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All 27 county councils, 7 out of 55 unitary authorities, 1 sui generis authority, and 3 directly elected mayors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. |
The 2009 United Kingdom local elections were elections held to all 27 County Councils, three existing Unitary Authorities and five new Unitary Authorities, all in England, on 4 June 2009.[2][3] The elections were due to be held on 7 May 2009, but were delayed in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament.[4][5]
The elections resulted in significant gains for the Conservatives. The party won Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire from Labour, as well as Devon and Somerset from the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats did however win a majority in Bristol. Despite the optimism for the Conservatives in seat and council gains, their share of the vote at 38% was 6% down on 2008. That said, they had a clear 10% lead over the Liberal Democrats who achieved a respectable second place on 28%.
Labour, taking the blame in government from a worsening economic climate, soaring unemployment and the expenses scandal, lost all of its councils, with some authorities being swept clear of any Labour councillors at all. The party also performed poorly in the European elections on the same day.
YouTube Encyclopedic
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How do elections work and why should we vote? (part 1 of 2)
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2013 Local Elections
Transcription
TV voice: Call this number to make the goat eat hay, or call this number to make the goat eat cakes. It's your last chance to vote. Narrator Brian: I see you're voting there, Eddie? Eddie: Hey? Nah. This isn't voting. It doesn't mean anything apart from whether the goat gets to eat hay or cakes. Brian: It's still a kind of voting though, Eddie. It's trying to reach a fair decision by letting people register their opinion. This is democracy. Though most democracies don't feed éclairs to a goat. Eddie: No, they're giving him hay. I voted for cakes. That's rubbish, but I suppose my vote doesn't really mean much if there are hundreds of other people voting. Brian: Well, if you look at it like that, you might as well not bother doing anything. Just sit in your room playing Nintendo Playboys. Eddie: Nintendo Playboys, yeah. Brian: Look, if people didn't have the right to vote they'd have no say in how the country was run, and in some parts of the world, people are willing to die fighting for the chance to vote. Eddie: So we're not talking about goats anymore, are we? Brian: No, we're not. Eddie: OK, so what's the point of voting in a general election? There's millions of people voting then, so my vote makes even less difference. You don't know what politicians are talking about half the time. Brian: What? You mean when they go, 'With all due respect,' 'In real terms,' blah, blah, blah, in that sort of way? Eddie: Yeah, that's the one. Brian: Mmm. Perhaps if I show you what happened in the 2005 general election, you'll see how voting makes a difference. General elections give the people who vote, the electorate, a chance to vote for a new representative for their area. The country is divided into areas called constituencies, and the person who wins the vote in a constituency is a Member of Parliament, or MP. Let me take you back and show you what happened in the 2005 election. Brian: Although everyone knows the general election is coming, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, makes the formal announcement on April the 5th. He asks the Queen to dissolve, or suspend, Parliament and sets the date for the election day as May the 5th, just one short month away. Tony Blair: I and my colleagues will be out every day, in every part of Britain, talking to the British people about our driving mission for a third term. Brian: Six days later, Parliament is dissolved. This means that all the old MP's who won last time now have to campaign to get re-elected. Eddie: Or start looking for a new job. Narrator Brian: That's right. Here, in Watford, Claire Ward is hoping to hold onto her seat. Eddie: My seat held onto me this morning. It was dead weird. What happened was… Brian: Pardon? Eddie: Well, there was chewing gum on it. Brian: Mmm. Claire's seat is her job as a Member of Parliament for Watford, which she'll lose if she doesn't get enough votes. Claire Ward: People often say, 'What will you do for me if I vote for you?' and sometimes it's a specific thing that they want, or it's general. They want to know if they are going to have a good economy: 'Will your party, will you, help to create a good economy, lots of jobs? What will you do with the health service, what will you do for education?' Brian: Claire is up against four other would-be MPs Each is trying to convince the people of Watford that he or she is the best person to represent their interests, both in Watford and for the country. Eddie: How do they choose between them? Brian: Some are worried about local issues. Others want a candidate who will represent their views on national and international issues. Some people don't vote for the MP but for the party they belong to. Or if people don't think that an MP has done a great job, they might feel it's time for a change. Eddie: So, I could give someone the sack just by voting. Claire Ward, I'm coming in to get ya! Please don't swear! Brian: Like I said, voters are also thinking about the different political parties the candidates belong to. Some people vote for the same party all their lives because they believe in its values and philosophy. In Watford the three largest parties all have candidates standing for election, and there are also candidates from the UK Independence Party and from the Green Party. Eddie: Yeah, but what if I don't know anything about a political party. How do I know what they might do? Brian: Each party has an election manifesto: a list of things that it promises to do if it gets into power.
Summary of results
Party | Councillors | Councils | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Change | Number | Change | ||
Conservative | 1,531 | 244 | 30 | 7 | |
Liberal Democrats | 484 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
Labour | 178 | 291 | 0 | 4 | |
Independent | 97 | 6 | 0 | ||
Green | 18 | 8 | 0 | ||
Residents | 9 | 2 | 0 | ||
UKIP | 7 | 7 | 0 | ||
BNP | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||
Mebyon Kernow | 3 | 0 | |||
Liberal | 2 | 0 | |||
Others | 30 | 15 | 0 | ||
No overall control | n/a | n/a | 3 | 2 |
Source: BBC News Isles of Scilly Council not included in the above figures.
County councils
All 27 English County Councils were up for election. All seats on the councils were contested at this election.
Unitary authorities
Existing authorities
Council | Proportion up for election |
Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bristol | 1/3 | No overall control | Liberal Democrats gain | Details | ||
Isle of Wight | All | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details |
New authorities
Elections were held for five new unitary authorities. All councillors were elected at this election.
Council | Result | Details | |
---|---|---|---|
Bedford | No overall control | Details | |
Central Bedfordshire | Conservative | Details | |
Cornwall | No overall control (Conservative/Independent Coalition) | Details | |
Shropshire | Conservative | Details | |
Wiltshire | Conservative | Details |
Isles of Scilly
The Council of the Isles of Scilly was created by the Local Government Act 1888, meaning they lie outside the classifications of authorities used in the rest of England.
Council | Proportion up for election |
Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isles of Scilly | All | Independent | Independent hold | Details |
Mayoral elections
Local Authority | Previous Mayor | Candidate elected | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Doncaster | Martin Winter (Independent[6]) | Peter Davies (English Democrats) | Details | ||
Hartlepool | Stuart Drummond (Independent) | Stuart Drummond (Independent) | Details | ||
North Tyneside | John Harrison (Labour) | Linda Arkley (Conservative) | Details |
A mayoral election was also due to be held in Stoke-on-Trent, however voters in the city voted to abolish the directly elected mayor system in a referendum held in October 2008. The referendum decided to replace the mayor and executive system with a council leader and cabinet system of local government.[7]
See also
- 2009 City of London Corporation election
- 2009 structural changes to local government in England
- 2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ "BBC projected national vote shares for 2009". BBC News. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ "Communities and Local Government - Local government elections in 2009". Communities.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ Communities and Local Government - Moving the date of English Local Government elections to the date of the European Parliament elections in 2009 - Consultation Archived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (4 November 2008). "House of Commons Hansard Debates from 04 Nov 2008 - Local Government Motion". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "'British expenses scandal dominates political debate', 23 May 2009". City Mayors. 23 May 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ Winter was twice elected mayor as the Labour Party's candidate, but he declared himself an independent following the 2008 local elections and was subsequently expelled from the Labour Party. He did not stand for re-election in 2009.
- ^ "Mayor faces final months in power". BBC News. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
External links
- Elections 2009 BBC News
- Elections 2009: Councils A-Z BBC News