An election to Cambridgeshire County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. 69 councillors were elected from 60 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were the same as those used at the previous election in 2009. No elections were held in Peterborough, which is a unitary authority outside the area covered by the County Council. The election saw the Conservative Party lose overall control of the council.

All locally registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 2 May 2013 were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who had moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. It is possible to register to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) at the discretion of the local Electoral Register Office, but it remains an offence to vote more than once in the same local government election.

Previous composition 2009 election Party Seats 42 23 2 1 1Total69

Composition of council seats before election Party Seats 39 21 3 3 2 1Total69

Changes between elections

In between the 2009 election and the 2013 election, the following council seats changed hands:

Division Date Previous Party New Party Cause Resulting Council Composition Con LDem Lab Grn UKIP IndRamsey23 July 2009 Election postponed due to the death of a candidate. 42 23 2 1 1 0BournEarly 2010 Sitting councillor loses Whip. 41 23 2 1 1 1Petersfield29 November 2010 Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. 41 22 2 1 1 2Arbury5 May 2011 Liberal Democrat incumbent resigned. Labour won by-election. 41 21 3 1 1 2Little Paxton and St Neots North3 September 2011 Sitting councillor loses Whip. 40 21 3 1 1 3Bourn8 March 2012 Sitting councillor joined UKIP. 40 21 3 1 2 2St Neots Eaton Socon and Eynesbury1 February 2013 Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. 39 21 3 1 2 3

Summary In total, 292 candidates stood in the election. Only the Labour Party and the Conservative Party contested all 69 seats on the council. The Liberal Democrats stood 61 candidates, not standing in four divisions in Fenland and only contesting one seat in some two-member divisions. The United Kingdom Independence Party stood 52 candidates, including a full slate in Huntingdonshire, although two nominated candidates in Fenland withdrew before the deadline and did not appear on the ballot. The Green Party stood 25 candidates, mostly in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire. The English Democrats stood two candidates in Whittlesey, while the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition stood two candidates in the Godmanchester & Huntingdon East division. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party stood two candidates in St Ives and in Bar Hill divisions, and one candidate stood for the Cambridge Socialists in Romsey. There were also nine independent candidates.

Election result

! colspan=2| Total ! 292 ! 69 ! colspan=5 | ! 175,783 !

The United Kingdom Independence Party made substantial gains, taking 11 seats from the Conservatives, mostly in Fenland and northern Huntingdonshire. Southern Huntingdonshire saw the Conservatives lose a seat to the Liberal Democrats in the Godmanchester & Huntingdon East division, as well as two seats to independents in the St Neots Eaton Socon & Eynesbury division. The Labour Party gained seats in Cambridge from the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, including Arbury, which Labour had won in a 2011 by-election, winning half of the city's 14 county council divisions. In East Cambridgeshire, the Conservatives gained both divisions in Ely from the Liberal Democrats but lost Littleport to UKIP. In South Cambridgeshire, Conservative council leader Nick Clarke lost his seat in Fulbourn to the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats, however, lost four other seats in the district, including in Linton, where the Conservative candidate won by a single vote.

Election of Group Leaders Martin Curtis (Whittlesey North) was elected leader of the Conservative Group, Maurice Leeke (Waterbeach) challenged the incumbent Kilian Bourke (Romsey) for the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Group and won, and Paul Sales (Arbury) was elected leader of the Labour Group. In mid 2015, deputy Lib Dem leader Lucy Nethsingha (Newnham) was elected leader and deputy leader Ashley Walsh (Petersfield) replaced Sales as Labour leader.

In December 2013 Peter Reeve (Ramsey) stood down as UKIP group leader to be replaced by Paul Bullen (St Ives) with Simon Bywater (Sawtry and Ellington) as his deputy.

Election of Leader of the Council Martin Curtis, the leader of the conservative group, was duly elected leader of the council and formed a conservative minority administration.

After less than a year as leader Curtis resigned and was succeeded by Steve Count (March North)

Aftermath In addition, the council structure will switch from a cabinet system to a committee system, starting from May 2014.

Results by District Cambridge Summary +Cambridge District SummaryPartySeats+/-Votes%+/- 7 5 11,081 39.4 +18.4 6 5 8,445 30.0 −6.7 1 1 1,024 3.6 +1.6 0 4,045 14.4 −7.3 0 1 2,470 8.8 −6.8 0 933 3.3 +1.9 0 118 0.4 −1.3Total 14 28,116 100.0

Division results

East Cambridgeshire Summary +East Cambridgeshire District SummaryPartySeats+/-Votes%+/- 8 1 9,509 44.2 −7.0 1 1 4,728 22.0 +22.0 0 2 3,952 18.4 −21.7 0 2,950 13.7 +7.1 0 382 1.8 +1.8Total 9 21,521 100.00

Division results

Fenland Summary +Fenland District SummaryPartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 6 5 8,458 39.7 −11.8UKIP 5 5 6,262 29.4 +20.7Labour 0 3,005 14.1 +3.4Liberal Democrat 0 2,034 9.6 −10.4Independent 0 957 4.5 −2.7English Democrats 0 584 2.7 +1.7Total 11 21,300 100.00

Division results

Huntingdonshire Summary +Huntingdonshire District SummaryPartySeats+/-Votes%+/- 8 8 19,702 35.6 −17.3 6 5 17,683 31.9 +26.2 3 1 7,073 12.8 −18.6 2 2 2,452 4.4 +4.4 0 6,198 11.2 +4.1 0 1,604 2.9 +2.9 0 342 0.6 −1.5 0 197 0.4 −0.5 0 148 0.3 +0.3Total 19 55,399 100.0

Division results

South Cambridgeshire Summary +South Cambridgeshire District SummaryPartySeats+/-Votes%+/- 10 2 16,460 35.6 −10.3 5 3 12,755 27.6 −10.1 1 1 1,317 2.9 +0.7 0 7,116 15.4 +8.0 0 6,244 13.5 +12.9 0 2,348 5.1 −1.3 0 28 0.1 +0.1Total 16 46,268 100.0

Division results

References