Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats across the UK local-election cycles in our dataset (2021–2026 election results, plus chamber composition rolled forward to 2026 from opencouncildata snapshots).
Headline
- 53 council-control gains and 6 losses across this window (net +47).
- Footprint share moved from 9.1% (2016) to 17.1% (2026) — a +8.1 pts shift across 418 councils.
- Largest party in 69 of 418 councils as of 2026 (16.5%).
Same votes, different counting rule
Compare the seats Liberal Democrats actually won under FPTP with a proportional re-count of the same council-level votes. Positive means seats unfairly awarded by FPTP; negative means seats the party was denied by FPTP.
Where Liberal Democrats leads
Councils where Liberal Democrats is the largest single party in the most recent composition snapshot. Hover any hex for the council name and seat count; click to drill in.
Currently largest in
69 councils
From the most recent composition snapshot per council. Grey hexes are councils where another party leads (or where we don't yet have a snapshot).
Cycles
Click into any cycle for a full breakdown — councils gained, lost, and where the seats came from.
2026
841 of 5,007 seats won
13% → 17% +3 pts
Control: +5 / −1 councils
134 councils contested
2025
370 of 1,640 seats won
16% → 23% +6 pts
Control: +6 / −0 councils
23 councils contested
2024
522 of 2,466 seats won
17% → 21% +4 pts
Control: +4 / −0 councils
98 councils contested
2023
1,632 of 7,685 seats won
19% → 21% +2 pts
Control: +21 / −4 councils
221 councils contested
2022
864 of 6,456 seats won
15% → 13% −1 pts
Control: +9 / −0 councils
185 councils contested
2021
588 of 4,653 seats won
15% → 13% −2 pts
Control: +1 / −1 councils
138 councils contested
2019
1,355 of 7,990 seats won
17% → 17% −1 pts
Control: +6 / −0 councils
244 councils contested
2018
539 of 4,259 seats won
14% → 13% −2 pts
Control: +1 / −0 councils
143 councils contested
2017
382 of 3,495 seats won
16% → 11% −5 pts
103 councils contested
2016
380 of 2,624 seats won
14% → 14% +0 pts
134 councils contested
Votes vs seats, by cycle
For each cycle this party contested, the bars show vote share (filled) against seat share (outlined). The signed gap is the disproportionality.
Four-year movement
Vote share across each cycle pair (same councils, four years apart).
votes −1 pts
votes +1 pts
votes +2 pts
Cumulative footprint
Share of all UK council seats held. Across all councils in our dataset, including those not polling this year. Comparable across the full window because composition rolls forward year-on-year.
By election
| Year | Seats up | Won | Vote share | Seat share | Footprint share | Largest in | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 5,007 | 841 | 13.4% | 16.8% | 17.1% | 69 / 418 | Details → |
| 2025 | 1,640 | 370 | 16.2% | 22.6% | 16.7% | 65 / 418 | Details → |
| 2024 | 2,466 | 522 | 17.0% | 21.2% | 16.3% | 61 / 416 | Details → |
| 2023 | 7,685 | 1,632 | 19.1% | 21.2% | 15.7% | 56 / 416 | Details → |
| 2022 | 6,456 | 864 | 14.8% | 13.4% | 13.6% | 39 / 416 | Details → |
| 2021 | 4,653 | 588 | 15.0% | 12.6% | 12.5% | 29 / 414 | Details → |
| 2020 | — | — | — | — | 12.8% | 29 / 412 | |
| 2019 | 7,990 | 1,355 | 17.5% | 17.0% | 12.7% | 30 / 412 | Details → |
| 2018 | 4,259 | 539 | 14.2% | 12.7% | 9.4% | 12 / 407 | Details → |
| 2017 | 3,495 | 382 | 15.8% | 10.9% | 8.9% | 9 / 407 | Details → |
| 2016 | 2,624 | 380 | 14.2% | 14.5% | 9.1% | 9 / 407 | Details → |
See methodology for how we normalise party names, why "Labour and Co-operative" collapses to "Labour Party", and the bloc-vote vote-share caveat for multi-member wards.