Cheshire West and Chester Council election, 2015

Cheshire West and Chester Council Election, 2015

← 2011 7 May 2015 2019 →
All 75 seats in Cheshire West and Chester Council 38 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	68.2%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Samantha Dixon Mike Jones Party Labour Conservative Independent Leader's seat Chester City Tattenhall Seats before 32 42 0 Seats won 38 36 1 Seat change 6 6 1 Popular vote 115,473 120,477 6,104   Fourth party   Party Liberal Democrat Seats before 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 23,887
Colours denote winning party. Striped wards have mixed representation.
Council Leader before election Mike Jones Conservative Elected Council Leader Samantha Dixon Labour

Mike Jones
Conservative

Samantha Dixon
Labour

The 2015 Cheshire West and Chester Council election took place on 7 May 2015, electing members of Cheshire West and Chester Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections across the country as well as the general election. All 75 seats were contested. Labour won a small majority with a total of 38 seats on a 3.2% swing from the Conservatives, meaning that the council moved from Conservative control to Labour control.

Cheshire West and Chester was the only council to change hands in this way in the 2015 elections, and this unique result has been variously attributed to public dissatisfaction with fracking in the area,local planning issues, the organisation and leadership of the local parties, and to a generally difficult climate for Conservatives in the area. In addition, the only Liberal Democrat (Lib Dem) seat on the council was lost, while an independent was elected to the Parkgate ward. No other minor party won a seat, but both the Green Party and United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) fielded large numbers of candidates and saw significant positive swings. Labour's Samantha Dixon became the first woman to lead the council, while the previous leader Mike Jones survived a Conservative leadership challenge and became Leader of the Opposition.

Cheshire West and Chester (CWaC) had been governed since its formation in 2009 by the Conservative Party. However, the Conservatives lost seats in CWaC against the national trend at the 2011 local election, and the Chester area was identified by The Economist before the election as a challenging area for the party. The election also took place at an especially bad period nationally for the Liberal Democrats, who lost 310 councillors in England at the previous local elections, and at a period of growth for other minor parties – especially UKIP, who won the CWaC council area in the 2014 European Parliament elections and were identified by the BBC as potential spoiler candidates. Although there were several by-elections in the 2011-2015 term, the number of councillors representing each party did not change over the course of the Council.