1998 United Kingdom local elections
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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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 Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the table of results. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The1998 United Kingdom local electionswere held on Thursday 7 May 1998.[1][2]AllLondon boroughcouncil seats were elected as well a third of the seats on each of theMetropolitan Boroughs.Someunitary authoritiesandDistrict councilsalso had elections. There were no local elections inScotland,WalesorNorthern Ireland.
These elections took place on the same day as thereferendumon establishing theGreater 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 byWilliam Hague) a mere eight.
A by-election for theEuropean Parliamentwas also held in theYorkshire Southconstituency; 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 32London boroughsthe whole council was up for election.
Metropolitan boroughs
[edit]All 36 EnglishMetropolitan boroughcouncils 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 controlgain | 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 | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Derby | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Hartlepool | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Kingston upon Hull | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Milton Keynes | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Portsmouth | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Southampton | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Stoke-on-Trent | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
| Swindon | Labour | Labourhold | Details | ||
District councils
[edit]In 88 English district authorities one third of the council was up for election.
‡ New ward boundaries
References
[edit]- ^Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael.Local Elections Handbook 1998(PDF).Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre.Retrieved3 May2016.
- ^"Council compositions".The Elections Centre.Retrieved3 May2016.
- 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 Times9 May 1998 page 46
