides a brief summary of the local elections which took place in most of England and Wales on 4 May It also summarises the results in the Scottish local elections held in April. In the interest of producing the paper quickly it is based largely on press reports. More detailed information, including the votes cast, will be published later in the year. Rob Clements Social and General Statistics Section House of Commons Library

2 Library Research Papers are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public.

3 CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 Table 1 Councillors elected in the 1995 local elections 2 Table 2 Net gains or losses of seats by each party 3 Table 3 Changes in council control 4 Appendix The Scottish local elections of 6 April 6

4 Introduction On 4 May 1995 elections took place in all of England and Wales except for Greater London; about 34 million people were eligible to vote. Elections took place for: - one third of the council in each of the 36 metropolitan districts; - all of the council in 167 non-metropolitan districts in England; - one third of the council in 107 non-metropolitan districts in England; - all of the council in 14 new unitary authorities in England. One of these, the Isle of Wight, took power in April Seven 1 are 'continuing' authorities, which take over from geographically identical district councils and assume full unitary powers in April The remaining six 2 are shadow authorities which run in parallel with existing district councils until they take power in April the whole council in 22 new shadow unitary authorities in Wales, which also take power in April This paper is intended as a brief and immediate summary of the elections and is based on press reports, supplemented by information from individual councils where possible. The final compilation of the results, including details of votes cast, takes some time. These will be published later this year 3. In the meantime, any requests for further information should be directed to the Social and General Statistics Section (extension 4310). Estimates based on these elections have been made of the projected national (Great Britain) share of the vote for the major parties. This is not the share of the vote in these elections alone but a projection of what the national vote would have been if voting had taken place everywhere. Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher of the University of Plymouth estimate the shares as Labour 47%, Conservative 25% and Liberal Democrat 23%; while John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde puts the figures at Labour 46%, Conservative 25% and Liberal Democrat 24% 4. 1 Bristol, Hartlepool, Kingston-upon-Hull, Middlesbrough, North West Somerset, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees. 2 Bath & North East Somerset, East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, South Gloucestershire and York. In Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher Local Elections Handbook 1995 (Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth). 4 Guardian 6 May 1995 page 9 and Sunday Times 7 May 1995 page 13. 1

5 Table 1 shows the numbers of councillors elected on 5 May. These include some elected as a result of casual vacancies. Table 2 gives details of each party's net gains or losses of seats on 5 May compared with immediately before the elections. Table 3 lists changes in local authority control as a result of the elections. Table 1 Councillors elected in May 1995 local elections Conserv- Liberal Plaid ative Labour Democrat Cymru Other Vacant Total Metropolitan districts Shire districts North ,674 Midlands 546 1, ,040 South 1,075 1,226 1, ,537 Total 1,883 3,761 2,342-1, ,251 Unitary authorities in England Total England 2,028 4,916 2,634-1, ,880 Unitary authorities in Wales ,273 Total elected 2,069 5,647 2, , ,153 North: 49 districts in North, North West and Yorkshire & Humberside regions. Midlands: 89 districts in West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia regions. South: 136 districts in South West and South East regions. 2

6 Table 2 Net gains and losses by each party Conserv- Liberal Plaid ative Labour Democrat Cymru Other Metropolitan districts Shire districts North Midlands South Total -1,662 1, Unitary authorities in England (a) Total England -1,956 1, Unitary authorities in Wales (a) Total -2,018 1, (a) Compared with notional strengths on previous councils on some cases (figures supplied by Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth). North: 49 districts in North, North West and Yorkshire & Humberside regions. Midlands: 89 districts in West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia regions. South: 136 districts in South West and South East regions. 3

7 The councils where control changed as a result of the 1995 local elections are listed below. Estimates can be made of what the notional control of the new unitary authorities would have been before the 1995 elections, based on existing seat patterns. Control in several of these authorities following the elections has changed compared with these notional controls. In England, the Isle of Wight is now Liberal Democrat controlled (compared with a notional no overall control), both the East Riding of Yorkshire and North West Somerset are no overall control (formerly Conservative) and York is Labour (formerly no overall control). In Wales, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire is now controlled by Plaid Cymru (compared with a notional Independent control), Flintshire, Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan are all Labour (formerly no overall control) and Denbighshire is no overall control (formerly Independent). Table 3 Changes in control as a result of the 1995 elections Formerly Conservative, now Labour (17) Bracknell Forest Bromsgrove Broxtowe Castle Point Charnwood Dacorum Dartford East Northamptonshire Fenland Gedling Hove King's Lynn and West Norfolk Lichfield South Ribble St Edmundsbury Thanet Wyre Formerly Conservative, now Liberal Democrat (3) Horsham Mid Sussex Vale of White Horse Formerly Conservative, now no overall control (38) Ashford Blaby Breckland Cherwell Chichester Chiltern Daventry Derbyshire Dales East Devon East Hertfordshire Forest Heath Hambleton Harborough Hinckley and Bosworth Melton Mid Bedfordshire Ribble Valley Rushcliffe Rushmoor Sedgemoor Sevenoaks South Bedfordshire South Bucks South Hams South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire Suffolk Coastal Tandridge Test Valley Tonbridge and Malling Trafford Uttlesford Warwick Wealden Wellingborough Wokingham Wychavon Wycombe 4

8 Formerly no overall control, now Labour (22) Braintree Calderdale Chorley Dover East Staffordshire Exeter Gloucester High Peak Kettering Kirklees Lancaster Northampton Oldham Portsmouth Rochester upon Medway Selby Southampton Stafford Tendring Walsall Wear Valley Wirral Formerly no overall control, now Liberal Democrat (11) Aylesbury Vale Chelmsford East Dorset Gillingham Guildford Pendle Ryedale (a) Salisbury South Norfolk Waverley Windsor and Maidenhead Formerly no overall control, now Independent (1) Rutland Formerly Liberal Democrat, now no overall control (3) Alnwick Mole Valley Shepway Formerly Independent, now Liberal Democrat (3) Mid Devon North Dorset West Devon Formerly Independent, now no overall control (4) Caradon Tewkesbury Torridge West Somerset (a) There have been boundary changes in Ryedale which, had they been in force before the elections, would have led to its being Independent controlled. 5

9 Appendix The Scottish local elections of 6 April 1995 Elections took place on 6 April to 29 unitary authorities in Scotland. These will take over from the existing regional and district councils in April The numbers of seats won by each party and shares of the votes cast are given in the table below. Labour won control of 20 of the new authorities, the Scottish National Party won three, Independents took control of three and there is no overall control in three. Seats won Share of vote (a) Conservative % Labour % Liberal Democrat % Scottish National Party % Other % Total 1, % (a) Provisional. Source: The Scotsman 8 April

10 Recent Research Papers on related subjects have been: Local government 95/39 Local Authority Performance Indicators /3 The Local Government Review in England /69 The Local Elections of 5 May

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