Elections in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes - what you need to know

Hundreds of local councillors in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Milton Keynes and surrounding areas are up for election on Thursday 4 May 2023.

Although local elections are held every year in the Anglia region, this year is the largest number of the four-year election cycle. It will be the biggest test of political opinion ahead of a General Election expected some time next year.

Overall across the entire Anglia region 4,500 candidates are campaigning to be elected to more than 1,400 council seats on 44 local authorities.

In some places one third of the seats on the councils are being contested and in others it is the entire council facing election.

• BEDFORDSHIRE

There are three unitary councils in Bedfordshire which run all the local council services from education to social services, highways and planning to recycling and rubbish collections.

They are Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton.

BEDFORD

Bedford is the only local authority in the Anglia region that has a directly-elected mayor who is also up for election in May. Until now mayors have been elected by the proportional alternative vote method but that has been changed to the traditional first-past-the-post method used in most other council seats and parliamentary elections.

The current mayor is Liberal Democrat Dave Hodgson who has been in post since 2009. In May is facing a challenge from Saqhib Ali (Labour), Adrian Spurrell (Green), Alberto Thomas (Heritage Party) and Tom Wootton (Conservative)

Despite having a Liberal Democrat mayor for 14 years, Bedford Borough has been hung council since 1986 when the Conservatives lost their overall majority. Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats hold 11, 12 and 13 seats currently and any party would need 24 seats to win outright power on the newly-elected council.

Only five Labour MPs were elected in the Anglia region at the 2019 General Election; one is the MP for Bedford although the constituency covers a much smaller area than the borough.

There have been boundary changes in the Bedford council area and the new council will have six additional councillors, making a total of 46.

CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE

Central Bedfordshire has been Conservative-controlled since the creation of unitary council in 2009. It was formed by the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire councils.

The Conservatives still have a sizeable overall majority of 20 seats despite losing 11 seats at the last election in 2019.

There have been boundary changes in the Central Bedfordshire council area and the new council will have four additional councillors, making a total of 63.

LUTON

Labour lost control of Luton Council in 2003 after 12 years in power but won it back in 2007 and have had an overall majority ever since. The Conservatives had an overall majority in Luton between 1976 and 1991.

Only five Labour MPs were elected in the Anglia region at the 2019 General Election; two of them represent Luton.

Labour are currently defending an overall majority of eight seats.

There have been boundary changes in the Luton council area but the new council will have the same number of councillors as before - 48.

• CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Four of the six district and unitary councils in Cambridgeshire are holding elections in May. There are no widespread elections in Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire, which held their elections last year.

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 and a further seat in 2022.

The Labour majority is 13.

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

EAST CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Until 1999 East Cambridgeshire had always been an Independent-run council but then the Liberal Democrats were in power for four years. The Conservatives took control for the first time in 2007.

The Tory majority was cut to just two at the last election in 2019 with the Liberal Democrats making 10 gains.

All 28 seats on the council are up for election.

FENLAND

Fenland Council in north-east Cambridgeshire has been run by the Conservatives since 1999 and saw their majority cut to 13.

Labour briefly had an overall majority in 1995 to 1997.

There have been boundary changes in the Fenland council area and the new council will have four additional councillors, making a total of 43.

PETERBOROUGH

The Conservatives run a minority administration on Peterborough City Council and need a further three 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.

In May, 21 of the 60 seats on the council are up for election.

• HERTFORDSHIRE

Among the places in Hertfordshire with local elections are the councils in Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, North Hertfordshire, St Albans, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield.

DACORUM

Dacorum in west Hertfordshire has been a Conservative council for most of the time since its creation in 1973 although Labour held power from 1973-76 and 1995-99.

The Conservatives currently have a majority of 11 with the Liberal Democrats as the main opposition.

All 51 seats on the council are up for election.

EAST HERTFORDSHIRE

East Hertfordshire has only ever been a Conservative-controlled council although the party had no overall majority between 1995 and 1999 and for a short period in the 1970s.

Currently the Tories have a majority of 30. At the 2015 local elections, all 50 councillors were Conservative.

There are boundary changes in East Hertfordshire but the council will remain with 50 councillors.

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 remain the largest grouping and would need six net gains to take back power.

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

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 but consolidated that victory in 2022. The Tories ran the council from 2015 until 2019.

Eighteen of the 56 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 now has an overall majority of nine seats.

Thirteen 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 four seats would evaporate with the net loss of two seats this time.

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

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

• MILTON KEYNES

Labour and the Liberal Democrats run a joint 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 seven net gains to win outright power and Labour would need nine.

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

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

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