Local government working in coalition? Lessons from Canada
Deborah Doane
Local elections, wrongly or rightly, tend to serve as a foreshadow for the next national election. It’s often a vote on the current government’s competency rather than what might make sense for people at the local level.
In the past, this has usually resulted in massive swings from one political party to another, still bringing in majority-controlled councils. But in current times, political frustration is creating more and more distrust with the mainstream players, resulting in electoral results that produce far different and challenging results. In the May local elections, 47% of the 136 councils that held elections in 2026 had ‘No Overall Control’, with many of these still trying to negotiate how they will govern.
In my own Borough of Southwark, the newly elected officials have been wrangling about who might be in charge and how three parties can get along: Labour, with the most councillors; the Greens, who also have a number of previously Labour councillors who have defected; and the LibDems pulling up the rear. Nationally, some parties have actively shunned working in coalition with others.
Even after 30 years in this country, all of this horse trading is anathema to me. In Ontario, Canada, where I grew up, the local government eschews the idea of political parties. In fact, the provincial Municipal Elections Act directly prohibits political party affiliation at the local level. In practice, this means that you choose people who represent your values, and those who can demonstrate competence – not what political brand they wear. They have to work together for the common good.
And, for the most part, it seems to work and has endured over time. According to researchers, people in Ontario actively dislike the idea that the provincial or federal government may work against local actors if they vote a certain party-political way.
Even where one can see the advantages - a clear platform, for example, or links to ensure a national voice - I’m not sure these outweigh the disadvantages. Local issues are just that: local. A neighbour recently commented to me that on local housing, she could see little difference between the Greens and Labour (though there are some distinguishing features). And is the fixing of potholes (one of the most important issues in local elections) really something that is party-political? Potholes are just as much of a problem for cyclists and electric car drivers as they are for the die-hard diesel driving enthusiasts.
I can’t see the UK going the way of Canada in its municipal elections. Party politics at the local level is fully embedded into the English and wider UK local electoral system, so it's here to stay.
But there are three key issues that all of this highlights to me:
At risk of stating the obvious, we have a terrible electoral system. Time and time again, ‘first past the post’ goes against people being properly represented according to their values. Our electoral results are not necessarily indicative of what people really want, forcing people into tactical voting. A change in the voting system is long overdue. One of the critiques people give about proportional representation is that it produces a coalition. But on that, see point 2.
We have a unique aversion in England in particular, to working in coalition. Control is perceived as better than compromise, in spite of the fact that compromise may be just what we need to avoid deadlocks and strengthen governance. It’s the norm in Scottish local government. And most European countries and many other electoral systems around the world function quite healthily in coalition. So why are we so uniquely special? A change to proportional representation will necessarily require that we adopt more coalition-working skills going forward, but we don’t have to wait for that to happen.
And finally, and perhaps controversially, local issues don’t always lend themselves to party politics. Whilst arguably local government probably has far too few levers to play with – a discussion for another time – we need to collectively agree on the shared values for delivering services at the local level, whether it’s the health of green space, supporting local businesses, housing or sorting out potholes. I would venture an educated guess that these are not nearly as tribal as one thinks they are. (This is one of the many reasons why Verdant, as a think tank, is building participation into our policy work, to get genuine input from people regardless of how they vote). And at the municipal level, this also means that the national government – regardless of the party in power – must be a constructive partner with local councils, whatever tribal colours they might wear, be it green or red or something else.
It’s very clear that aside from fixing the obvious failure of our electoral system, we need to figure out how to work better in coalition, and how to build governance based on values. In a fractured political system, NOC is increasingly becoming the norm, not the exception. The 2029 national elections are more likely than not to produce a coalition government. Can we use the local election outcomes as a practice place for how to do this nationally come the hour?