2003 United Kingdom local elections

← 2002 1 May 2003 2004 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 40 out of 46 unitary authorities, 232 out of 238 English districts and all 32 Scottish council areas
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Iain Duncan Smith Tony Blair Charles Kennedy Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 13 September 2001 21 July 1994 9 August 1999 Percentage 35%[a] 30% 30%[1] Swing 1% 3% 3% Councils 110 66 28 Councils +/- 31 28 5 Councillors 4,423 3,001 2,624 Councillors +/- 566 833 193
Colours denote council control following elections, as shown in the main table of results.

The 2003 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 1 May 2003, the same day as the Scottish Parliamentary and the Welsh Assembly elections. There were local elections for all councils in Scotland and in most of England. There were no local elections in Wales, Northern Ireland or London.

The ruling Labour Party lost a considerable 833 seats, while both the main opposition parties, Conservative and Liberal Democrat, polled strongly, with the Conservatives enjoying the largest share of the vote. Labour had now been in government for six years and still had a triple-digit majority, and over the summer of 2003 some opinion polls showed the Tories level with Labour. However, these were to be the last of the two local council elections contested by the Tories under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, who was ousted as leader later in the year and succeeded by Michael Howard due to his unpopularity as leader and doubts about his ability to win a general election.

Fifty-nine councils held electoral pilot schemes to try to boost turnout figures. Schemes included all postal voting, mobile polling stations, alterations to voting hours and various kinds of electronic voting. The most successful in raising turnout was all-postal voting which saw turnout rise to an average of 50%. In comparison, turnout across the whole of England was only 33%.

Summary of results

The Labour party lost a considerable 833 seats, losing control of councils such as Birmingham and Coventry, both of which the party had controlled for 20 years.

The Conservative party, who following the elections had the most councillors in the country (ahead of Labour by 601), extended its lead over the Labour party by 1,399 councillors. However, their celebrations were tempered by the resignation of Conservative front bencher Crispin Blunt, who described the party leader, Iain Duncan Smith as a "handicap" and called for him to be replaced.^[2]

England

Metropolitan boroughs

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

Unitary authorities

Whole council

In 27 English Unitary authorities the whole council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

In 13 English Unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.

District councils

Whole council

In 150 English district authorities the whole council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

In 82 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.

Scotland

All 32 Scottish unitary authorities held elections. They were held at the same time as the 2003 Scottish Parliament election.