Buckinghamshire voters were out in force last week and delivered the results in each constituency exactly as I suggested two weeks ago, writes Cllr Stuart Wilson, Leader of the Opposition IMPACT Alliance Group in Buckinghamshire Council.

Labour won three seats, the Conservatives two seats and the Liberal Democrats one seat. There is more political balance across Bucks. We have heard a lot of political noise before and after July 4th about the threat of “super-majorities”, vote share, and electoral reform. For reference, the Conservatives might be considered to have won a “super-majority” in Buckinghamshire Council in 2021 with 77% of the seats coming from 48% of the vote. This gives them complete control over policy, scrutiny, and governance. Is that dominance by one political party healthy for local democracy, and what does the General Election in Buckinghamshire mean for the Buckinghamshire Council local elections in May 2025?

Let’s first consider the results across Buckinghamshire. Even with the loss of three seats to Labour, the Conservatives still topped the vote share with 33% across the six constituencies but lost a considerable proportion of their vote to Reform UK at 12%. The Liberal Democrats and Labour were very close at 24% and 23% respectively. Green received 8% of votes and others, covering a wide variety of political interests, received 3%. Wycombe Labour has called for “a progressive majority” to overturn Conservative control in Buckinghamshire Council. Based on the 2025 vote share, there is certainly the platform for the dominant Conservative position to be challenged. The Conservatives received almost 48% of the local election vote in 2021, but there was very little threat from Reform UK at that point. The Conservative vote was clearly damaged by Reform UK in the General Election, and this will undoubtedly have an impact next year if Nigel Farage continues to be vocal in and out of Parliament.

A critical feature of the General Election was the power of tactical voting, both nationally and locally, in our “first past the post” electoral system. Local elections can be different with local candidates drawing support because of their known efforts regardless of political persuasion, but not all candidates are well-known and so voters will vote for a known party or independent. In 2021, Buckinghamshire Council wards were all three Member wards; this will be very different in 2025 with 1,2 or 3 Member wards. There will be 10 three-councillor wards, 28 two-councillor wars, and 11 single-councillor wards in 2025. The smaller wards provide a significant opportunity for strong candidates to win because it is easier to run alone or find one more running partner than to fill a three-candidate slate. But this is only the case if there are candidates. Only the Conservatives fielded a full slate of candidates (147) in 2021. The Liberal Democrats (121), Labour (118) and Green (61) put themselves at a disadvantage. With only 97 seats up for grabs in 2025, there is a real chance that Independents and other parties can break the Conservative stranglehold on power, particularly with a sensible approach to tactical voting.

 We will only see balance in our local democracy if we have enough candidates willing to put themselves forward, and residents come out in strength to vote for them. Democracy is important, but it should not end when the ballot boxes are put back into storage. Democracy is what happens between elections when those elected representatives serve the people. For too long, political parties have been obsessed with themselves, their members and their own self-interest. This needs to stop at a national level and a local level. It was terrific to see a few Independents put themselves forward in the General election and I hope they will consider running for Buckinghamshire Council in May 2025 for Bucks’ sake.