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Easy News: Council and Mayoral Elections

This week’s Easy News story looks at May 2021’s council and mayoral elections. This story was translated by Ian.

Easy News: Council and Mayoral Elections

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    1. On Thursday 6 May there were elections across the UK. These included local council and mayoral elections.

    2. The council elections decide which political party is in charge of the council in a particular area. They make decisions about roads, housing and other public services.

    3. The Mayor has a bigger role and is normally the elected leader of the council. They’re responsible for the day-to-day running of lots of local services that keep the city running.

    4. The Council Elections saw historic wins for the Conservative Party who took a lot of councils and seats in government away from Labour and the other political parties.

    5. Many people were unhappy with the Labour Leader Sir Kier Starmer because of the defeats the party had across England. They felt that Labour did not give their voters good enough reasons to vote for them.

    6. The results also saw a historic win for the Conservatives in the Hartlepool by-election. Labour has had control of Hartlepool since 1974, so it was a big win for the Conservative Party.

    7. A by-election happens when a seat in parliament becomes vacant between general elections and the MP needs replacing. An election is held to find a new MP for that area.

    8. The Conservatives did not do as well in Scotland, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) kept control of the Scottish government.

    9. The SNP won 62 councils across the whole of Scotland. Because they are so far ahead of all the other parties there could be another vote on whether Scotland stays as part of the United Kingdom.

    10. Many people in Scotland want to leave the UK and be a separate nation for many reasons.

    11. In Wales the Labour Party was the most successful. They were already in power there but they kept control.

    12. Labour also were successful in the Mayoral elections. Sadiq Khan will remain the Mayor of London and Andy Burnham will remain as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

    13. The Green Party were also successful. In total they won more than 80 seats across the country. But they did not win enough to have complete control of any individual council.

    14. Overall the Conservatives won lots of the councils, particularly within towns and rural areas. Labour did better in the Mayoral elections in built up city areas.

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