2019 Herefordshire Council election

The 2019 Herefordshire Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect 52 of 53 members of Herefordshire Council in England. The election in Ross North ward was deferred until 6 June 2019 following the death of the UKIP candidate.

Election result
The election resulted in the Conservative Party losing its majority on the council for the first time since 2007, winning 13 seats. Independents made gains and became the largest group on the council after winning 18 seats, 9 seats short of a majority. The Liberal Democrats and Greens also made gains at the expense of the Conservatives, winning 7 seats each. Two non-party groupings, the 'Herefordshire Independents' (comprising 12 of the 18 Independents elected) and the localist It's Our County, formed a coalition with the Greens to govern the council.



Ross North
The election in Ross North ward was deferred until 6 June 2019 following the death of the UKIP candidate, Gareth Williams. The Liberal Democrats won the postponed election.

Immediately following 2019 local elections
The 2019 election resulted in the Conservative Party losing its majority on the council for the first time since 2007, winning 13 seats. Independents made gains and became the largest group on the council after winning 18 seats, 15 of which formed the Herefordshire Independents Group. The Liberal Democrats and Greens also made gains at the expense of the Conservatives. It's Our County lost four seats, down to 8.

Following negotiations, a three-way coalition between 'Herefordshire Independents', 'It's Our County' and the Green Party was formed. Herefordshire Independents took four cabinet positions, and the Leader of the Council, the Greens took two cabinet positions and Deputy Leader of the Council and It's Our County took the remaining two cabinet positions.

The Ross North poll was postponed after the death of a UKIP candidate, leading to one unfilled vacancy at this point.

Defections and resignations
Following disagreements about a new by-pass road in the Herefordshire Independents group, five councillors left to form a new group, 'True Independents'.

Separately, Sue Boulter resigned shortly after being elected for It's Our County, in Whitecross, creating a second vacancy and temporarily reducing the number of It's Our County councillors.

Two by-elections
The Liberal Democrats won the by-election in Ross North the day after the five True Independents defected from the Herefordshire Independents.

Following Sue Boulter's resignation upon her election, her husband won the resulting by-election.

Unaligned Independents join the Herefordshire Independents
By the end of the summer, former Hereford city mayor Jim Kenyon had temporarily joined the Herefordshire Independents to bolster their numbers, and since left again to sit as the last remaining standalone independent, as the other two previously unaligned independents have since joined the ruling coalition of Herefordshire Independents, taking Herefordshire Independents to 12 seats.