Bedford

Bedford (borough)

Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains a single urban area, the 69th largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and...

 Unitary

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

 Council in Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 is elected every four years. Before becoming a unitary authority in 2009 the council was elected by thirds. Since 2009 36 councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

s have been elected from 26 wards

Wards of the United Kingdom

A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...

 and there is also a directly elected mayor who is elected every 4 years.

Council Control

Since the first election to the council in 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Party in control	Years
No overall control No overall control Within the context of local councils of the United Kingdom, the term No Overall Control refers to a situation in which no single party achieves a majority of seats and is analogous to a hung parliament...	1973 - 1976
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	1976 - 1986
No overall control No overall control Within the context of local councils of the United Kingdom, the term No Overall Control refers to a situation in which no single party achieves a majority of seats and is analogous to a hung parliament...	1986 - present

Elected Mayor

Independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 

Party in control	Years
2002 - 2009
Liberal Democrats	2009 - present

District Council elections

Bedford Council election, 1998

Bedford Council election, 1998

The 1998 Bedford Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control....

Bedford Council election, 1999

Bedford Council election, 2000

Bedford Council election, 2002

Bedford Council election, 2003

Bedford Council election, 2004

Bedford Council election, 2006

Bedford Council election, 2007

Mayoral Elections

Bedford held a referendum on 21 February 2002 on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor after a petition was signed by at least 5% of the electorate. The move was approved with 11,316 voting in favour and 5,357 against on a turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 of 15.5%. The first mayoral election on 17 October 2002 saw independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 Frank Branston

Frank Branston

Frank Branston was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.-Early life and career:...

 elected as mayor.

2007

In 2007 Frank Branston was re-elected as mayor. > > > > >

Bedford Mayoral Election Results 2007
	Name	Party	1st Preference Votes	%	2nd Preference Votes¹	%	Final	%²
Frank Branston Frank Branston Frank Branston was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.-Early life and career:...	Better Bedford Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	15,966		3,732		19,698
Nicky Attenborough	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	10,710		2,603		13,313
Christine McHugh	Lib Dem Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...	10,553				N/A
Randolph Charles	Labour	4,758				N/A
Justina McLennan	Green Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...	1,538				N/A

¹Using the Supplementary Vote system.

²Percentage figures are not officially used on the final votes, they are produced here for illustration and are calculated by the candidates final vote divided by the total of final votes.

2009

A by-election for Mayor of Bedford took place on 15 October 2009 after the death of the previous incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

, Frank Branston in August 2009. The election was won by the Liberal Democrat, Dave Hodgson

Dave Hodgson

Dave Hodgson is the directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Hodgson is the second elected mayor to represent the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom....

. > > > > > >

Bedford Mayoral Election Results 2009
	Name	Party	1st Preference Votes	%	2nd Preference Votes	%	Final	%
Dave Hodgson Dave Hodgson Dave Hodgson is the directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Hodgson is the second elected mayor to represent the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom....	Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...	9,428	26.8	4,127		13,555	54.0
Parvez Akhtar	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	9,105	25.9	2,438		11,543	46.0
Apu Bagchi	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	7,631	21.7			N/A
Tony Hare	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	4,316	12.3			N/A
James Valentine	Labour	3,482	9.9			N/A
Eve Morley	Green Party Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...	1,183	3.4			N/A

• Bedford mayoral election, 2011
  Bedford mayoral election, 2011
  The Bedford mayoral election, 2011 for the office of Mayor of Bedford was held on 5 May 2011, being the fourth Bedford mayoral election since the post was created by Bedford Borough Council in 2002. This is because, unlike most positions created at that time, there have already been three...
  
  

By-election results