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1991 United Kingdom local elections

← 1990 2 May 1991 1992 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, all 296 English districts and all 37 Welsh districts
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Neil Kinnock John Major Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 2 October 1983 27 November 1990 16 July 1988 Percentage 38% 35% 22% Councillors 9,504 7,985 3,672 Councillors +/- 584 1,035 407

The 1991 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 1991. The results were a setback for the governing Conservative Party, who were left with their lowest number of councillors since 1973, though their popular vote was an improvement from the 1990 local elections.

This was the first electoral test for Prime Minister and Conservative leader John Major, who had taken the helm from Margaret Thatcher in November 1990.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats both benefited from the Conservative losses.

The main opposition Labour Party gained 584 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 9,504, their highest since 1975. Their projected share of the vote was 38%, a decline of 6% from the previous year. They overtook the Conservatives in number of councillors and would remain in that position until 2003.

The governing Conservative Party lost 1,035 seats, leaving them with 7,985 councillors. Their share of the vote was projected to be 35%, an increase of 2% from the previous year.

The Liberal Democrats gained 407 seats and had 3,672 councillors after the elections, a record number and a sign of their improving popularity after a series of disastrous performances in local and European elections after their formation in March 1988. Their projected share of the vote was 22%, up from 17% in 1990.

Despite the Conservatives' heavy losses, the party would go on to win the 1992 general election 11 months later.

Summary of results

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England

Metropolitan boroughs

All 36 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

District councils

Whole council

In 185 districts the whole council was up for election.

Three of those districts - Oadby and Wigston, Tonbridge and Malling and Torbay - returned to whole councils elections having previously been elected by thirds.

In 9 districts there were new ward boundaries, following further electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

These were the last elections to the district councils of Langbaurgh-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and Woodspring before they were made unitary authorities by the Local Government Commission for England (1992).

These were also the last elections to the district councils of Beverley, Boothferry, Cleethorpes, East Yorkshire, Glanford, Holderness, Kingswood, Medina, Northavon, South Wight and Wansdyke before they were abolished and replaced by unitary authorities by the Local Government Commission for England (1992).

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

In 111 districts one third of the council was up for election.

Wales

District councils

These were the last elections to the district councils before they were abolished by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994.

References

1. "Local Election 1991 - Thursday, 2nd May, 1991". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
2. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1991 (PDF). Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
3. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
4. "The 1992 General Election - Liberal Democrats". BBC News. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

• Local elections 2006. House of Commons Library Research Paper 06/26.
• Vote 1999 BBC News
• Vote 2000 BBC News

v t e (1990 ←) 1991 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1992)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bradford Bolton Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Gateshead Dudley Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
District councils (England)	Adur Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bath Berwick-upon-Tweed Blaby Blackburn Blackpool Blyth Valley Bolsover Boothferry Boston Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Braintree Breckland Brentwood Bridgnorth Brighton Bristol Broadland Bromsgrove Broxbourne Broxtowe Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Canterbury Caradon Carlisle Carrick Castle Morpeth Castle Point Charnwood Chelmsford Cheltenham Cherwell Chester Chesterfield Chester-le-Street Chichester Chiltern Chorley Christchurch Cleethorpes Colchester Congleton Copeland Corby Cotswold Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Dacorum Darlington Dartford Daventry Derbyshire Dales Derby Derwentside Dover Durham Easington East Cambridgeshire East Devon East Dorset East Hampshire East Hertfordshire East Lindsey East Northamptonshire East Staffordshire East Yorkshire East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley Eastbourne Eastleigh Eden Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fareham Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gillingham Glanford Gloucester Gosport Gravesham Great Grimsby Great Yarmouth Guildford Halton Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hart Hartlepool Hastings Havant Hereford Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Holderness Horsham Hove Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kennet Kerrier Kettering King's Lynn and West Norfolk Kingston upon Hull Kingswood Lancaster Langbaurgh-on-Tees Leicester Leominster Lewes Lichfield Lincoln Luton Macclesfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Medina Melton Mendip Mid Bedfordshire Mid Devon Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Middlesbrough Milton Keynes Mole Valley New Forest Newark Newbury Newcastle-under-Lyme North Bedfordshire North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Norfolk North Shropshire North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire Northampton Northavon Norwich Nottingham Nuneaton and Bedworth Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Oxford Pendle Penwith Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Preston Purbeck Reading Redditch Reigate and Banstead Restormel Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochester-upon-Medway Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Rutland Ryedale Salisbury Scarborough Scunthorpe Sedgefield Sedgemoor Selby Sevenoaks Shepway Shrewsbury and Atcham Slough South Bedfordshire South Bucks South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Herefordshire South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire South Ribble South Shropshire South Somerset South Staffordshire South Wight Southampton Southend-on-Sea Spelthorne St Albans St Edmundsbury Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stevenage Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Suffolk Coastal Surrey Heath Swale Tamworth Tandridge Taunton Deane Teesdale Teignbridge Tendring Test Valley Tewkesbury Thamesdown Thanet The Wrekin Three Rivers Thurrock Tonbridge and Malling Torbay Torridge Tunbridge Wells Tynedale Uttlesford Vale of White Horse Vale Royal Wansbeck Wansdyke Warrington Warwick Watford Waveney Waverley Wealden Wear Valley Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire West Somerset West Wiltshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Windsor and Maidenhead Woking Wokingham Woodspring Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wycombe Wyre Wyre Forest York
District councils (Wales)	Aberconwy Alyn and Deeside Anglesey - Ynys Môn Arfon Blaenau Gwent Brecknock Cardiff Carmarthen Ceredigion Colwyn Cynon Valley Delyn Dinefwr Dwyfor Glyndŵr Islwyn Llanelli Lliw Valley Meirionnydd Merthyr Tydfil Monmouth Montgomeryshire Neath Newport Ogwr Port Talbot Preseli Pembrokeshire Radnorshire Rhondda Rhuddlan Rhymney Valley South Pembrokeshire Swansea Taff-Ely Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham Maelor

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain

• 1991 United Kingdom local elections