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1996 United Kingdom local elections

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Field	Value
election_name	1996 United Kingdom local elections
country	United Kingdom
type	legislative
previous_election	1995 United Kingdom local elections
previous_year	1995
next_election	1997 United Kingdom local elections
next_year	1997
seats_for_election	All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 14 out of 25 unitary authorities
and 100 out of 262 English districts
election_date	2 May 1996
1blank	Councils
2blank	Councils +/-
3blank	Councillors
4blank	Councillors +/-
<!-- Labour -->	image1	[[File:Tony Blair 1997.jpg	160x160px]]
leader1	Tony Blair
leader_since1	21 July 1994
party1	Labour Party (UK)
percentage1	43%
swing1	4%
3data1	10,929
4data1	468
<!-- Liberal Democrats -->	image2	[[File:Paddy Ashdown (2005) (cropped).jpg	160x160px]]
leader2	Paddy Ashdown
leader_since2	16 July 1988
party2	Liberal Democrats (UK)
percentage2	26%
swing2	3%
3data2	5,078
4data2	136
<!-- Conservative -->	image3	[[File:Major PM full (cropped).jpg	160x160px]]
leader3	John Major
leader_since3	27 November 1990
party3	Conservative Party (UK)
percentage3	29%
swing3	4%
3data3	4,276
4data3	607
map_image	[[File:UK 1996 Local Election Results.svg	Results of the United Kingdom 1996 local elections]]
map_caption	Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the table of results.

and 100 out of 262 English districts

The 1996 United Kingdom local elections were held on 2 May 1996. They were the last local elections until 2010 to show a decline in the number of Conservative councillors and an increase in the number of Labour councillors.

The main opposition Labour Party gained 468 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 10,929. Their share of the vote was projected to be 43%, 4% down on the 1995 local elections.

The governing Conservative Party lost 607 seats and were left with 4,276 councillors - still in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives' projected share of the vote was 29%, a 4% increase since the previous local elections in 1995.

The Liberal Democrats gained 136 seats and had 5,078 councillors after the elections.

Results

Councils	Councillors	Gain	Loss	Change	Total	Gain	Loss	Change
		+11	87			+466	1,744
		+5	23			+150	641
		-1	3			-577	518
Other	0	0	+3	3			-39	127
+1	-16	-15	34	—	—	—	—

Source: Parliamentary Research Briefing on 1996 Local Election

England

Metropolitan boroughs

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

Council	Previous control	Result	Details	Barnsley	Birmingham	Bolton	Bradford	Bury	Calderdale	Coventry	Doncaster	Dudley	Gateshead	Kirklees	Knowsley	Leeds	Liverpool	Manchester	Newcastle upon Tyne	North Tyneside	Oldham	Rochdale	Rotherham	Salford	Sandwell	Sefton	Sheffield	Solihull	South Tyneside	St Helens	Stockport	Sunderland	Tameside	Trafford	Wakefield	Walsall	Wigan	Wirral	Wolverhampton
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Unitary authorities

Whole council

These were the first elections to 13 more unitary authorities established by the Local Government Commission for England (1992). They acted as "shadow authorities" until 1 April 1997.

Council	Previous control	Result	Details	Bournemouth	Brighton and Hove	Darlington	Derby	Leicester	Luton	Milton Keynes ‡	Poole	Portsmouth	Rutland	Southampton	Stoke-on-Trent	Thamesdown
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‡ New ward boundaries from predecessor authorities

Third of council

In 1 unitary authority one third of the council was up for election.

Council	Previous control	Result	Details	Hartlepool
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District councils

In 100 districts one third of the council was up for election.

These were the last elections to the district councils of Blackburn, Halton, Peterborough, Reading, Slough, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock and Wokingham before they became unitary authorities by the Local Government Commission for England (1992).

These were also the last elections to the district councils of Gillingham, Hereford, Leominster and South Herefordshire before they were abolished and replaced by unitary authorities by the Local Government Commission for England (1992).

Council	Previous control	Result	Details	Adur	Amber Valley	Barrow-in-Furness	Basildon	Basingstoke and Deane	Bassetlaw	Bedford	Blackburn	Brentwood	Broadland	Broxbourne	Burnley	Cambridge	Cannock Chase	Carlisle	Cheltenham	Cherwell	Chester	Chorley	Colchester	Congleton	Craven	Crawley	Crewe and Nantwich	Daventry	Eastbourne	Eastleigh	Ellesmere Port and Neston	Elmbridge	Epping Forest	Exeter	Fareham	Gillingham	Gloucester	Gosport	Great Yarmouth	Halton	Harlow	Harrogate	Hart	Hastings	Havant	Hereford	Hertsmere	Huntingdonshire	Hyndburn	Ipswich	Leominster	Lincoln	Macclesfield	Maidstone	Mole Valley	Newcastle-under-Lyme	North Hertfordshire	Norwich	Nuneaton and Bedworth	Oxford	Pendle	Penwith	Peterborough	Preston	Purbeck	Reading	Redditch	Reigate and Banstead	Rochford	Rossendale	Rugby	Runnymede	Rushmoor	Shrewsbury and Atcham	Slough	South Bedfordshire	South Cambridgeshire	South Herefordshire	South Lakeland	Southend-on-Sea	St Albans	Stevenage	Stratford-on-Avon	Stroud	Swale	Tamworth	Tandridge	Three Rivers	Thurrock	Tunbridge Wells	Watford	Waveney	Welwyn Hatfield	West Lancashire	West Lindsey	West Oxfordshire	Weymouth and Portland	Winchester	Woking	Wokingham	Worcester	Worthing	Wyre Forest
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References

"Local Elections Handbook 1996". Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre.
"Council compositions".
"Parliamentary Research Briefing on 1996 Local Election".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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