Simon Parker of The Guardian described the elections as "a round of embarrassing [sic] defeats for Labour in a set of council elections that also saw opposition parties making minor inroads into the party's dominant position in local government.

[...] But the night really belonged to independents and the smaller parties, who made some high-profile gains as the voters expressed their dissatisfaction with mainstream politics.

‡ New ward boundaries All 36 English Metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries In 12 English Unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries In 42 English district authorities, one third of the council was up for election.