The United Kingdom local elections of 2004 were held on 10 June, as part of the 2004 set of elections along with the European elections and the London mayoral and Assembly elections.

About the elections

The councils of all the metropolitan boroughs in England and all the principal areas of Wales were all up for re-election, along with many other district and unitary authorities throughout England. No local elections were held in Scotland.

They were the first since the election of Michael Howard to the leadership of the Conservative Party. Howard was looking for a good result in the election to confirm that the Conservatives were back on the road to being able to seriously consider winning the next general election.

Early results confirmed that the Labour Party was having a bad time. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that, "Iraq was a cloud, or indeed a shadow, over these elections. I am not saying we haven't had a kicking. It's not a great day for Labour".

However the Conservatives were not making many of the gains that would have indicated a complete change of electoral fortune. The national equivalent share of the vote in the election was found by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher to be 37% to the Conservatives, 27% to the Liberal Democrats and 26% to Labour. For one of the two major parties to come third in local elections was unheard of in the post-1945 period, let alone for a governing party with such a large majority to come third.

Even in the North, Labour's traditional heartland, Labour did not do too well, losing control of Doncaster, Leeds, Newcastle and St Helens. However, they did pick up several councils, notably Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taff from Plaid Cymru in Wales.

Despite an increase in their vote and number of councillors, the Liberal Democrats saw a net loss of councils to NOC. The loss to the Conservatives of Eastbourne was in a single-seat by-election. This was partially offset by victories in Newcastle and Pendle.

Results

* Note: NOC (No Overall Control) indicates no party had a majority within that council

Party		Councillors		Councils
		+/-	Total	+/-	Total
	Conservative Party	+283	1714	+13	51
	Labour Party	-479	2250	-8	39
	Liberal Democrats	+137	1283	-2	9
	Plaid Cymru	-28	172	-2	1
	Other	+13	625	-1	66

Council	Former control	New control	Type	Link to council election
Adur	Conservative	Conservative	District	Adur
Amber Valley	Conservative	Conservative	District	Amber Valley
Anglesey	Independent	Independent	Unitary
Barnsley	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Barnsley
Barrow-in-Furness	Labour	Labour	District	Barrow-in-Furness
Basildon	Conservative	Conservative	District
Basingstoke and Deane	NOC	NOC	District
Bassetlaw	Labour	NOC	District
Bedford	NOC	NOC	District
Birmingham	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan
Blackburn with Darwen	Labour	Labour	Unitary	Blackburn with Darwen
Blaenau Gwent	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Bolton	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	Bolton
Bradford	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan
Brentwood	NOC	Conservative	District	Brentwood
Bridgend	Labour	NOC	Unitary
Broadland	Conservative	Conservative	District
Broxbourne	Conservative	Conservative	District	Broxbourne
Burnley	Labour	NOC	District
Bury	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Caerphilly	Plaid Cymru	Labour	Unitary
Calderdale	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	Calderdale
Cambridge	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	District
Cannock Chase	NOC	NOC	District
Cardiff	Labour	NOC	Unitary
Carlisle	NOC	NOC	District
Carmarthenshire	NOC	NOC	Unitary
Castle Point	Conservative	Conservative	District
Ceredigion	Independent	NOC	Unitary
Cheltenham	Liberal Democrat	NOC	District
Cherwell	Conservative	Conservative	District	Cherwell
Chester	NOC	NOC	District
Chorley	NOC	NOC	District	Chorley
Colchester	NOC	NOC	District
Congleton	Conservative	Conservative	District
Conwy	NOC	NOC	Unitary
Coventry	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan
Craven	NOC	NOC	District	Craven
Crawley	Labour	Labour	District
Crewe and Nantwich	NOC	NOC	District
Daventry	Conservative	Conservative	District	Daventry
Denbighshire	Other	NOC	Unitary
Derby	NOC	NOC	Unitary	Derby
Doncaster	Labour	NOC	Metropolitan
Dudley	NOC	Conservative	Metropolitan
Eastbourne	Liberal Democrats	Conservative	District
Eastleigh	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	District	Eastleigh
Ellesmere Port and Neston	Labour	Labour	District	Ellesmere Port and Neston
Elmbridge	Other	Other	District
Epping Forest	NOC	NOC	District	Epping Forest
Exeter	NOC	NOC	District
Fareham	Conservative	Conservative	District
Flintshire	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Gateshead	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Gateshead
Gloucester	NOC	NOC	District
Gosport	NOC	NOC	District	Gosport
Great Yarmouth	Conservative	Conservative	District
Gwynedd	Plaid Cymru	Plaid Cymru	Unitary
Halton	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Harlow	NOC	NOC	District	Harlow
Harrogate	Conservative	Conservative	District
Hart	Conservative	Conservative	District
Hartlepool	NOC	Labour	Unitary
Hastings	Labour	NOC	District	Hastings
Havant	Conservative	Conservative	District
Hertsmere	Conservative	Conservative	District
Huntingdonshire	Conservative	Conservative	District
Hyndburn	Conservative	Conservative	District	Hyndburn
Ipswich	Labour	NOC	District	Ipswich
Isle of Wight	NOC	Conservative	Unitary
Kingston-upon-Hull	NOC	NOC	Unitary	Kingston-upon-Hull
Kirklees	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan
Knowsley	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Knowsley
Leeds	Labour	NOC	Metropolitan
Lincoln	Labour	Labour	District	Lincoln
Liverpool	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	Metropolitan	Liverpool
Macclesfield	Conservative	Conservative	District
Maidstone	NOC	NOC	District
Manchester	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Merthyr Tydfil	NOC	Labour	Unitary
Milton Keynes	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	Unitary
Mole Valley	NOC	NOC	District	Mole Valley
Monmouthshire	NOC	Conservative	Unitary	Monmouthshire
Neath Port Talbot	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Newcastle-under-Lyme	NOC	Labour	District	Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle upon Tyne	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Metropolitan
Newport	Labour	Labour	Unitary
North East Lincolnshire	NOC	NOC	Unitary
North Hertfordshire	Conservative	Conservative	District
North Tyneside	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	North Tyneside
Norwich	Liberal Democrats	NOC	District
Nuneaton and Bedworth	Labour	Labour	District	Nuneaton and Bedworth
Oldham	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Oxford	Labour	NOC	District	Oxford
Pembrokeshire	Other	Other	Unitary
Pendle	NOC	Liberal Democrats	District
Penwith	NOC	NOC	District	Penwith
Peterborough	NOC	Conservative	Unitary	Peterborough
Plymouth	Labour	Labour	District
Portsmouth	NOC	NOC	Unitary	Portsmouth
Powys	Other	Other	Unitary
Preston	NOC	NOC	District	Preston
Purbeck	Conservative	Conservative	District	Purbeck
Reading	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Redditch	NOC	Labour	District	Redditch
Reigate and Banstead	Conservative	Conservative	District
Rhondda Cynon Taff	Plaid Cymru	Labour	Unitary
Rochdale	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	Rochdale
Rochford	Conservative	Conservative	District	Rochford
Rossendale	NOC	Conservative	District	Rossendale
Rotherham	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Rugby	NOC	NOC	District	Rugby
Runnymede	Conservative	Conservative	District	Runnymede
Rushmoor	Conservative	Conservative	District
Salford	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Salford
Sandwell	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Sefton	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	Sefton
Sheffield	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Sheffield
Shrewsbury and Atcham	Conservative	Conservative	District
Slough	Labour	NOC	Unitary
Solihull	Conservative	Conservative	Metropolitan
South Bedfordshire	Conservative	Conservative	District
South Cambridgeshire	NOC	NOC	District
South Lakeland	NOC	NOC	District	South Lakeland
South Tyneside	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Southampton	NOC	NOC	Unitary
Southend-on-Sea	Conservative	Conservative	District
St Albans	NOC	NOC	District
St Helens	Labour	NOC	Metropolitan	St Helens
Stevenage	Labour	Labour	District	Stevenage
Stockport	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	Metropolitan
Stoke-on-Trent	NOC	Labour	Unitary
Stratford-on-Avon	Conservative	Conservative	District
Stroud	Conservative	Conservative	District
Sunderland	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Swale	Conservative	Conservative	District
Swansea	Labour	NOC	Unitary
Swindon	NOC	Conservative	Unitary
Tameside	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Tamworth	Labour	Conservative	District	Tamworth
Tandridge	Conservative	Conservative	District	Tandridge
Three Rivers	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	District	Three Rivers
Thurrock	Labour	Conservative	Unitary	Thurrock
Torfaen	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Trafford	NOC	Conservative	Metropolitan	Trafford
Tunbridge Wells	Conservative	Conservative	District	Tunbridge Wells
Vale of Glamorgan	NOC	NOC	Unitary
Wakefield	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Walsall	NOC	Conservative	Metropolitan
Warrington	Labour	Labour	Unitary
Watford	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	District	Watford
Waveney	NOC	NOC	District
Welwyn Hatfield	Conservative	Conservative	District
West Lancashire	Conservative	Conservative	District	West Lancashire
West Lindsey	NOC	Conservative	District	West Lindsey
West Oxfordshire	Conservative	Conservative	District
Weymouth and Portland	NOC	NOC	District	Weymouth and Portland
Wigan	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan	Wigan
Winchester	Liberal Democrats	NOC	District
Wirral	NOC	NOC	Metropolitan	Wirral
Woking	NOC	NOC	District
Wokingham	Conservative	Conservative	Unitary
Wolverhampton	Labour	Labour	Metropolitan
Worcester	Conservative	Conservative	District
Worthing	NOC	Conservative	District	Worthing
Wrexham	NOC	NOC	Unitary
Wyre Forest	NOC	NOC	District

References

• House of Commons Library Research Paper