Lewes District Council in East Sussex, England is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2019, 41 councillors are elected from 21 wards.
Following the elections in May 2015, on 2 May 2019 and on 4 May 2023, the Council was composed as follows
Year | Labour | UKIP | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
2019[1] | 19 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
2023[2] | 0 | 15 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
From its formation, until 2013, the council comprised mainly Conservative and Liberal Democrat or Liberal councillors, with a small number of independents and some Labour councillors at different points. However, in 2013 two Conservative members of the council crossed the floor and joined UKIP, giving the party its first Lewes District councillors. This also meant that the Conservatives lost control of the council, putting it in No overall control. In 2015, neither of the previous UKIP members were re-elected; however, a new UKIP District Councillor was elected to the council, and, for the first time in its history, three Green Party councillors.
2019 saw the Conservative Party return 19 councillors, and the Green Party increase their representation to nine councillors, becoming the second largest party, ahead of the Liberal Democrats, who managed eight. The Labour Party elected three councillors, and they were joined by two Independents.
However in 2021, one Green Party Councillor left the Green Party to join the Liberal Democrats on Lewes Council, making the Liberal Democrats the second largest party.[3] In 2022 the Labour Party gained a seat from the Conservatives in a by-election. Then, in the 2023 local elections for all 41 Council seats, the Conservatives and Independents lost all of their remaining seats of Lewes Council, leaving the Green Party as the largest group, the Liberal Democrats as the second largest group, and the Labour Party as the remaining group.