Parties
Seven national parties active in UK local government. The chart below pairs the votes each party won against the seats they actually got — the gap is the story this site exists to tell.
Who controls what now
Every UK council in our composition data, coloured by the largest single party in its most recent snapshot. Hover any hex for the council and seat split; click to drill in.
Largest party
- Conservative Party 121
- Labour Party 113
- Liberal Democrats 69
- Reform UK 38
- Green Party 19
- Scottish National Party 17
- Plaid Cymru 4
- No overall control 37
Pick a party
Drill into any party for its full per-cycle history, the councils it gained and lost, and where its footprint shifted.
Conservative Party
24.8%
5,133 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 121 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: −17.5 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +43 / −127
Labour Party
24.5%
5,070 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 113 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: −8.5 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +55 / −63
Liberal Democrats
17.1%
3,542 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 69 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: +8.1 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +48 / −7
Reform UK
10.5%
2,176 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 38 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: +10.5 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +30 / −0
Green Party
6.4%
1,315 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 19 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: +5.5 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +18 / −0
Scottish National Party
2.0%
419 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 17 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: +0.1 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +0 / −0
Plaid Cymru
1.0%
201 of 20,672 seats (2026)
Largest in 4 of 418 councils.
Since 2016: +0.1 pts footprint share.
Council-control swing in window: +0 / −0
Votes vs seats, by cycle
For each recent cycle, the bars show every party's share of valid votes (filled) against its share of the seats actually up (outlined). The signed gap is the disproportionality.
7 May 2026
136 councils · 5,031 seats up· same councils last polled in 2022.
1 May 2025
115 councils · 1,640 seats up· same councils last polled in 2021.
2 May 2024
107 councils · 2,659 seats up.
Four-year movement
Vote share, four years apart. Same councils, same cycle. One panel per party with both ends of a comparable cycle in our data.
+23 pts
−18 pts
+10 pts
−8 pts
−1 pts
Cumulative footprint
Share of all UK council seats held. Across all councils in our dataset, including those not polling this year. Weighted by chamber size — bigger councils count for more.
Definitions and caveats live in the methodology page. UK locals run on a 4-year cycle, with different councils polling in different years — so vote and seat share are only directly comparable between elections four years apart (e.g. 2022 vs 2026, or 2021 vs 2025).