Milton Keynes City Council reverts to no overall control with Liberal Democrats now largest party

Milton Keynes City Council has reverted to no overall control with the Liberal Democrats now serving as the council’s largest party.

After major elections yesterday that saw a new 60 seat council with all seats up for election, the Lib Dems have overtaken Labour as the largest party in the institution. They now have 20 councillors, with Labour falling to 19 overall, but with both parties falling short of the 31 seats needed for a majority under the council’s new structure.

The Conservative Party sit third with 12 councillors, while Reform UK will now have their first seats on Milton Keynes City Council with 9 councillors, 8 of which came in the Bletchley area.

Reform UK had the highest vote share overall with 24%, though it was a close ballot with the top 4 parties all scoring between 19% and 24% in vote share. The Green Party had also risen to a 14% vote share but were squeezed out, gaining no councillors.

The City Council was having major elections in 2026, with the council expanded to 60 seats and every councillor up for re-election. Turnout was 41%.

Before this round of elections, Milton Keynes City Council had a Labour majority, with Labour having 30 councillors on what was then a 57-seat council, with the Liberal Democrats second with 18 seats and Conservatives third on 9 seats.

Labour’s majority gained after the last elections in 2024 was the first time in 18 years that any single party had majority control of the council, with Labour having run it as first a minority administration and then in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2014.

The party had already confirmed that Pete Marland, who had been leader of MK Council since 2014, was stepping down after the election. The ballot would continue a trend of difficulties for Labour nationally, on a night that saw Labour lose a lot of councillors across England as well as suffering heavy losses in devolved Parliamentary elections in Wales and Scotland.

Labour ended down 11 councillors compared to before the election, with the Lib Dems gaining 2, Tories gaining 3 and Reform gaining their first 9 in MK.

While a third of the seats will be up for re-election in 2027, the next steps are expected that negotiations will now take place between the parties to work out a structure to run the council for the next 12 months.

In a statement on social media, the Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats said, “It has been a whirlwind of a day at the count. We are so pleased that all our hard work has paid off and we have the most councillors in Milton Keynes! Thank you everyone for your support- we will work hard for each and every one of you.”