The local elections of 1 May 1997

Transcription

1 The local elections of 1 May 1997 Research Paper 97/82 27 June 1997 The local elections that took place in many parts of England on 1 May were overshadowed by the general election and the results of them were poorly reported in the national press. This paper the thirteenth in an annual series provides a brief summary of the results of the May 1997 local elections. Elections took place for 34 county councils, for the whole of 19 shadow unitary councils, for a third of two existing unitary councils and for the whole of one district council. There were no elections in London, metropolitan districts, Wales or Scotland. Rob Clements, Susan Kielty Social & 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 5 Table 1: Councillors elected in 1997 local elections 6 Table 2: Net gains and losses of seats by authority 8 Table 3: Transfers of seats between the parties 10 Council control 11 Table 4: Councillors in Great Britain since Table 5: Council control in Great Britain since

4 Introduction On 1 May 1997 there were elections for more than 3,000 seats on 56 councils in England. Elections took place for - all of the council in each of 34 county councils. These included the new shadow Worcestershire County Council, which covers the areas of the districts of Bromsgrove, Redditch, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest and the new district of Malvern Hills. There were no elections to either Berkshire or Hereford and Worcester County Councils, which will be abolished on 1 April all of the council in 19 new unitary authorities. These will assume full powers on 1 April They include two new shadow authorities Herefordshire (which incorporates the whole of the existing city of Hereford and district of South Herefordshire and parts of the existing districts of Leominster and Malvern Hills) and Medway Towns (which combines Gillingham and Rochester). - one third of the council in two existing unitary authorities. - the whole of one district council Malvern Hills which incorporates parts of the existing districts of Leominster and Malvern Hills. This paper is intended as a brief summary of the elections. It includes details of the numbers of seats won by each party in each council together with their net gains or losses of council seats 1, and also a unique analysis by broad region of gross transfers of seats between the parties. This shows, for example, that Labour s net gain of one seat nationally is, in fact, the result of 91 seats gained and 90 lost. The paper also summarises the effects of the elections on the political control of the councils concerned and, finally, gives some estimates of the numbers of councillors from each party, and councils controlled by each party, in Great Britain as a whole at various dates since The final compilation of the results will take some time and full details, including votes cast, will be available in the autumn 2. 1 Gains and losses are as compared with the previous election in the appropriate ward or division. 2 In Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher Local elections handbook 1997 (Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth) 5

5 Table 1 Councillors elected in 1997 local elections Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Liberal Other Total English county councils (all out elections) Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Wiltshire Worcestershire All county councils ,203 6

6 Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Liberal Other Total Unitary councils (all out elections for shadow councils) Blackburn Blackpool Bracknell Forest Halton Herefordshire Medway Towns Newbury Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Reading Slough Southend-on-Sea The Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington Windsor & Maidenhead Wokingham All shadow unitaries ,004 Unitary councils (third of council) Bristol Kingston upon Hull District council (whole council) Malvern Hills All councils with elections 1,121 1, ,292 7

7 Table 2 Net gains and losses of seats Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Other English county councils (all out elections) Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Wiltshire Worcestershire All county councils

8 Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Other Unitary councils (all out elections for shadow councils) Blackburn Blackpool Bracknell Forest Halton Herefordshire Medway Towns Newbury Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Reading Slough (a) Southend-on-Sea The Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington Windsor & Maidenhead Wokingham All shadow unitaries (b) Unitary councils (third of council) Bristol Kingston upon Hull District council (whole council) Malvern Hills All councils with elections (a) Excludes one ward which has an additional councillor compared with previous elections. (b) Excluding councils with boundary changes. 9

9 Table 3 Gains and losses of seats by party (i) North (Six county councils and two unitary councils in North, North West and Yorkshire & Humberside regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Note: excludes three unitary councils with boundary changes. (ii) Midlands (Twelve county councils and one unitary council in West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Note: excludes three unitary councils and one district council with boundary changes. (iii) South (Sixteen county councils and nine unitary councils in South East and South West regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Note: excludes three unitary councils with boundary changes. 10

10 (iv) All authorities with elections (excluding those with boundary changes) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Note: excludes nine unitary councils and one district council with boundary changes. The 1997 local elections resulted in changes of political control in a number of councils, but these are complicated by the establishment of unitary councils in April 1997 and There was no change to the control of a number of councils, as follows. Of the county councils, Buckinghamshire remained Conservative; Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire remained Labour; Somerset remained Liberal Democrat; and Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Suffolk and Warwickshire remained with no overall control. The new county of Worcestershire has no overall control following the elections. Of the unitary authorities which will assume full powers in April 1998, Blackburn, Blackpool, Halton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Reading, Slough, The Wrekin, Thurrock and Warrington remained Labourcontrolled; Newbury and Torbay remained in the hands of the Liberal Democrats; and Southend continued to have no overall control. Labour continued to hold Bristol and Hull, and of the three new authorities, the Liberal Democrats now control Herefordshire while Medway Towns and Malvern Hills (district) have no overall control. The position elsewhere is a little more complicated. Bedfordshire is now Conservative whereas last year it had no overall control. The establishment of Luton as a unitary authority (UA) in April 1997 put the county into Conservative hands before this year's elections. Cambridgeshire, which formerly had no overall control, became Conservative. The establishment of Peterborough as a unitary council from April 1998 will have no effect on control of the county council. Cheshire, which had no overall control last year, is now Labour, but will revert to no overall control in April 1998 when Halton and Warrington UAs take over functions from the county council. Cornwall has become no overall control, from Liberal Democrat. 11

11 Cumbria has become Labour, from no overall control. Devon remains no overall control but will become Liberal Democrat in April 1998 when Plymouth and Torbay UAs take over. East Sussex, which became nominally Liberal Democrat controlled in April 1997 when the new Brighton and Hove UA took over, has reverted to no overall control. Essex remains no overall control but will become Conservative in April 1998 when Thurrock and Southend UAs take over. Hampshire, which nominally moved from no overall control to Liberal Democrat in April 1997 when the new Portsmouth and Southampton UAs took over, is now Conservative. Kent has become Conservative, from no overall control. The situation in Kent is unusual in that one Conservative councillor holds two seats on the council. One of these will disappear when the new Medway Towns UA takes over in April The result is that the Conservatives have 49 votes as do other parties combined, but the council and its committees are now chaired by Conservatives so the party has effective control. Lincolnshire has become Conservative, from no overall control. Surrey has become Conservative, from no overall control. West Sussex has become Conservative, from no overall control. Wiltshire, which became nominally Liberal Democrat controlled in April 1997 when the new Thamesdown UA took over, has reverted to no overall control. Bracknell Forest, which was a Labour district council, is now Conservative. Peterborough, which was a Labour district, now has no overall control. Windsor and Maidenhead, which was a Liberal Democrat district, is now no overall control. Wokingham, which was a Liberal Democrat district, is now Conservative. 12

12 Table 4 Councillors in Great Britain since 1979 Con Lab LDem (b) PC/SNP Other (c) Total Numbers of councillors (a) ,140 7,350 1, ,620 25, ,220 8,680 2, ,280 25, ,340 8,780 2, ,710 25, ,030 8,710 3, ,570 24, ,160 8,570 3, ,360 24, ,150 8,630 3, ,290 24, ,940 8,980 3, ,300 24, ,070 9,460 3, ,030 24, ,340 9,030 3, ,140 24, ,830 9,110 4, ,150 24, ,300 9,230 4, ,000 24, (d) 5,490 12,440 5, ,330 27, (d) 4,300 10,980 5, ,220 22, (d) 4,550 10,840 4, ,230 22,880 Percentages of total % 29% 4% 1% 18% 100% % 34% 8% 1% 17% 100% % 35% 9% 1% 15% 100% % 35% 13% 1% 15% 100% % 35% 13% 1% 14% 100% % 35% 13% 1% 13% 100% % 37% 12% 1% 13% 100% % 39% 15% 1% 12% 100% % 37% 15% 1% 13% 100% % 37% 17% 1% 13% 100% % 38% 19% 2% 12% 100% 1995 (d) 20% 46% 20% 2% 12% 100% 1996 (d) 19% 48% 22% 1% 10% 100% 1997 (d) 20% 47% 22% 1% 10% 100% (a) Following May elections. All figures approximate. (b) Includes Liberal and SDP/Alliance where appropriate. (c) Includes vacancies. (d) Figures include councillors for both shadow authorities and existing councils when they retain separate identities. For example, 1995 totals include Welsh districts and counties and shadow unitary councils. In the case of continuing authorities, only the new council is included. 13

13 Table 5 Council control in Great Britain since 1979 No Ind/ overall Con Lab LDem (a) PC/SNP other control Total Early Mid Mid Mid Spring Mid 1997 (b) (a) (b) Includes Liberal and SDP/Alliance where appropriate. Figures include both shadow authorities and existing councils when they retain separate identities. They therefore include both Rochester and Gillingham, and Medway Towns which replaces them; Hereford & Worcester and the new county of Worcestershire; the new and old Malvern Hills districts; and both the new Herefordshire UA and the districts it will replace. 14

14 Recent papers on related subjects have been: 97/72 The Railway Passenger Companies /73 Economic Indicators /74 The Local Government Finance (Supplementary Credit Approvals) Bill [Bill 2 of 1997/98] 97/75 The IGC - The Draft Amsterdam Treaty /76 Inflation: the Value of the Pound /77 Prohibiting Handguns: the Firearms (Amendment) Bill [Bill 3 of ] 97/78 Public Expenditure in Scotland & Wales /79 Unemployment by Constituency - May /80 The PFI and the Local Government (Contracts) Bill, Bill /81 The USA Food & Drug Administration