Lewes District Council elections

Lewes District council in East Sussex, England is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2003, 41 councillors are elected from 21 wards.

Following the election on 2 May 2019 the Council is composed as follows

Year	Conservative	Liberal Democrat	Green Party	Independent	Labour	UKIP
2015	24	11	3	2	0	1
2019[1]	19	8	9	2	3	0

Political parties

From its formation, until 2013, the council comprised mainly Conservative and Liberal Democrat or Liberal councillors, with a small number of independents and some Labour councillors at different points. However, in 2013 two Conservative members of the council crossed the floor and joined UKIP, giving the party its first Lewes District councillors. This also meant that the Conservatives lost control of the council, putting it in No overall control. In 2015, neither of the previous UKIP members were re-elected; however, a new UKIP District Councillor was elected to the council, and, for the first time in its history, three Green Party councillors.

2019 saw the Conservative Party return 19 councillors, and the Green Party increase their representation to nine councillors, becoming the second largest party, ahead of the Liberal Democrats, who managed eight. The Labour Party elected three councillors, and they were joined by two Independents.

However, since then, one Green Party Councillor has left the Green Party to join the Liberal Democrats on Lewes Council, making the Liberal Democrats the second largest party.[2]

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[3]

Party in control		Years
	Conservative	1973–1991
	Liberal Democrats	1991–2011
	Conservative	2011–2013
	No overall control	2013–2015
	Conservative	2015–2018
	No overall control	2018–present

Council elections

• 1973 Lewes District Council election
• 1976 Lewes District Council election
• 1979 Lewes District Council election
• 1983 Lewes District Council election (New ward boundaries)[4]
• 1987 Lewes District Council election
• 1991 Lewes District Council election
• 1995 Lewes District Council election (District boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same)[5]
• 1999 Lewes District Council election
• 2003 Lewes District Council election (New ward boundaries reduced the number of seats by 7)[6][7]
• 2007 Lewes District Council election
• 2011 Lewes District Council election
• 2015 Lewes District Council election
• 2019 Lewes District Council election (New ward boundaries)

By-election results

1999-2003

Peacehaven North By-Election 6 December 2001

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		450	49.3	+10.1
	Labour		293	32.1	+10.5
	Liberal Democrats		169	18.5	-20.7
Majority			157	17.2
Turnout			912	16.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

2003-2007

Peacehaven North By-Election 15 December 2005[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chistopher Bishop	406	64.6	+12.7
	Liberal Democrats	Carla Butler	113	18.0	-12.0
	Labour	John Carden	109	17.4	-0.8
Majority			293	46.6
Turnout			628	18.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ouse Valley and Ringmer By-Election 17 August 2006[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Gardiner	715	43.7	+21.6
	Conservative	Paul Gander	521	31.8	+6.5
	Seagulls	Edward Bassford	359	21.9	+21.9
	Labour	Trevor Hopper	41	2.5	-10.7
Majority			194	12.9
Turnout			1,636	33.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent		Swing

2015-present

Ouse Valley & Ringmer by-election 7 September 2017[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Johnny Denis	835	38.7	+22.3
	Conservative	Clare Herbert	660	30.6	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats	James Gardiner	457	21.2	-8.0
	Labour	Tim Telford	167	7.7	-4.4
	UKIP	Phil Howson	38	1.8	-11.5
Majority			175	8.1
Turnout			2,161	42
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing

References

1. "Full Results Notice (Lewes District District Council) - 2 May 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-04.
2. "Council's mental health champion resigns from Lewes Green group". sussexexpress.co.uk. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
3. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
4. legislation.gov.uk - The District of Lewes (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1979. Retrieved on 19 November 2015.
5. legislation.gov.uk - The East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent (County Boundaries) Order 1992. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
6. "Lewes". BBC Online. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
7. legislation.gov.uk - The District of Lewes (Electoral Changes) Order 2001. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
8. "Lib Dem infighting sees mixed byelection results". guardian.co.uk. 2005-12-16. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
9. "By-election - Lewes District Council" (PDF). Lewes District Council. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
10. "Result of poll" (PDF). Lewes District Council. Retrieved 18 August 2017.

• By-election results

External links

• Lewes District Council