Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1996. They were the last local elections until 2010 to show a decline in the number of Conservative

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

and an increase in the number of Labour councillors. The main opposition Labour Party gained 468 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 10,929. Their share of the vote was projected to be 43%, 4% down on the 1995 local elections. The governing Conservative Party lost 607 seats and were left with 4,276 councillors - still in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives' projected share of the vote was 29%, a 4% increase since the previous local elections in 1995. The Liberal Democrats gained 136 seats and had 5,078 councillors after the elections.

Summary of results

Source: Parliamentary Research Briefing on 1996 Local Election

England

Metropolitan boroughs

All 36 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

Unitary authorities

Whole council

These were the first elections to 13 more unitary authorities established by the Local Government Commission for England (1992). They acted as "shadow authorities" until 1 April 1997. ‡ New ward boundaries from predecessor authorities

Third of council

In 1 unitary authority one third of the council was up for election.

District councils

In 100 districts one third of the council was up for election. These were the last elections to the district councils of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, Halton,

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, Slough,

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

and

Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may ...

before they became

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

by the Local Government Commission for England (1992). These were also the last elections to the district councils of Gillingham, Hereford,

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster i ...

and

South Herefordshire South Herefordshire was one of nine local government districts of the English county of Hereford and Worcester from 1974 to 1998. History South Herefordshire District was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a general reorganisation of local admini ...

before they were abolished and replaced by

by the Local Government Commission for England (1992).

References

The local elections of 2 May 1996. House of Commons Library Research Paper 96/59.Vote 1999 BBC NewsVote 2000 BBC News
{{United Kingdom elections May 1996 events in the United Kingdom