Gloucestershire county council election: Tories lose to no overall control
Gloucestershire County Council has no over all control as the conservatives lose their majority.
Elections results for Gloucestershire County Council have come in and the Conservative party have lost their majority after 20 years in control.
The results for the election by party is as follows:
Liberal Democrats: 27 seats
Reform: 11 seats
Green Party: 9 seats
Conservative: 6 seats
Independent: 1 seat
Labour & Co-operative: 1 seat
28 seats out of 55 were needed for an overall majority and as the Liberal Democrats missed that by 1 there will be no overall majority.
Gloucestershire County Council, which has a budget of more than £665m this year, is responsible for the county’s roads and highways, education, social care, libraries, and environmental services.
What was the council make up before the election?
The Conservatives have been in charge at Gloucestershire County Council for almost 20 years and going into these elections they were the largest group with 26 councillors.
The Liberal Democrats had 16 seats on the council while the Greens and Labour had four councillors each.
There were also two Independent councillors on the council who were former Tories.
This time there were 55 seats up for grabs after two new divisions were created.
Reform UK who did not have any Gloucestershire councillors going into the elections had candidates in every seat.
Their national leader Nigel Farage visited the county during the election campaign and claimed they were “replacing the Tories nationally”.
But the Tories say people are experiencing “buyer’s remorse” since the general election in 2024 after seeing unpopular policies introduced by the Labour Government.
National leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, also visited the county.
He called out “years of neglect” on roads in the region and said while at Gloucester Ski Centre that his party would “properly prioritise potholes” in his latest campaign visit.
And the Green Party have improved on their best ever County Council results which saw them win four seats in 2021.