How many UK councillors won with less support than a fair count would require?

First-Past-the-Post and bloc vote let a candidate win on whatever share the vote-splitting produces — there is no minimum threshold. We compare every elected councillor's share of valid ballots to the proportional quota: the share that would be needed to be guaranteed that seat under any proportional voting method (1 seats + 1). Across five cycles — 847 council×cycle pairs, 15,496 ward races, 22,608 seats elected — 14,923 (66.0%) were elected on less.

Year-over-year flips

Each council that changed plurality party between consecutive cycles, coloured by the party that took control. Councils that haven't flipped (or that we only have one cycle for) stay grey. Hover for the cycle and the party transition; click to see the council's full history.

Incoming party (latest flip)
  • Labour
  • Conservative
  • Liberal Democrats
  • Reform UK
  • Green
  • Independent / other
  • No flip in our data

Ten biggest flips

Councils where the largest party (by seats won) changed between consecutive cycles, ranked by how much bigger the seat swing was than the vote swing for the incoming party. The textbook First-Past-the-Post volatility story: small movement in support, total movement in representation.

CouncilCycleFlipVote shiftSeat shift
Wealden2021 → 2023Conservative and Unionist Party Liberal Democrats+0.6 pts+22.9 pts
Amber Valley2022 → 2023Conservative and Unionist Party Labour Party−1.9 pts+35.2 pts
Tamworth2022 → 2023Conservative and Unionist Party Labour Party+3.6 pts+60.0 pts
Runnymede2023 → 2024Conservative and Unionist Party Labour Party+0.2 pts+14.3 pts
Welwyn Hatfield2024 → 2025Labour Party Liberal Democrats+0.2 pts+12.5 pts
Cambridge2024 → 2025Labour Party Liberal Democrats+1.9 pts+20.2 pts
Malvern Hills2021 → 2023Conservative and Unionist Party Independent+0.1 pts+10.5 pts
North Hertfordshire2022 → 2023Labour Party Liberal Democrats+2.4 pts+22.2 pts
East Cambridgeshire2023 → 2025Conservative and Unionist Party Liberal Democrats−3.2 pts+28.6 pts
Tewkesbury2021 → 2023Conservative and Unionist Party Liberal Democrats+1.6 pts+13.5 pts

Distorted elections

Councils where seats were handed to candidates on less support than a proportional method would require. The map shades every UK council by how many of its seats fell below that bar in its most recent cycle (darker = worse); the table picks out the ten thinnest individual mandates anywhere in the data.

% below quota
0%50%100%

One hex = one council. Geographic position is approximate (cartogram, not a literal map). A council that polled in 2025 shows 2025; a London Borough that last polled in 2022 shows 2022.

Ten least popular winners

The seats furthest below the proportional quota anywhere in the data — councillors elected on the smallest share of valid ballots cast in their ward. Click a ward to jump to its race in context.

YearWard / CouncilSeat-holder (party, per public record)SeatsWon atQuotaUnder par
2025Truro Moresk & Trehaverne
Cornwall		Steven Mark Webb
Liberal Democrats		118.9%50.0%+31.1 pts
2025St Ives South & Needingworth
Huntingdonshire		Alex Bulat
Labour and Co-operative Party		123.2%50.0%+26.8 pts
2025Constantine, Mabe & Mawnan
Cornwall		Anna Thomason-Kenyon
Reform UK		123.4%50.0%+26.6 pts
2025Amble West with Warkworth
Northumberland		Pauline Davidson
Reform UK		123.8%50.0%+26.2 pts
2022Pontyclun East
Rhondda Cynon Taf		Binning P.
Independent		123.8%50.0%+26.2 pts
2025North Belper
Amber Valley		Emma Louise Monkman
Labour and Co-operative Party		123.9%50.0%+26.1 pts
2021Burnley South West
Burnley		Pate L.
Labour Party		124.8%50.0%+25.2 pts
2025Market Harborough West & Foxton
Harborough		David John Page
Conservative and Unionist Party		124.9%50.0%+25.1 pts
2025Ipplepen & The Kerswells
Teignbridge		Heather Maureen Horner
Reform UK		125.2%50.0%+24.8 pts
2025Saltash Trematon & Landrake
Cornwall		Paul Anthony Cador
Reform UK		125.4%50.0%+24.6 pts

See the full leaderboard of below-quota seats across all cycles.

All councils

318 councils with at least one cycle of data. Click a name for the council overview, with every cycle and cross-cycle party-control changes.

Council elections by year