1999 United Kingdom local elections

Local elections took place in much of the United Kingdom on 6 May 1999.^[1]^[2] All Scottish and Welsh unitary authorities had all their seats elected. In England a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs were elected along with elections in many of the unitary authorities and district councils. There were no local elections in Northern Ireland.

The elections saw Labour, now in their second year of government, suffer a setback as the opposition Conservatives gained ground. The councils up for election had last been contested in 1995, which saw Labour achieve record gains and the Conservatives lose over 2,000 seats.

Summary of results[]

Party		Councils				Councillors
Party		Gain	Loss	Change	Total	Gain	Loss	Change	Total
	Labour	3	35	–32	137	89	1,239	–1,150	4,802
	Conservative	48	0	+48	61	1,391	43	+1,348	3,766
	Liberal Democrats	7	18	-11	20	383	473	-90	2,609
	SNP	0	1	-1	1	41	24	+17	208
	Plaid Cymru	2	0	+2	3	89	7	+81	205
	Independent	2	5	-3	18	174	299	-125	1,551
	Other	0	0	0	0	66	145	–79	191
	No overall control	40	42	-2	122	—	—	—	—

England[]

Metropolitan boroughs[]

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

Council			Details
Barnsley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Birmingham	Labour	Labour hold
Bolton	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Bradford	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Bury	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Calderdale	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Coventry	Labour	Labour hold
Doncaster	Labour	Labour hold
Dudley	Labour	Labour hold
Gateshead	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Kirklees	Labour	No overall control gain
Knowsley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Leeds	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Liverpool	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Manchester	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Newcastle upon Tyne	Labour	Labour hold
North Tyneside	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Oldham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Rochdale	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Rotherham	Labour	Labour hold
Salford	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Sandwell	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Sefton	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Sheffield	Labour	Liberal Democrats gain	Details
Solihull	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
South Tyneside	Labour	Labour hold	Details
St Helens	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Stockport	No overall control	Liberal Democrats gain
Sunderland	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Tameside	Labour	Labour hold
Trafford	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Wakefield	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Walsall	No overall control	Labour gain	Details
Wigan	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Wirral	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Wolverhampton	Labour	Labour hold	Details

Unitary authorities[]

Whole council[]

Council			Details
Bath and North East Somerset ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Brighton and Hove	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Bristol ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Bournemouth	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Darlington	Labour	Labour hold
East Riding of Yorkshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
Leicester	Labour	Labour hold
Luton	Labour	Labour hold
Middlesbrough	Labour	Labour hold
Milton Keynes	Labour	Labour hold	Details
North East Lincolnshire	Labour	Labour hold
North Lincolnshire	Labour	Labour hold
North Somerset ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Poole	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Redcar and Cleveland	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Rutland	No overall control	No overall control hold
South Gloucestershire ‡	No overall control	Liberal Democrats gain	Details
Stockton-on-Tees	Labour	Labour hold

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council[]

Council			Details
Blackburn with Darwen	Labour	Labour hold
Derby	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Halton	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Hartlepool	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Kingston upon Hull	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Peterborough	No overall control	No overall control hold
Portsmouth	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Reading	Labour	Labour hold
Slough	Labour	Labour hold
Southampton	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Southend-on-Sea	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Stoke-on-Trent	Labour	Labour hold
Swindon	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Thurrock	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Warrington	Labour	Labour hold
Wokingham	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
York	Labour	Labour hold

District councils[]

Whole council[]

Council			Details
Allerdale ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Alnwick ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Arun	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Ashfield	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Ashford	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Aylesbury Vale	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Babergh	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Barrow-in-Furness ‡	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Berwick-upon-Tweed ‡	No overall control	Liberal Democrats gain
Blaby	No overall control	Conservative gain
Blyth Valley ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Bolsover	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Boston ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
Braintree	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Breckland	No overall control	Conservative gain
Bridgnorth	Independent	Independent hold
Bromsgrove	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Broxbourne ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Broxtowe	Labour	Labour hold
Canterbury	No overall control	No overall control hold
Caradon	No overall control	No overall control hold
Carlisle ‡	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Carrick	No overall control	Liberal Democrats gain
Castle Morpeth ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
Castle Point	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Charnwood	Labour	No overall control gain
Chelmsford	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Chesterfield	Labour	Labour hold
Chester-le-Street	Labour	Labour hold
Chester ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
Chichester	No overall control	Conservative gain
Chiltern	No overall control	Conservative gain
Christchurch	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Congleton ‡	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
Copeland ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Corby ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Cotswold	Independent	No overall control gain
Crewe and Nantwich ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Dacorum ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Dartford	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Daventry ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Derbyshire Dales	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Derwentside	Labour	Labour hold
Dover	Labour	No overall control gain
Durham	Labour	Labour hold
Easington	Labour	Labour hold
East Cambridgeshire	Independent	Liberal Democrats gain
East Devon	Conservative	Conservative hold
East Dorset	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain	Details
East Hampshire	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain	Details
East Hertfordshire ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain
East Lindsey ‡	Independent	Independent hold
East Northamptonshire ‡	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
East Staffordshire	Labour	Labour hold
Eden ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Ellesmere Port and Neston ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Epsom and Ewell	Independent	Independent hold
Erewash	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Fenland	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Forest Heath	No overall control	Conservative gain
Forest of Dean ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Fylde	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Gedling	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Gravesham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Guildford	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Hambleton	Conservative	Conservative hold
Harborough	No overall control	No overall control hold
Hertsmere ‡	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
High Peak	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Hinckley and Bosworth	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Horsham	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain	Details
Kennet	No overall control	No overall control hold
Kerrier	No overall control	No overall control hold
Kettering ‡	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
King's Lynn and West Norfolk	Labour	No overall control gain
Lancaster	Labour	No overall control gain
Lewes	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
Lichfield	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Lincoln ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Macclesfield ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Maldon	No overall control	Conservative gain
Mansfield	Labour	Labour hold
Melton	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mendip ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mid Bedfordshire	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Mid Devon	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mid Suffolk	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mid Sussex	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
New Forest	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain	Details
Newark and Sherwood	No overall control	Labour gain
North Cornwall	Independent	Independent hold
North Devon	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
North Dorset	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
North East Derbyshire	Labour	Labour hold
North Hertfordshire ‡	Labour	Conservative gain
North Kesteven ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
North Norfolk	No overall control	No overall control hold
North Shropshire	Independent	Independent hold
North Warwickshire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
North West Leicestershire	Labour	Labour hold
North Wiltshire	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Northampton ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Oadby and Wigston	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
Oswestry	No overall control	Independent gain
Purbeck ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Restormel	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Ribble Valley	No overall control	No overall control hold
Richmondshire	Independent	No overall control gain	Details
Rother	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Rushcliffe	No overall control	Conservative gain
Ryedale	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Salisbury	No overall control	No overall control hold
Scarborough	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Sedgefield	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Sedgemoor ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Selby	Labour	No overall control gain
Sevenoaks	No overall control	Conservative gain
Shepway	No overall control	Conservative gain
South Bucks	No overall control	Conservative gain
South Derbyshire	Labour	Labour hold
South Hams ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
South Holland ‡	Independent	Conservative gain
South Kesteven ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
South Lakeland ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
South Norfolk	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
South Northamptonshire ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain
South Oxfordshire	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
South Ribble	No overall control	No overall control hold
South Shropshire	Independent	Independent hold
South Somerset ‡	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
South Staffordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
Spelthorne	Conservative	Conservative hold
St Albans ‡	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
St Edmundsbury	No overall control	Conservative gain
Stafford	Labour	No overall control gain
Staffordshire Moorlands	No overall control	No overall control hold
Stevenage ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Suffolk Coastal	No overall control	Conservative gain
Surrey Heath	Conservative	Conservative hold
Taunton Deane ‡	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Teesdale	Independent	Independent hold
Teignbridge	No overall control	No overall control hold
Tendring	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Test Valley	No overall control	Conservative gain
Tewkesbury	No overall control	No overall control hold
Thanet	Labour	Labour hold
Three Rivers ‡	No overall control	Liberal Democrats gain	Details
Tonbridge and Malling	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Torridge	No overall control	Independent gain	Details
Tynedale ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Uttlesford	No overall control	No overall control hold
Vale of White Horse	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Vale Royal ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Wansbeck ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Warwick	No overall control	No overall control hold
Watford ‡	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Waverley	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain
Wealden	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Wear Valley	Labour	Labour hold
Wellingborough ‡	No overall control	Labour gain	Details
Welwyn Hatfield ‡	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
West Devon	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
West Dorset	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
West Lindsey ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
West Somerset ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
West Wiltshire	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Wychavon	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Wycombe	No overall control	Conservative gain
Wyre	Labour	Conservative gain

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council[]

Council			Details
Adur	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Amber Valley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Basildon	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Basingstoke and Deane	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Bassetlaw	Labour	Labour hold
Bedford	No overall control	No overall control hold
Brentwood	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Broadland	No overall control	Conservative gain
Burnley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Cambridge	No overall control	No overall control hold
Cannock Chase	Labour	Labour hold
Cheltenham	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Cherwell	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Chorley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Colchester	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Craven	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Crawley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Eastbourne	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Eastleigh	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Elmbridge	No overall control	No overall control hold
Epping Forest	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Exeter	Labour	Labour hold
Fareham	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Gloucester	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Gosport	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Great Yarmouth	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Harlow	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Harrogate	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Hart	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Hastings	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Havant	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Huntingdonshire	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Hyndburn	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Ipswich	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Maidstone	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Mole Valley	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Newcastle-under-Lyme	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Norwich	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Nuneaton and Bedworth	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Oxford	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Pendle	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain	Details
Penwith	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Preston	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Redditch	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Reigate and Banstead	No overall control	No overall control hold
Rochford	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Rossendale	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Rugby	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Runnymede	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Rushmoor	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Shrewsbury and Atcham	No overall control	No overall control hold
South Bedfordshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
South Cambridgeshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
Stratford-on-Avon	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Stroud	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Swale	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Tamworth	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Tandridge	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Tunbridge Wells	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Waveney	Labour	Labour hold	Details
West Lancashire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
West Oxfordshire	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Weymouth and Portland	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Winchester	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Woking	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Worcester	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Worthing	Liberal Democrats	Conservative gain	Details
Wyre Forest	Labour	No overall control gain	Details

Scotland[]

Council			Details
Aberdeen	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Aberdeenshire	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Angus	SNP	SNP hold	Details
Argyll and Bute	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Clackmannanshire	Labour	No overall control gain
Dumfries and Galloway	Labour	Labour hold
Dundee	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
East Ayrshire	Labour	Labour hold
East Dunbartonshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
East Lothian	Labour	Labour hold	Details
East Renfrewshire	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Edinburgh	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Falkirk	Labour	No overall control gain
Fife	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Glasgow	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Highland	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Inverclyde	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Midlothian	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Moray	SNP	No overall control gain	Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar	Independent	Independent hold	Details
North Ayrshire	Labour	Labour hold
North Lanarkshire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Orkney Islands	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Perth and Kinross	No overall control	No overall control hold
Renfrewshire	No overall control	Labour gain
Scottish Borders	No overall control	No overall control hold
Shetland Islands	Independent	Independent hold	Details
South Ayrshire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
South Lanarkshire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Stirling	No overall control	No overall control hold
West Dunbartonshire	Labour	Labour hold	Details
West Lothian	Labour	Labour hold

Wales[]

Council			Details
Blaenau Gwent	Labour	Labour hold
Bridgend	Labour	Labour hold
Caerphilly	Labour	Plaid Cymru gain
Cardiff	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Carmarthenshire	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Ceredigion	Independent	No overall control gain	Details
Conwy	No overall control	No overall control hold
Denbighshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
Flintshire	Labour	Labour hold
Gwynedd	Plaid Cymru	Plaid Cymru hold
Isle of Anglesey	Independent	Independent hold
Merthyr Tydfil	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Monmouthshire	Labour	No overall control gain
Neath Port Talbot	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Newport	Labour	Labour hold
Pembrokeshire	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Powys	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Rhondda Cynon Taf	Labour	Plaid Cymru gain	Details
Swansea	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Torfaen	Labour	Labour hold
Vale of Glamorgan	Labour	No overall control gain
Wrexham	Labour	No overall control gain

References[]

^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael; Cheal, Brian; Ware, Lawrence. "Local Elections Handbook 1999" (PDF). Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael; Cheal, Brian; Ware, Lawrence. "Local Elections Handbook 1999" (PDF). Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[2] "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[1]

[2]

v t (1998 ←) 1999 United Kingdom local elections (→ 2000)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Bradford Bolton Bury Calderdale Gateshead Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Sunderland Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Unitary authorities	Bath and North East Somerset Bournemouth Brighton and Hove Bristol Derby Halton Hartlepool Hull Milton Keynes North Somerset Portsmouth Redcar and Cleveland South Gloucestershire Southampton Southend-on-Sea Swindon Thurrock Wokingham York
District councils (England)	Adur Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bolsover Braintree Brentwood Bromsgrove Broxbourne Burnley Carlisle Castle Point Chelmsford Cheltenham Cherwell Chorley Christchurch Colchester Copeland Corby Craven Crawley Dacorum Dartford Daventry Derbyshire Dales East Dorset East Hampshire East Northamptonshire Eastbourne Eastleigh Ellesmere Port and Neston Epping Forest Erewash Fareham Fenland Fylde Gedling Gloucester Gosport Gravesham Great Yarmouth Guildford Harlow Harrogate Hart Hastings Havant Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Horsham Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kettering Lichfield Lincoln Maidstone Mid Bedfordshire Mid Sussex Mole Valley New Forest Newcastle-under-Lyme North Devon North Warwickshire Northampton Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oxford Pendle Penwith Preston Purbeck Redditch Restormel Richmondshire Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor Ryedale Scarborough Sedgefield Sedgemoor South Hams South Lakeland South Kesteven South Oxfordshire South Ribble St Albans Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Swale Tamworth Tandridge Tendring Three Rivers Tonbridge and Malling Torridge Tunbridge Wells Tynedale Vale of White Horse Watford Waveney Wealden Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire West Somerset West Wiltshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wyre Forest
Welsh councils	Cardiff Carmarthenshire Ceredigion Merthyr Tydfil Neath Port Talbot Pembrokeshire Powys Rhondda Cynon Taf Swansea
Scottish councils	Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Dundee East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh Fife Glasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray Na h-Eileanan Siar North Lanarkshire Orkney Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire West Dunbartonshire
National Assembly elections	Scotland Wales
See also: European Parliament election

v t Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1801 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 Next
Local elections	1889 1892 1894 1896 1909 1934 1949 1955 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
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016