Westmorland and Furness Council

Westmorland and Furness Council is the local authority for Westmorland and Furness in the north-west of England. It is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Westmorland and Furness Council was first elected in May 2022, operating as a shadow authority until it replaced Cumbria County Council, Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council, Eden District Council and South Lakeland District Council on 1 April 2023.

Politics
Westmorland and Furness has 65 councillors, It was first elected in May 2022 and operated as a shadow authority until taking up its powers on 1 April 2023.

Composition
At the 2022 council election, the Liberal Democrats secured a majority on the council with 36 out of 65 councillors. Labour have 15 councillors, the Conservatives have 11 councillors, the Green Party have 1 councillor and 2 councillors were elected as independents.

Leadership
Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The first leader is Jonathan Brook, a Liberal Democrat, who was also the last leader of South Lakeland District Council.

Composition of predecessor bodies
The combined composition of the three merging district councils going into that election was as follows: