I was hoping that nobody would post about this, because this means I now have to write a post about how local government works in the UK.
So… you may have noticed in the linked article that only some of the UK was voting last week:
These elections were in Northern Ireland and part of England. The other parts of the UK didn’t have elections last week. Why? Well…
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all have their own separate systems of local government. Each of these nations is split into local councils, which are elected on a five-yearly basis in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and a four-yearly basis in Wales. Elections in Scotland and Northern Ireland are held by Single Transferable Vote (STV), and in Wales byFirst past the post (FPTP)
England, on the other hand, has at least four different systems of local government, depending on where you live, and these can have one of three different schedules as part of a four-year cycle.
- Some councils elect their members by thirds- 1/3 of the members are up for election in years 1,2, and 3 of the cycle, and there are no elections in the fourth.
- Some councils hold elections by halves- 1/2 of the members are up for election in years 1 and 3 of the cycle.
- Some councils elect all their members at once-with all members up for election every four years.
Then you have the four different types of council-
- Unitary Authorities- A set of councils that have power over all local government issues in their area.
- Shire Counties- A set of two-tier councils that split responsibilities between the larger county and the smaller local district- elections are held at both levels.
- Metropolitan Boroughs- Another set of councils that have almost but not quite the same powers as unitary authorities. These used to be two-tier authorities, but the metropolitan counties that were created to cover these areas were abolished, and most (but not all) of their responsibilities fell to the boroughs.
- London Boroughs- London has a completely separate system of local government, with the local boroughs being responsible for some things, the London Assembly being responsible for others, and The Mayor of London for yet others. In what I can only presume is an exercise in teaching Londoners about all possible forms of elections systems, each level of local government has its own method- The boroughs use FPTP, the assembly uses the Additional Member System, and the Mayor is elected by Alternative Vote.
In addition, a group of these councils might form a “combined authority” which additional powers over and above those of the local government, in a sort of recreation of the metropolitan counties but not really.
Lastly, some of these councils have directly elected mayors, to act as the executive of the council that they are attached to.
In short- don’t try to understand English local government. Like a lot of things that Westminster are responsible for, it’s a hodgepodge mess of half-thought out ideas badly layered on top of existing structures with no thought about making a coherent whole.
