All change – the 2026 Local Government elections and the Creative Industries

Nick Poole is the CEO of Ukie (trade body for Games and Interactive Entertainment in the UK) and the Chair of UK Council (Creative UK member network).

On May 7th this year, voters will head to the polls in local government and national elections across the UK. The outcome has the potential to re-draw not only Britain’s political map, but the landscape of support for the cultural and creative industries as well.

Voters will decide who will represent them in all 136 English Local Authorities, including every London Borough, six County Councils and six directly-elected Mayors. 5,066 Councillors will be elected in 2,969 Wards. In the Devolved Nations, elections will appoint 129 Members of Scottish Parliament and a re-sized Senedd in Wales.

The widespread assumption is that these elections will signal the end of two-party politics – at least at a local level. Reform UK and the Green Party are both tipped to take significant council control for the first time.

In Scotland, polling is suggesting either a slim overall SNP majority, or the formation of a minority government under some kind of confidence-and-supply arrangement.

Across the whole of the UK, Labour are likely to find their electoral base under assault from all sides of the political spectrum.

At the same time, the machinery of Local Government is being stripped out and rewired. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill – now in the final stages prior to Royal Assent – will strengthen strategic Mayoral Authorities, force the reorganisation of Unitary Councils and redefine the funding formula for local government.

While the shift in the UK’s sub-national political landscape is seismic, the underlying driver is still a profound state of fiscal distress. Modelling from the Local Government Association shows around 30% of upper-tier Authorities in serious financial difficulty by the end of 2027 without further financial intervention.

So what does this mean for the landscape of the cultural and creative industries, and how should we position ourselves accordingly?

We know already that local councils are the single biggest funder of grassroots art and culture in the UK, and that this support has faced severe cuts since 2010. The big initial risk is that local government reorganisation will dismantle existing cultural infrastructure while taking away the political oxygen needed to fuel new ideas. We may also see a re-kindling of the culture war dynamics that impacted local cultural services in the late 2010s.

Beyond this, though, there are opportunities to be had. The Mayoral Strategic Authorities create a new centre of gravity for decision-making and spending power – and therefore cultural influence. In the words of one senior political leader I spoke to “the government’s top priorities are growth, national identity and regionalism. Mayors are the new game in town for the next 5 years”.

The fiscal challenge also creates an opportunity to situate cultural and creative industries as a driver of inclusive local economic growth. We know already that many towns are focusing on establishing a footprint in tech, and those businesses are going to need creative entrepreneurs to help run them.

Many larger towns and cities are focusing on the ‘one day problem’ – the challenge of getting domestic tourists to stay overnight, and therefore increase their leisure spend. Local theatres, venues, performance spaces and cultural attractions have a central role to play in this.

So with the UK waking up on the 8th May to a re-drawn political map, new dynamics and a new generation of local stakeholders the challenge for the cultural and creative industries is clear – we have to get in there and have a seat at the table, build influence and make ourselves useful on a hyper-local, local and regional level if we are to secure the long-term health of our places and spaces.