Cheshire West and Chester Council election, 2011

Cheshire West and Chester Council Election, 2011

← 2008 5 May 2011 2015 →
All 75 seats in Cheshire West and Chester Council 38 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Mike Jones Derek Bateman Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrat Leader's seat Tattenhall Ellesmere Port Town Last election 55 13 4 Seats before 50 13 4 Seats won 8 19 3 Seats after 42 32 1 Popular vote 84,705 69,829 22,223   Fourth party Fifth party   Party UKIP Independent Last election 0 0 Seats before 1 4 Seats won 1 4 Seats after 0 0 Popular vote 2,889 5,732

The 2011 elections to Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council were the first elections to this Council after it had been re-warded into a mixture of single-, two- and three-member wards. They took place on 5th May alongside the United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, 2011. The previous election held for 2008 were based on the old Cheshire County Council electoral divisions each of which returned 3 members. The 2008 elections elected 72 members to serve first on the shadow authority and then, with effect from 1 April 2009, the new Council when it took over responsibility for the delivery of local government services.

Given the re-warding that took place in time for the 2011 elections, direct comparisons between the 2008 and 2011 results are problematic. Superficially the 2011 results give the impression of a dramatic swing to Labour when compared with the 2008 results—however, this is misleading. In 2008 the Labour Party was particularly unpopular, with the local government elections taking place shortly after the '10p tax rate' had been abolished, plunging Labour support to a particular low. This unpopularity, coupled with the then large electoral wards electing 3 councillors per ward, and the first-past-the-post system, very much favoured the then leading party in the opinion polls—the Conservatives—who, in 2008, won a much greater majority than had otherwise been predicted.

The 2011 elections with the re-warding took place one year into the national Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition at a time when support for the Liberal Democrats was at a particular low. Nationally Labour's support had rallied considerably when compared with 2008.

Before the elections in 2011 the majority Conservative party suffered a small number of defections principally almost certainly associated with existing councillors failing to be selected by the party to fight the seat of their choice.

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