Five takeaways from Shropshire Council elections

Shropshire Council is in the hands of the Liberal Democrats for the very first time.

The group won 42 of the 74 seats and took control of the authority from the Conservatives, who lost an incredible number of councillors.

Reform UK were the other big winners on the day, taking 16 seats and becoming the council's official party in opposition.

Here are five takeaways from the election.

The Liberal Democrats have been nibbling away at the Conservatives' majority for years.

But the election of Helen Morgan as an MP in the North Shropshire by-election in 2021 was a turning point for the Lib Dems.

The collapse of the Conservative vote in the constituency not only began the downfall of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but also showed that people in North Shropshire could be persuaded to vote for a different party, in a very safe Tory seat.

Before Thursday's local election, one Conservative councillor said the party feared "the Helen Morgan effect".

The party was right to do so. The Lib Dems have trebled their number of councillors from 14 at the last election in 2021 to 42.

At the start of 2021, the Conservatives were truly in control of decision-making in Shropshire, with all five of the county's MPs being Tory, as well as Shropshire Council.

Fast forward four years and the party has hit rock bottom.

At last year's general election, only two Conservative MPs remained - Stuart Anderson held South Shropshire (formally known as Ludlow) by 1,600 votes, and Mark Pritchard narrowly won The Wrekin by 900 votes.

Both constituencies had had a Conservative vote share exceeding 60% at the 2019 general election.

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An even worse collapse was seen at the 2025 Shropshire Council elections.

The party fell into third place, after managing to get just seven councillors elected, and lost a considerable number of voters to Reform UK.

"Not in our worst nightmares did we expect this," said Much Wenlock's Conservative councillor Dan Thomas.

Labour also had a bad day, losing five councillors and winning just four seats.

"We've won 16 seats from a standing start and [we're] total novices," is how Reform UK's South Shropshire association chair, Dawn Husemann, summed up the party's election result.

The new Claverley and Worfield councillor said the group's success was beyond its own expectations.

She admitted that the group was "completely new to political life" but said it would be a strong opposition voice on the council.

Reform's inexperience could be a positive for the council if the group can identify new ways of working, which have eluded the more traditional parties that have been around for decades.

This election may well be the nail in the coffin for Shrewsbury's controversial by-pass, the North West Relief Road.

Before the election period got under way, the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green groups on Shropshire Council wrote a joint-letter to the government to say they would withdraw the project's funding application if they took control of the council.

At the election count, co-leader of the Lib Dems Heather Kidd said the road was "dead in the water".

"We need surety around it now because we keep spending money on it and we can't afford to," she said.

The Conservative group, which has championed the by-pass for decades, were the only party to commit to the project ahead of the election.

Two Conservative councillors broke away from the party earlier this year to form a new group of independents, known as Shropshire First.

The pair were optimistic of creating a political movement that "focused solely on the needs of the county, free from national party agendas".

But the group, which fielded nine candidates for Shropshire Council elections, failed to pick up any seats.

In fact, de facto leader Steve Davenport, a former Tory cabinet member, lost his seat to Reform UK.

Fellow rebel John Price also lost in Oswestry North East.

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