About the elections
On 4 May, 230 English councils held elections with more than 8,000 seats being contested. Some were for metropolitan boroughs such as Liverpool city council and others for unitary authorities such as Herefordshire or North Somerset. Both structures are single-tier authorities with responsibility for the whole range of council services, including education, social care, rubbish collection and parks.
There were also elections for 152 district councils, lower-tier authorities whose responsibilities are more limited, but include planning, housing and recycling. District councils typically elect a third of their seats each year on a four-yearly cycle, and elect the upper tier council (usually the county council) in the fourth year.
These results come from the PA Media newswire. PA release results for each council when its count is complete, but it is possible that a council’s overall result can be known before the final seat is awarded. In addition, PA tracks changes in council seats from just before the election, including any byelections or defections that may have happened. Some results by other media track changes against the last time the seats were up for election, which in this case is usually 2019.
There are also frequent changes in ward boundaries, sometimes accompanied by changes in the number of councillors overall, so it is possible in some cases for all parties to lose seats at the same time.
