Local Government Act 2000
Act introducing leader-and-Cabinet executives and directly elected mayors in English councils.
A record 61 councils had no party in overall control after the 7 May 2026 elections, and each still runs an executive under the Local Government Act 2000, whose leader and Cabinet model lets a minority govern but lets the council remove its leader.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Local Government Act 2000
Mentioned in: Lib Dem Amjid Ali takes over Luton
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: IfG counts 61 NOC councils, record
UK Local Elections 2026Background
Royal Assent on 28 July 2000 brought executive government to councils in England and Wales. Part 2 of the Act governs executive arrangements, and section 11 lists the permitted forms: a directly elected mayor with a Cabinet, or a leader chosen by the council WHO runs the authority alongside at least two other councillors.
A leader WHO owes the POST to a council vote can lose it to another. Control can therefore change mid-term, and in a hung council the biggest group holds the leadership only for as long as its Coalition partners and its own backbenchers stay loyal.
The model matters more as local politics fragments. It lets a minority Cabinet govern from one day to the next, which is how councils without a majority keep functioning.
Minority cabinets keep hung councils running
By 19 May 2026 the Institute for Government had counted 61 councils under no overall control after the 7 May elections, the highest figure on record. Every one of them still needs an executive under this Act. The leader and Cabinet model allows a single-party minority Cabinet to take day-to-day decisions without commanding a majority in the chamber.
Because the full council chooses the leader, it can also vote one out, which leaves minority control fragile. Luton proved the point in September 2026: councillors removed Labour's Tahmina Saleem, leader only since May, on a no-confidence motion, and Liberal Democrat Amjid Ali took charge of a Coalition by 16 September, with no election held.