Who runs councils in no overall control?

May 29, 2025

Geoff Wild looks at the key considerations where elections see local authorities left in ‘no overall control’.

Councils in ‘No Overall Control’ (NOC) is a quirk of local authority governance that can be confusing for citizens. Interestingly, whenever the House of Commons is in NOC, we never use the term No Overall Control, preferring instead the curiously vague ‘hung parliament’. Local authorities often have larger proportions of smaller party and independent members than the House of Commons, and when there is NOC this often results in minor groups having more influence than their numbers alone would suggest.

The fact that a council is in ‘No Overall Control’ doesn’t mean that no-one’s making decisions. In most cases, one party will be able to form a Cabinet, either with support from other parties or because the other parties do not agree on enough to effectively oppose them. That might sound unstable but in reality, no party majority councils have a pretty good track record of getting business done effectively.

Introduction

In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom, the term No Overall Control refers to a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats (50%+1). Typically, if no party achieves overall control of a council, the largest grouping will form alliances to create an ad hoc governing coalition.

Most of England’s councils are majority run and some councils are (or nearly are) a one party state, e.g. Surrey, Manchester and Lewisham. England’s ‘first past the post’ electoral system for individual wards favours bigger parties, so it’s often easier for local party machinery to get out candidates in all wards and depending on the flavour of local politics have one party or another in charge.

Where alternative voting systems are used, such as in Scotland or Northern Ireland, multiple parties often win considerable numbers of seats. All of the councils in Northern Ireland are – by design – ‘No Overall Control’ - with only a slight shift in which parties have the most numbers of seats.

As we headed into the 2019 elections, just over 30 councils in England were NOC. Of the 248 councils who had members up for election, over a quarter (73) resulted in a NOC administration. Following the 2024 elections, 108 councils were under NOC, with an almost even split between those run by coalitions (52) and those with a minority administration (56). The 2025 elections increased the number of NOC councils by a further 10.

Minority Administrations

In the event of NOC, the largest party may attempt to govern as a minority administration. Parties may also work together to create a formal deal, which can range from a ‘confidence and supply’ deal to full coalition.

Deals, especially the looser kind, can occur between parties that are not traditionally aligned on a national level. For example, a minority Conservative administration was formed in 2019 in Bolton supported by the Liberal Democrats and UKIP; whilst a Labour-UKIP formal coalition was formed in Basildon. However, following the 2017 Aberdeen City Council election, nine Labour councillors were expelled from the party for entering into a coalition with the Conservatives. Conversely, the two parties formed a coalition administration in Worcester following the 2019 elections.

It is possible for a council to be under NOC even when there appears to be an overall majority, in particular in the case of a majority of independents, who commonly have no collective policies when elected. This can also arise when the council members divide other than on party lines. For instance, the 2004 elections to the Isle of Anglesey County Council returned more independents than all others put together, but only Plaid Cymru maintained a party group within the council, and not all of its elected members joined the group. The remainder of the council, including some members of other political parties, formed four non-partisan groups, none of which held a majority. However, the 2008 elections resulted in a group called the Original Independents gaining an overall majority.

What does NOC mean in practice?

So what does it mean to be a NOC council? As you might expect, it’s a little different in each council area. Some councils have a minority administration often because one party has close to 50% of the seats and they are the largest party; in other places, coalitions are formed where the political flavour is more evenly distributed; in yet others, the largest political party is unable to form a minority administration because a coalition of smaller parties has banded together. Across these different possibilities we see a range of governance options. Each council differs and relationships vary.

The Local Government Association^[1] and the LGiU^[2] have published guidance on coming to terms with operating in a NOC environment, which can be challenging for leading members and senior officers alike.

Under a hung council, decisions are likely to be made more slowly and after more consultation and debate. It slows decision-making down, because of the need to secure broader cross-party agreement for measures, and that means some things get ‘parked' or take longer to get through – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It requires compromise, negotiation and a collaborative leadership style.

In practice, NOC councils can work really well and help politicians come together about local issues without spending too much time on party political issues. In other NOC councils, there can be constant political jostling and stalemate.

When councils mainly operated under the committee system, some had rotating chairs and power was genuinely shared. Most councils now have Cabinet systems and decisions are made by the Executive rather than in committees. This is why councils with a Leader and Cabinet model want clear majorities and there can be a scramble for power when the political balance is fine. Effectively, though, once the Leader has been chosen they can form a Cabinet and get on with running the council, with only occasional need to go to the full Council on things like budget setting.

This account by John Tizard, who was for eight years the joint leader of Bedfordshire County Council in NOC, is very revealing:

We tried a multitude of approaches and tactics – from electing committee chairs from meeting to meeting (sometimes with tacit agreement to rotate between the two largest parties), to minority administration, to joint three-party and informal joint two-party administration.

There were formal open deals; and there were less open agreements between two or more groups – and often between the group leaders without full exposure to their groups.

It led to some fascinating and, to any external observer, very odd behaviours. Council budget meetings would ritually witness all three groups presenting their own budget proposals only to see them voted down (on one occasion, after over 30 hours of ‘debate’) before a short adjournment would miraculously produce a fully costed, analysed and printed budget proposal that two of the groups would then ‘reluctantly’ vote for.

I recall in more than one year having agreed what would become the council budget with a fellow group leader several weeks before my own group agreed its own unique set of proposals.

I also recall on a few occasions moving recommendations from the Policy and Resources Committee (which I had chaired) at full council, only to vote against the same recommendations even though I agreed with them, because party group tactics required ‘political difference’ with other groups on the council. Madness, but nevertheless, progress was made.

Much of the time, the council’s decision-making was dominated by budget cuts. And there is no doubt that cuts by hung councils are more difficult to achieve than when there is a clear political set of values and priorities.

My advice to a group leader who found themselves on a hung council starting point would be to ask the simple question:

‘How can we best serve the people of this place; and how can we do that in ways that are consistent with our party and my personal values and commitments’?

Answering these questions requires principled pragmatism. It also requires willingness to compromise but equally an ability to step aside if the price of power or the compromise is too great.

Being a group or council leader is never easy. It is most challenging on a hung authority. It demands effective leadership shaped by values and steered using a political compass. I offer these tips to leaders on hung councils:

Evaluate and understand the political dynamics and balance of power on the authority and the potential power/influence that your group could potentially have.
Be clear what you as a minority leader and a cabinet, which may or may not be single party, can achieve both administratively and politically without reference to the full council.
If you lead the majority group, consider if there is an agreed ‘coalition’ deal with one or more other groups or a minority administration programme, decide how this is to be progressed and ensure that senior officers understand what will be required of them subject to the rules and the protocols.
Communicate what you are doing and why: to the public via the media and directly whenever possible; to party colleagues outside the council so they understand what and why; and to all other key stakeholders. This involves explaining what you may no longer be able to do as a consequence of not having a majority of members.
Build coalitions of interest external of the council to support your policies and positions and to put pressure on the other groups.
Remain committed to your principles and values and to doing what is best for the people, communities and economy of your place.

Conclusion

The NOC designation itself is misleading: what is really meant is that no single party has a majority of council seats. This does not mean, of course, that nobody controls the council; a Leader and Cabinet will still be elected to form the ruling administration, either from the largest party governing alone or in coalition with one or more other parties. It would be more accurate, therefore, to dispense with the NOC designation altogether. If anything, ‘No Party Majority’ would be more accurate.

Geoff Wild is a Legal and Governance Consultant. He is celebrating his 40th anniversary as a local government lawyer.

This is the latest in a series of articles Geoff has written – previous contributions include: