Local election 2025: County Durham’s political future in the balance

The previous local election in 2021 is etched in history as the first time the Labour Party lost overall control of Durham County Council in 100 years.  

But this year’s return to the polls for voters across County Durham could prove even more seismic for the main political parties and the region’s future. 

Durham County Council is responsible for housing, education, social care, rubbish collection, and fixing roads. Yet, like many other local authorities, it is facing a funding crisis and constantly readjusting its budget to protect key services. 

A new Government in Westminster has so far failed to provide immediate improvements for residents – council tax bills have increased and spending has been cut back. 

The current make-up of Durham County Council ahead of the 2025 local election (Image: The Northern Echo)

Labour regained several County Durham seats in the 2024 General Election after the Conservatives previously performed a shock swoop throughout the region. But its impact locally on the county council has waned over the last eight years. 

If 2013 was a high point – when the party returned 94 councillors, allowing it to dominate the political balance in County Hall – its control decreased in 2017 to 74 members before crashing down to 53 in 2021. Despite still being the party with the most councillors, it was not enough to take control of the local authority, and members were forced to watch on as a new coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Independents was formed. 

The number of Independents on the council has increased since, with other councillors defecting to Reform UK in the wake of the Conservative Party’s disastrous result at the 2024 General Election. 

In the run-up to this year’s local election, political parties have once again emphasised that every vote counts. Changes to political boundaries in County Durham have reduced the number of elected councillors to 126 from 98, adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the overall performance of each party. 

For Amanda Hopgood, Liberal Democrat member and Council Leader, the past four years in control of the local authority have proved there is an alternative to Labour.  “We formed an administration with other groups to run this council, and it’s been really successful over the last four years,” she said. 

“On the doors, people aren’t happy with Labour, with the Government. They are really happy with what we have done as an administration over the last four years.”  

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, joined Amanda Hopgood on a visit to Diggerland, County Durham, ahead of the local election. (Image: Sarah Caldecott)

County Durham Conservatives have also targeted Labour in their campaigning ahead of polling day on May 1, telling voters that voting for them would undo the progress made over the past four years. “Durham Conservatives have worked hard to deliver real change, and we’re the only ones who can keep Labour out. Let’s not turn back the clock and hand it straight back to them.”

But Labour leader Carl Marshall says it’s time for change. “Residents across County Durham have been let down by 14 years of Tory Government nationally and a Tory-led coalition in County Durham for the past four years,” he said. 

Labour has pitched itself as a party working hard to champion local issues and create brighter futures for residents as an alternative to the current Joint Administration, which it says is: “wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on projects in Durham City Centre, neglecting outlying towns and villages.”

Yet it is Reform UK which poses the biggest threat to Labour. Party leader Nigel Farage has visited the region twice in recent weeks and has promised residents a “fresh new start”. The party has identified County Durham as a battleground region to help grow its popularity and political status in the North East. A total of 97 candidates have been selected to stand for the party in every single seat.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has visited County Durham twice in the run-up to May’s election (Image: Sarah Caldecott)

Mr Farage said Reform is “parking their tanks on the lawns of the red wall” and predicted a “turquoise wave” across the North and Midlands. 

“The colour of County Durham politics is going to look very different in a few weeks,” Mr Farage told campaigners. 

The threat from the rising Reform party is felt throughout the region. Candidates have warned its members “aren’t just a fly in the ointment” and should be “given serious consideration”. 

Hoping to stave off the threat from the wave of Reform candidates are dozens of Independents. By holding key roles on the council’s cabinet, the non-aligned members say they have helped improve residents’ lives by acting in their interests and representing their communities’ views at County Hall. 

Alan Shield emphasised that the role of Independents is always “people before politics”, working hand in glove with other political parties in control of the council. For people disenfranchised with party politics, John Shuttleworth says, voting Independent is the answer. 

Recommended reading: 

The Green Party celebrated its first ever County Durham councillor in 2021 and says it has been going from “strength to strength” in the region since, with members hoping to more than double its representation on the council in May. 

Co-leader Carla Denyer said: “A lot of people are already open to the idea of voting Green because they feel really frustrated and let down by Labour and the Conservatives, and are angry in many cases.”

If 2021 was a historic moment for the council’s future leadership, the election outcome in May could be even more symbolic for the region’s political future.