Lancashire County Council local election results as they happen
The Lancashire Lead is at several count centres across the county today
Counting of the votes cast in yesterday’s Lancashire County Council elections gets under way later this morning.
The ballots will be tallied at 12 count centres across the county – one in each Lancashire district that went to the polls.
That process begins at 10am and the overall result – which will determine which party controls the county council for what will likely be the final term of its existence – is expected at some point this afternoon.
The Conservatives will be hoping to make it three Lancashire County Council election victories in a row, having been in charge at County Hall since 2017.
The Labour opposition group will want to capitalise on Tory woes nationally in the wake of last year’s general election – but avoid being tainted by any of their own national party’s more controversial policies implemented during its first 10 months in government.
At the time of the last county council vote in 2021, the Conservatives and Labour came first and second in the majority of seats.
Recent national polling – and the results of the general election – point towards a more open contest this time round, with the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and a seemingly surging Reform UK all in the mix. That trio each currently has just two seats – with those for Reform coming after defections just prior to the local elections.
3.30pm - All seats declared
All seats have declared and it has been a devastating day for the two most established parties in Lancashire.
The Conservatives had 46 and Labour on 26 seats before today but have dropped to 8 and 5 respectively. Reform are on 53, and will take control of the council.
Smaller parties won seats elsewhere, with Lib Dems up to 5 from 2, Greens up to 4 from 2, Our West Lancashire up to 2 from zero and 7 independent candidates.
We will have full reaction in your inboxes tomorrow morning if you are signed up to The Lancashire Lead.
2.50pm - Reform will take control of Lancashire County Council
It is now confirmed - having reached 43 elected councillors, Reform now has control of Lancashire County Council. And there is still time for the majority to keep growing.
2.35pm: Reform control of LCC inevitable
We are surely now moments away from Reform securing a majority of divisions which will give the upstart party control of Lancashire County Council.
Stephen Atkinson, who was leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council before defecting to Reform, has just overturned a significant majority to win Ribble Valley South West by an incredibly comfortable margin. Expect him to be named as the new county council leader tomorrow.
1.39pm: A third done
With more than a third of results now declared, a clear pattern has emerged. Reform is wanted, independent candidates are wanted, the two main parties are not.
It’s been absolutely bruising for Labour and the Conservatives with big majorities overturned and heartlands lost. Skelmersdale in West Lancashire is usually as guaranteed a win as Labour could hope for but national politics combined with the borough council’s disastrous handling of plans to close swimming pools has seen Reform win there.
At the time of writing, Reform has claimed 21 of the 33 seats and is on track to be the largest party on the council. If things continue as they are so far, it will have a controlling majority too.
A year after a huge General Election landslide where it claimed almost every Lancashire constituency, Labour is taking a pummelling. It has won in just two seats so far.
The Conservatives are also enduring a day far worse than they could have feared. From controlling the council yesterday, the Tories have so far picked up just two divisions so far.
Compare this with the success of independent candidates (so far seven have been elected) and it appears that for the two main parties, political insignificance is looming.
12.26pm: Very early analysis
The early results make for grim reading for Labour with two of its seats in nearby divisions lost to parties at the opposite end of the spectrum. In Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central, Hyndburn Borough Council’s leader Munsif Dad has been booted out of his council seat courtesy of an unexpected gain from the Green Party. Sohail Asghar has been elected there.
In Accrington North, Reform was named winner in the first result to be declared today - and with a big majority. Joel Tetlow, a political newcomer who works in renewable energy, picked up 1,600 votes and a 900 majority to take the division from Labour. Tetlow has been very active on social media and attracted condemnation for posts which include one shared from a far right group but has claimed a resounding victory.
The early narrative would suggest the two main parties are being just as badly rejected as many warned they would be.
12.00pm: The first seat is in…
…and it’s a comfortable victory for Joel Michael Tetlow of Reform UK in Accrington North with 52.15% of the vote. The Lancashire Telegraph reported on concerns over the content he was posting, but that didn’t dissuade people from voting.
But then a surprise in Accrington West & Oswaldtwistle Central which is taken by the Greens with a majority of just 133.
11.34am: Notes from Ribble Valley with Jamie Lopez
Verification is under way in Clitheroe with counting expected to begin before midday. Just four divisions are being contested in Ribble Valley - Clitheroe, Longridge with Bowland, Ribble Valley North East and Ribble Valley South West.
All four were won by the Tories in 2021 but a high profile defection from Ged Mirfin in the North East seat means he now represents Reform. He is standing again today and alongside fellow lapsed-Conservative Stephen Atkinson presents as a confident figure.
Mirfin tells me he is looking good to win the seat again, saying he hasn’t encountered a single person who will admit to voting Conservative while knocking on doors. He described Reform’s growth as like a “movement”, adding “you can almost physically feel it in the air”.
He said: “People have had 14 years of very poor experience with the Tories in power. Some were willing to vote for a change and voted Labour or didn’t vote and let Labour in and had a worse experience. I liken it to changing phone provider and having ended up with a worse experience.”
Atkinson, who was the Ribble Valley Borough Council leader before defecting, is looking to win the South West division in which the Tories enjoyed a 66.5% majority in 2021. While he admits it’s a huge challenge, he remains adamant it’s possible he can win.
Asked what issues have connected with voters, he cites small boats and council waste but said the latter problem was not an issue under his rule at borough level, saying council tax was frozen in three out of seven years and is well below levels seen in the likes of Preston and Burnley.
Asked if he was happy to be considered a protest vote, Atkinson said: “Is a protest vote a protest or it it just ‘we’ve tried the other two and now we’re ready for change. We’ve been very careful in what we’ve said, we’ve not overpromised.”
The Longridge with Bowland seat is being defended by Rupert Swarbrick, the current cabinet member for highways who enjoyed a 63% vote share four years ago. At the other end of the spectrum, Sue Hind is defending a majority of just 12 votes in Clitheroe, with Liberal Democrat Simon O’Rourke again trying to defeat her.
10.52am: Notes from Preston with Ed Walker
Leader of Preston City Council, and the current county councillor for Preston Central West - Matthew Brown has arrived. He's keeping a close eye - especially given the results happening beyond Lancashire overnight with the Runcorn by-election and Lincolnshire. But it's crucial to remember in local elections we often see very different voting patterns, and the individual personality of candidates becomes in very sharp focus.
I've spotted senior Lib Dem John Potter is doing his sums. He's usually a bit of a sage at local elections but we shall see if mystic Potter calls any right today. He currently holds Preston West but has the smallest majority of any Preston seat - just 136 votes.
A brief chat with the Reform crew and not surprisingly they are feeling very chipper after the results elsewhere happening for their party. Will we see the Reform surge in Preston? They did damage in the general election with relatively low level campaigning but have been very active this time. You'd expect the Northern part of the city in particular to be very much in play.
The feeling is the votes are really going all over the place depending on the different profiles of the divisions (which are quite broad for the county seats). So you're getting some parts of divisions voting solidly Reform, others Lib Dem and Labour holding up - or Tories. It means we're likely to end up with some really close counts. So we may be in for a very long day here at the Guild Hall.
Senior Conservative Sue Whittam is here along with fellow Conservatives - this time last year she was urging Rishi Sunak to have a general election after a very glum time for her and fellow Conservatives.
She's not feeling particularly chipper this morning either. She thinks Reform are likely to end up in power at County Hall.
Of course, whatever happens in Preston is just a part of the election story as these elections are for Lancashire and control of County Hall with 84 seats in total.
10.08am: How today works
All 84 Lancashire County Council members will be elected today across 82 ‘divisions’ – which are larger versions of the wards found at a district council level.
A party has to secure at least 43 seats in order to achieve a majority.
The Conservatives, Labour, the Green Party and Reform UK have contested all of the seats, while the Liberal Democrats fielded 62 candidates, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition stood eight, Our West Lancashire put forward four, the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom two and the UK Independence Party and the Workers Party of Great Britain one each.
All bar two divisions return just one county councillor, while Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors, and Pendle Rural elect two.
The sitting county councillor has stood again in 65 seats.
Amongst those choosing not to seek re-election are deputy leader and fiance portfolio-holder Alan Vincent, highways cabinet member Rupert Swarbrick and his adult social care colleague Graham Gooch. On the Labour benches, former Chorley Central representative Steve Holgate – who was first elected to County Hall in 1997 – has also decided to depart.
The last term saw a slew of changes in political allegiance, meaning several candidates are not standing under the same party colours as they did last time.
The Labour opposition leader at the last election – and for the majority of the last four years – Azhar Ali – was suspended from the party in February 2024, and later resigned, over comments he made about Israel. He has contested his Nelson East seat as an independent.
Three other Labour county councillors became independents in late 2023 in opposition to the national party’s stance on the war in Gaza – Yousuf Motala (Preston City), Usman Arif (Burnley North East) and Sobia Malik (Burnley Central East), although the latter has not stood again this time round.
County Cllr Mohammed Iqbal (Briefield and Nelson West) was amongst a group of Pendle district councillors to quit the party over freedom of speech concerns early last year and has also now sought re-election as an independent.
Following the death of the Tory Chorley Rural West member Keith Iddon in 2023, the seat fell to Labour at the resultant by-election.
Loraine Cox (Accrington North) switched from Labour to the Conservatives during the last term, although she has now stepped down.
In March, Conservatives Matthew Salter (Wyre Rural Central) and Ged Mirfin (Ribble Valley North East) both defected to Reform UK, giving the party a brief pre-election presence at County Hall.
Two incumbent candidates are also contesting different divisions to the ones they previously represented, but for the same parties as they stood for in 2021. Conservative Charlie Edwards – who was the member for Morecambe South – has this time fought the Skerton division, while the Green Party’s Scott Cunliffe has shifted from Burnley Central West to enter the fray for Brierfield and Nelson West.