In England, direct elections were held in all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 194 second-tier district authorities, 49 unitary authorities and various mayoral posts, meaning local elections took place within all parts of England with the exceptions of seven unitary authorities (Cornwall, Durham, Northumberland, Isles of Scilly, Shropshire, the Isle of Wight and Wiltshire), and seven districts and boroughs (Adur, Cheltenham, Fareham, Gosport, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Oxford).

A UK-wide referendum[4] on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote electoral system for elections to the House of Commons and the Leicester South by-election was also held.

[5] Rallings and Thrasher of Plymouth University put Labour narrowly behind on 37% of the national vote, compared to 38% for the Conservatives and 16% for the Liberal Democrats.

[9] Their support recovered following a string of poor local election results during Gordon Brown's tenure and they gained over 800 council seats, mostly off the Liberal Democrats.

There were some surprising gains for the Conservatives against the Liberal Democrats, with councils previously considered strongholds for the latter, like North Norfolk, Vale of White Horse and Lewes changing hands.

[10] The losses coincided with the landslide rejection of the Alternative Vote referendum which had been supported by the Liberal Democrats and some members of the Labour Party.