2026 Local Elections

Council Projector

Projected council composition across 136 English councils based on current polling

Pre-nominations projection. These projections are based on current Westminster polling and ward-level modelling. Candidate nominations close on 8 April - until then, projections for the Liberal Democrats and Greens may overestimate in wards where those parties do not field candidates. Councils with large numbers of independent councillors (marked below) carry elevated uncertainty. Read the methodology or see latest fixes.

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Ward-level seat projections for 136 English councils in the 2026 local elections on 7 May. 36 councils are projected to change control. Adjust the sliders below to explore how changes in national polling affect local seats.

All 136 council projections

Council	Type	Projected	Current	Change
Adur	District	Labour	Labour
Barking and Dagenham	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Barnet	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Barnsley	Met	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Basildon	District	NOC	NOC
Basingstoke and Deane	District	NOC	NOC
Bexley	London_Outer	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Birmingham	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Blackburn with Darwen	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Bolton	Met	NOC	NOC
Bradford	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Brent	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Brentwood	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Bromley	London_Outer	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Broxbourne	District	Conservative	Conservative
Burnley	District	NOC	NOC
Bury	Met	Labour	Labour
Calderdale	Met	NOC	NOC
Cambridge	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Camden	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
Cannock Chase	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Cheltenham	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Cherwell	District	NOC	NOC
Chorley	District	Labour	Labour
Colchester	District	NOC	NOC
Coventry	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Crawley	District	Labour	Labour
Croydon	London_Outer	NOC	NOC	Yes
Dudley	Met	NOC	NOC
Ealing	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
East Surrey	Unitary	NOC	Conservative	Yes
East Sussex	County	NOC	NOC
Eastleigh	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Enfield	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Epping Forest	District	NOC	NOC
Essex	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
Exeter	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Fareham	District	Conservative	Conservative
Gateshead	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Gosport	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Greenwich	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Hackney	London_Inner	Labour	NOC
Halton	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Hammersmith and Fulham	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
Hampshire	County	Conservative	Conservative
Haringey	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
Harlow	District	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Harrow	London_Outer	Conservative	Conservative
Hart	District	NOC	NOC
Hartlepool	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Hastings	District	Green	NOC	Yes
Havant	District	NOC	NOC
Havering	London_Outer	NOC	Others	Yes
Hillingdon	London_Outer	Conservative	Conservative
Hounslow	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Huntingdonshire	District	NOC	NOC
Hyndburn	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Ipswich	District	Labour	Labour
Isle of Wight	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Islington	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
Kensington and Chelsea	London_Inner	Conservative	Conservative
Kingston upon Hull	Unitary	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Kingston upon Thames	London_Outer	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Kirklees	Met	NOC	NOC
Knowsley	Met	Labour	Labour
Lambeth	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
Leeds	Met	Labour	Labour
Lewisham	London_Inner	Labour	NOC
Lincoln	District	Labour	Labour
Manchester	Met	Labour	Labour
Merton	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Milton Keynes	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Newcastle upon Tyne	Met	NOC	NOC
Newcastle-under-Lyme	District	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Newham	London_Inner	Labour	NOC
Norfolk	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
North East Lincolnshire	Unitary	NOC	NOC
North Tyneside	Met	Labour	NOC
Norwich	District	NOC	NOC
Nuneaton and Bedworth	District	NOC	NOC
Oldham	Met	NOC	NOC
Oxford	District	NOC	NOC
Pendle	District	NOC	NOC
Peterborough	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Plymouth	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Portsmouth	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Preston	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Reading	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Redbridge	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Redditch	District	Labour	Labour
Richmond upon Thames	London_Outer	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Rochdale	Met	Labour	Labour
Rochford	District	Others	NOC
Rugby	District	NOC	NOC
Rushmoor	District	NOC	NOC
Salford	Met	Labour	NOC
Sandwell	Met	Labour	Labour
Sefton	Met	Labour	Labour
Sheffield	Met	NOC	NOC
Solihull	Met	Conservative	Conservative
South Cambridgeshire	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
South Tyneside	Met	Others	NOC	Yes
Southampton	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Southend-on-Sea	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Southwark	London_Inner	Labour	Labour
St Albans	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
St Helens	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Stevenage	District	Labour	Labour
Stockport	Met	NOC	NOC
Suffolk	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
Sunderland	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Sutton	London_Outer	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Swindon	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Tameside	Met	Labour	Labour
Tamworth	District	Labour	NOC	Yes
Three Rivers	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Thurrock	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Tower Hamlets	London_Inner	Others	NOC
Trafford	Met	Labour	Labour
Tunbridge Wells	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wakefield	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Walsall	Met	NOC	NOC
Waltham Forest	London_Outer	Labour	Labour
Wandsworth	London_Inner	NOC	Labour	Yes
Watford	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC
Welwyn Hatfield	District	NOC	NOC
West Lancashire	District	NOC	NOC
West Oxfordshire	District	NOC	NOC
West Surrey	Unitary	NOC	Conservative	Yes
West Sussex	County	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Westminster	London_Inner	Conservative	Labour	Yes
Wigan	Met	Labour	Labour
Winchester	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wokingham	Unitary	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wolverhampton	Met	Labour	Labour
Worthing	District	Labour	Labour

Find your council

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Councils to watch

→ Barnsley Labour to Reform. First direct metro borough flip. → Essex Con to Ref. 78 seats, largest county to change hands. → Norfolk Con to Ref. 84 seats, all-up election. → Suffolk Con to Ref. 70 seats, all-up election. → Sunderland Reform 36 of 75 seats, 2 short of majority. → Wakefield Reform projected largest party, 24 of 63 seats. → Wandsworth Green gains drive Labour below majority. → Westminster Lab to Con. Net +6 Conservative, -6 Labour. → Bexley Highest projected Reform vote share in London.

With five parties competing under first-past-the-post, vote-splitting makes outright majorities harder to achieve. Our model projects 55 councils as No Overall Control. In several, a single party is close to tipping into majority.

Election data from Open Council Data. Ward estimates from Britain Elects. Electoral information from Democracy Club. Boundary data contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right.

If you spot a data or election error, please let us know.

Read the methodology here.