2008 United Kingdom local elections

← 2007 1 May 2008 2009 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 23 out of 50 unitary authorities, 78 out of 238 English districts, all 22 Welsh principal councils, and 1 directly elected mayor
First party Second party Third party   Leader David Cameron Gordon Brown Nick Clegg Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 6 December 2005 24 June 2007 18 December 2007 Percentage 44% 24% 25% Swing 4% 3% 1% Councils 65 18 12 Councils +/– 12 9 1 Councillors 3,154 2,368 1,805 Councillors +/– 256 331 34
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils.^[1]

There were also extraordinary elections held for four of the new unitary authorities being created, in Northumberland, County Durham and Cheshire (two councils – Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester).^[2] Scheduled elections for Penwith in Cornwall, Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, Bedford and South Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire and five district councils in Cheshire were cancelled, due to the up-coming unitary authorities being established in those counties.

The Labour Party finished in 3rd place by vote share, trailing the Conservatives by 20%, the largest such margin ever between the two main parties. Aside from the strong showing for David Cameron's Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems each made net gains of over 30 seats and the BNP made 10 net gains to finish with over 30 seats.

The strong showing for the Conservatives and the disappointing showing by Labour reflected the change in the political mood of Britain at the time, where the Labour government, now led by prime minister Gordon Brown, had suffered a slump in popularity due to the financial crisis and economic fears which were affecting Britain at the time.

Summary of results

Party		Councillors		Councils
		Number	Change	Number	Change
	Conservative	3,155	257	65	12
	Labour	2,365	334	18	9
	Liberal Democrats	1,804	33	12	1
	Plaid Cymru	205	31	0	1
	Green	47	5	0
	Residents	43	11	0
	BNP	37	10	0
	Liberal	20	2	0
	Health Concern	10		0
	UKIP	8	3	0
	Respect	4	1	0
	Socialist Alternative	2		0
	Others	716	4	0
	No overall control	n/a	n/a	64	3

England

Metropolitan boroughs

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

Unitary authorities

Existing councils

In 19 English unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.

New councils

Elections were held in three of the current non-metropolitan counties of Cheshire, County Durham and Northumberland for four new unitary authorities which were established in 2009. These councils were "shadow councils" until then.

District councils

Whole council

In 4 English district authorities the whole council was up for election following ward boundary changes.

Half of council

In 7 English district authorities, half of the council was up for election.

Third of council

In 67 English district authorities, a third of the council was up for election.

Mayoral elections

Wales

In all 22 Welsh councils the whole of the council was up for election.