What is the Institute for Government?: An independent think tank founded in 2008 that analyses UK Government effectiveness, policy and administration. Funded mainly by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
Why does the IfG's English council seat count differ from the BBC's?: The IfG counts 4,851 seats across 134 authorities, excluding the 162 Surrey shadow council seats. The BBC and Democracy Club count 5,013 across 136 authorities, including Surrey.
What did the Institute for Government say about the election postponement?: The IfG characterised MHCLG's handling of local election postponements and subsequent reversal as 'a government fiasco'.
When was the Institute for Government founded?: 2008. Based in Westminster, primarily funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
What did the IfG say about the 2026 local elections?: The Institute for Government counted 61 councils under No Overall Control after 7 May 2026, a record high. It reframed the results as local dress rehearsals for multi-party Westminster arithmetic and recommended abolishing election-by-thirds in council elections.Source: UK Elections 2026 coverage
Why does the IfG seat count differ from the Democracy Club figure?: The IfG counts 4,851 English council seats in 2026, excluding the 162 Surrey shadow council seats on the grounds those councillors were being elected to authorities not yet legally constituted. Democracy Club counts 5,013 across 136 authorities. The 162-seat gap is exactly the Surrey shadow total.Source: UK Elections 2026 coverage
What is the Institute for Government and who funds it?: The Institute for Government is an independent, non-partisan think tank founded in 2008 that analyses UK central government, Parliament, and public administration. Its primary funder is the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.Source: UK Elections 2026 coverage
What did the IfG say about the government's handling of election postponements?: The Institute for Government characterised the MHCLG's management of the local election postponement and subsequent reversal as "a government fiasco", tracking the full sequence of ministerial decisions and reversals in one place. The characterisation influenced parliamentary debate on government competence.Source: UK Elections 2026 coverage
What does No Overall Control mean and how many councils have it?: No Overall Control (NOC) means no single party holds a majority of seats on a council. After the 7 May 2026 elections, the IfG counted 61 NOC councils in England, the highest figure on record, making Coalition or minority administration the norm across a significant share of English local government.Source: UK Elections 2026 coverage
What does the Institute for Government do?: The IfG is an independent think tank that analyses UK central government effectiveness, tracks ministerial performance, and publishes rapid policy analysis. It is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and is considered non-partisan.
What is 'election by thirds' in UK council elections?: Election by thirds means one third of council seats are contested each year over three years, with a fallow year for county elections. The IfG recommended abolishing this system in May 2026, arguing the constant electoral cycle prevents effective local governance.Source: event
How many English councils have no overall control after the 2026 elections?: The Institute for Government counted 61 English councils under No Overall Control after the 7 May 2026 elections, the highest figure on record. The IfG described this as evidence that British local government is increasingly experiencing the multi-party arithmetic that Westminster is heading towards.Source: event
Why did the IfG call the Surrey shadow councils situation a fiasco?: The IfG criticised MHCLG for allowing elections to Surrey's shadow unitary councils while those councils had no legal existence yet, and for the series of ministerial reversals on local election postponements. It excluded the 162 Surrey shadow councillors from its headline 4,851-seat count on principled grounds.Source: event

Background

The Institute for Government (IfG) is an independent, non-partisan think tank based in Westminster, London. Founded in 2008 and funded primarily by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, it publishes research on government effectiveness, tracks ministerial and departmental performance, and provides rapid analysis of major policy decisions. It appears across multiple Lowdown topics including Cabinet Office reform, devolution, local government, and UK innovation policy.

The IfG's authority rests on its non-partisan reputation: its findings cannot be dismissed as Labour or Conservative research, which makes its critical characterisations especially influential. In the 2026 election cycle, it served as the primary source for the 4,851 English council seat figure, deliberately excluding 162 Surrey shadow council seats on the grounds that those councillors were being elected to authorities not yet legally constituted. It characterised the MHCLG's handling of local election postponements as "a government fiasco".

In its week-two governance brief published 19 May 2026, the IfG counted 61 councils under No Overall Control after 7 May — a record high — and reframed the results as local dress rehearsals for multi-party Westminster arithmetic, recommending abolition of election-by-thirds in council elections. The same report noted that 22% of English councils responsible for adult social care are balancing budgets only via Exceptional Financial Support — a structural fiscal finding that sits well outside the elections story.

Source Material

Institute for Government Institute for Government — Wikipedia

How the World Sees Them

England

The IfG's exclusion of Surrey shadow seats from its headline count reflects a principled position: councils should not be elected before they legally exist.

Westminster

The IfG's 'fiasco' characterisation of MHCLG's election postponement carries weight precisely because of its non-partisan reputation; ministers cannot easily dismiss it as partisan.

English councils

The IfG's recommendation to abolish election-by-thirds would affect the one-third of English councils currently elected in thirds, removing the annual electoral cycle many councils rely on for democratic accountability between general elections.