Coventry elections sees huge gains from Reform as Labour support ebbs away
Reform and Green parties make significant gains as alliances may shift the power balance
Last updated 9th May 2026
Coventry City Council’s political make-up has undergone a seismic shift in the May local elections that saw Labour support retreating as Reform made huge advances on the political battlefield.
But it still leaves the uncertainties of no party in overall control of the authority, along with the possibility of new alliances potentially being formed as power hangs in the balance.
Labour saw its sizeable majority of 39 eroded to 24, while Reform’s pre-election hopes of getting enough backing to take over the council did not come to fruition.
Despite making huge gains to increase from two seats to 20, Reform did not finish with the most votes and fell short of the majority of 28 any party would need to dominate the council’s decisions for the city.
As the results started to be declared in the afternoon, it became a two-party race between Labour and Reform as firstly one party, then the other, took entire wards.
Reform gained all three seats in Tile Hill & Canley, Bablake, Wyken, Sherbourne, and even the Labour stronghold Binley & Willenhall.
Labour, meanwhile, held on to all three seats in each of Foleshill, Radford, Lower Stoke, Upper Stoke, Whoberley and Earlsdon.
But the Conservatives and Greens were still to shine through and began to eat away at the two-party domination. In the end, the Green Party doubled its seats to four – securing all three seats in Holbrooks – and the Conservatives ended up with six, just one more than they had previously.
Among the casualties were Conservative group leader Gary Ridley, who lost his seat in Woodlands where Reform nabbed two of the ward’s Tory places.
Jim O’Boyle, Labour’s Cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change, was also ousted, losing in St Michael’s ward.
The current council leader and Labour group leader, George Duggins, kept his seat in Longford ward, where fellow Labour councillor and planning committee chairman Lindsley Harvard lost his seat.