2022 Somerset Council election

The 2022 Somerset Council election took place on 5 May 2022 to elect members of Somerset County Council. The number of councillors was doubled from 55 to 110 at this election, in preparation for the county council becoming a unitary authority on 1 April 2023, when it was renamed Somerset Council.

The election coincided with other local elections across the United Kingdom. The county council election was initially due to take place on 6 May 2021, but Robert Jenrick extended the terms of sitting councillors for a year pending a decision as to which unitarisation scheme would be taken forward: the county council had advocated the eventually successful proposal for a single unitary authority, while the district councils supported introducing two unitary councils.

Background
The Conservative governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson undertook structural changes to local government in England that resulted in several county councils and their district councils being replaced by unitary authorities. Somerset County Council first made plans for unitarisation in 2018. The county council proposed a single unitary authority that would encompass all the districts, while the district councils proposed two unitary authorities representing the east and the west of the county. Robert Jenrick, the minister responsible, approved the plan for a single council.

Before the election, the Somerset County Council was led by an Conservative Party majority.

Election results
The Liberal Democrats won a majority of 61 of the 110 seats, giving them control of the county council from 2022, and the unitary authority from 2023.

Results by division
Sitting district councillors are shown with *, sitting county councillors are shown with †.