These are the results from each local authority since structural change in 1973 (1964 in the case of the London boroughs) until 2011/2012.
Authorities are divided according to type, e.g. English shire districts, London boroughs etc. The Scottish results are those compiled by John Bochel (more recently Hugh Bochel) and David Denver. Initially, local government in Scotland was the responsibility of regional and district councils but since 1995 unitary councils have administered local services. Similar changes to the county/district structure in Wales were also introduced.
Structural changes have also affected English authorities. Notably, the establishment of new unitary councils beginning in the mid 1990s. In the case of authorities affected by these reforms there are two sets of results that reflect the point of change. So, for example, in the case of Plymouth there are results for the period 1973-1995 in the section “pre-unitary councils” and then subsequent results for Plymouth appear in “English unitary councils”.
More recent results for England and Wales may be obtained by purchasing Local Elections Handbooks.
The 2012 Scottish council elections results published by Hugh Bochel and David Denver may also be purchased.
Note: We are dependent on local authorities and the historical record for data quality. Results from the 1970s often excluded some information, particularly voter turnout. We have noticed that in some of these reports the calculation for turnout in multimember wards is incorrect; in some cases it exceeds 100%!. Rather than start again we decided to make the current reports available and warn users about the problem. Eventually, we’ll get around to up-dating the files but this takes time and resources so please be patient.