1994 United Kingdom local elections

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1994.[1][2] The results showed a continued decline for the governing Conservatives (now in their 15th successive year of government at Westminster), with the third placed party, the Liberal Democrats, as the main beneficiaries.

1994 United Kingdom local elections

5 May 1994
All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 114 out of 296 English districts and all 12 Scottish regions
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader John Smith John Major Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 18 July 1992 28 November 1990 16 July 1988 Percentage 40% 27% 27% Councillors 9,257 7,286 4,551 Councillors +/- 44 516 428

The main opposition, the Labour Party, gained 44 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 9,257. Their projected national vote share was 40%, a 1% increase on the 1993 local elections. The Conservative Party lost 516 seats and were left with 7,286 councillors. Their projected national vote share was 27%, a 4% fall since the previous local elections in 1993. The Liberal Democrats gained 428 seats and had 4,551 councillors after the elections. The Liberals received a 27% share of the national vote, a 2% increase on 1993.

This was the last election to be contested by Labour Leader John Smith; he would die less than a week after the local elections.