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.

Our backtest accuracy across 2022-2025 elections is 74% for council control predictions. A nominations-adjusted update will be published in mid-April.

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Ward-level seat projections for 136 English councils in the 2026 local elections on 7 May. 51 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	NOC	Labour	Yes
Barking and Dagenham	London	Labour	Labour
Barnet	London	Labour	Labour
Barnsley	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Basildon	District	NOC	NOC
Basingstoke and Deane	District	NOC	NOC
Bexley	London	Conservative	Conservative
Birmingham	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Blackburn with Darwen	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Bolton	Met	NOC	NOC
Bradford	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Brent	London	Labour	Labour
Brentwood	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Bromley	London	Conservative	Conservative
Broxbourne	District	Conservative	Conservative
Burnley	District	NOC	NOC
Bury	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Calderdale	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Cambridge	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Camden	London	Labour	Labour
Cannock Chase	District	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Castle Point	District	Others	NOC	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	NOC	Labour	Yes
Croydon	London	NOC	NOC	Yes
Dudley	Met	NOC	NOC
Ealing	London	Labour	Labour
East Sussex	County	NOC	NOC
Eastleigh	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Enfield	London	Labour	Labour
Epping Forest	District	Conservative	NOC	Yes
Essex	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
Exeter	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Fareham	District	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Gateshead	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Gosport	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Greenwich	London	Labour	Labour
Hackney	London	Labour	NOC
Halton	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Hammersmith and Fulham	London	Labour	Labour
Hampshire	County	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Haringey	London	Labour	Labour
Harlow	District	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Harrow	London	Conservative	Conservative
Hart	District	NOC	NOC
Hartlepool	Unitary	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Hastings	District	Green	NOC	Yes
Havant	District	NOC	NOC
Havering	London	Others	NOC	Yes
Hillingdon	London	Conservative	Conservative
Hounslow	London	Labour	Labour
Huntingdonshire	District	NOC	NOC
Hyndburn	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Ipswich	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Isle of Wight	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Islington	London	Labour	Labour
Kensington and Chelsea	London	Conservative	Conservative
Kingston upon Hull	Unitary	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Kingston upon Thames	London	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Kirklees	Met	NOC	NOC
Knowsley	Met	Labour	Labour
Lambeth	London	Labour	Labour
Leeds	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Lewisham	London	Labour	NOC
Lincoln	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Manchester	Met	Labour	Labour
Merton	London	NOC	Labour	Yes
Milton Keynes	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Newcastle upon Tyne	Met	NOC	NOC
Newcastle-under-Lyme	District	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Newham	London	Labour	NOC
Norfolk	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
North East Lincolnshire	Unitary	NOC	NOC
North Tyneside	Met	Labour	NOC
Norwich	District	Green	NOC	Yes
Nuneaton and Bedworth	District	NOC	NOC
Oldham	Met	Others	NOC	Yes
Oxford	District	NOC	NOC
Pendle	District	NOC	NOC
Peterborough	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Plymouth	Unitary	NOC	Labour	Yes
Portsmouth	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Preston	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
Reading	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Redbridge	London	Labour	Labour
Redditch	District	Labour	Labour
Richmond upon Thames	London	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Rochdale	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Rochford	District	NOC	NOC
Rossendale	District	NOC	Labour	Yes
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	Labour	Labour
St Albans	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
St Helens	Met	Labour	Labour
Stevenage	District	Labour	Labour
Stockport	Met	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Suffolk	County	Reform UK	Conservative	Yes
Sunderland	Met	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Surrey	Unitary	NOC	NOC
Sutton	London	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Swindon	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Tameside	Met	NOC	Labour	Yes
Tamworth	District	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Three Rivers	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC	Yes
Thurrock	Unitary	Labour	Labour
Tower Hamlets	London	Others	NOC
Trafford	Met	Labour	Labour
Tunbridge Wells	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wakefield	Met	Labour	Labour
Walsall	Met	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Waltham Forest	London	Labour	Labour
Wandsworth	London	NOC	Labour	Yes
Watford	District	Liberal Democrats	NOC
Welwyn Hatfield	District	NOC	NOC
West Lancashire	District	NOC	NOC
West Oxfordshire	District	NOC	NOC
West Sussex	County	NOC	Conservative	Yes
Westminster	London	NOC	Labour	Yes
Wigan	Met	Reform UK	Labour	Yes
Winchester	District	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wokingham	Unitary	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats
Wolverhampton	Met	Labour	Labour
Worthing	District	Labour	Labour

Projected contested seats

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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.