Local elections in Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes - what you need to know

There are local council elections in Cambridgeshire on Thursday 5 May in the Cambridge, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough and South Cambridgeshire districts.

In Hertfordshire, the districts with elections are North Hertfordshire, St Albans, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield. The unitary council in Milton Keynes is also holding elections.

In most of these districts only one-third of the council seats are up for election but there are complete elections for the whole council in Huntingdonshire, St Albans and South Cambridgeshire.

There are no widespread elections in May 2022 in Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire although there may be some local ward by-elections.

Overall across the entire Anglia region nearly 1,400 candidates are campaigning to be elected to more than 420 council seats on 20 local authorities.

  • CAMBRIDGE

Labour have had a controlling majority on Cambridge City Council since 2014 but a Liberal Democrat comeback could cut into that. The Greens also gained two seats here in 2021.

The Labour majority is 12.

16 of the 42 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • HUNTINGDONSHIRE

Huntingdonshire District Council is the only council in the Anglia region to have had a Conservative-majority council since 1976.

With an overall majority of just seven, it could be vulnerable to the kind of Lib Dem surge that has been seen in other parts of Cambridgeshire.

After 2018, this is only the second election in Huntingdonshire where all the seats have been elected at once - it used to elect by thirds.

All 52 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • MILTON KEYNES

Labour runs a minority administration in Milton Keynes on a council that has been hung since 2006 meaning no one party has had enough council seats to out-vote all the other parties.

The Conservatives are the single biggest grouping, and would need six net gains to win outright power.

Milton Keynes is a unitary authority meaning a single council runs all the local services rather than two councils.

19 of the 57 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE

The Conservatives lost their overall majority on the council in 2019 after two decades in power.

The hung council is now a joint administration with Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The Tories would need two net gains to take back power.

18 of the 49 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • PETERBOROUGH

The Conservatives run a minority administration on Peterborough City Council and need a further two net gains to win an overall majority.

There was a Labour MP in Peterborough until the 2019 election but Labour has not been in power on the City Council, which covers a wider area, since 1997.

Peterborough is a unitary authority meaning a single council runs all the local services rather than two councils.

19 of the 60 seats on the council are up for election in May

The local council elections are held on Thursday 5 May with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm Credit: ITV News Anglia

  • ST ALBANS

The Liberal Democrats secured a slender overall majority on the district and city council in 2021 after victory in the parliamentary seat in 2019.

The Tories ran the council from 2015 until 2019 and the Lib Dems last had a majority stake in 2011.

St Albans normally elects by thirds but, following boundary changes, the whole council of 56 seats is up for election.

  • SOUTH CAMBRIDGESHIRE

There was a spectacular Liberal Democrat win to snatch control of the council from the Conservatives back at the last election in South Cambridgeshire in 2018.

It was one of the few areas of the Anglia region that voted against Brexit and the Tories paid the price, losing 25 council seats.

The Lib Dems are defending an overall majority of 12 seats.

After 2018, this is only the second election in South Cambridgeshire where all the seats have been elected at once - it used to elect by thirds.

All 45 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • STEVENAGE

Stevenage is the only council in the Anglia region that has always had a Labour majority since local government re-organisation in 1974.

The party came close to losing it in 2021 as they shed seven of their council seats, mostly to the Conservatives.

Labour has an overall majority of just three seats so would lose power the the first time if they make a further two net losses.

13 of the 39 seats on the council are up for election in May

  • WELWYN HATFIELD

The Conservative won back controlling power in Welwyn in the 2021 local elections with the net gain of five seats after losing their overall majority two years previously.

Their majority of eight seats would evaporate with the net loss of three seats this time.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are relatively evenly matched as the opposition parties in the district.

17 of the 48 seats on the council are up for election in May