These proved to be David Cameron's last local elections as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister as he resigned two months later following the defeat of Remain in the referendum on Britain's continuing membership of the European Union which was held seven weeks later.

Longstanding elections analysts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher of Plymouth University estimate a National Equivalent Vote (NEV) share, and in 2016 put Labour on 33%, the Conservatives on 31%, the Liberal Democrats on 14% and UKIP on 12%.

Jeremy Corbyn claimed that the results were better than anticipated, given that Labour was expected to lose more councillors and councils.

[10] [11] [12] The Liberal Democrats failed to win back areas where they lost seats in prior elections, though they did make a slight recovery after heavy losses in 2015.

UKIP was also assessed to have underperformed, given its association with the upcoming 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.