Summary
The 1998 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 1998.[1][2] All London borough council seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs. Some unitary authorities and District councils also had elections. There were no local elections in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
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All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 10 out of 46 unitary authorities and 88 out of 238 English districts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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These elections took place on the same day as the referendum on establishing the Greater London Authority.
The governing Labour Party, contesting its first national elections since returning to government 12 months previously, enjoyed great success, now having control of 94 councils, with the second placed Liberal Democrats now controlling 14 and the opposition Conservatives (now led by William Hague) a mere eight.
A by-election for the European Parliament was also held in the Yorkshire South constituency; Labour retained the seat.
Summary of results edit
| Party | Councils | Councillors | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gain | Loss | Change | Total | Gain | Loss | Change | Total | ||
| Labour | +2 | 94 | -88 | 2,240 | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | -7 | 14 | -114 | 853 | |||||
| Conservative | +1 | 8 | +256 | 1,085 | |||||
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -57 | 146 | |||
| No overall control | +4 | 50 | — | — | — | — | |||
England edit
London boroughs edit
In all 32 London boroughs the whole council was up for election.
Metropolitan boroughs edit
All 36 English Metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.
Unitary authorities edit
Whole council edit
The whole of the Isle of Wight council was up for election.
| Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isle of Wight | Liberal Democrats | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Third of council edit
In 9 English Unitary authorities one third of the council was up for election.
| Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Derby | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Hartlepool | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Kingston upon Hull | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Milton Keynes | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Portsmouth | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Southampton | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Stoke-on-Trent | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
| Swindon | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
District councils edit
In 88 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.
‡ New ward boundaries
References edit
- Vote 1998 BBC News
- The local elections of 7 May 1998 and the London referendum. House of Commons Library Research Paper 98/59.
- "Local Elections results", The Times 9 May 1998 page 46