Liberal Democrats Target 162 Surrey Seats in Surrey Election Results
Votes were being counted across Sussex and Surrey in the surrey election results after all 120 seats on East and West Sussex county councils and 162 seats on two new Surrey councils were up for election. The count also covered partial elections in Hastings, Crawley, Adur and Worthing, with control of several local authorities still to be decided.
Ed Davey in Sussex and Surrey
Ed Davey has been campaigning across Sussex and Surrey as the Liberal Democrats try to turn recent gains into control of the new West Surrey authority. They also want to become at least the largest party in East Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex, after breaking through to win several historically Tory seats in East and West Sussex for the first time in the 2024 General Election.
The party’s targets are spread across both the new councils and the county contests. That leaves the result dependent on multiple counts rather than one clear battleground, with votes in East and West Sussex and the new Surrey authorities all being tallied at the same time.
Reform UK in East Sussex
Reform UK enters the count after winning 57 of the 81 seats in the 2025 Kent County Council elections. Nigel Farage's party expects to do very well in East and West Sussex, adding another force into contests where the Liberal Democrats are also trying to advance.
The Greens already run some councils in the South East, including Hastings, and have previously run Brighton & Hove. In this count, places to watch include Crawley, Worthing, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and Hastings, where local results will shape who has the strongest position across Sussex and Surrey.
Sussex count and council control
The elections come after decades in which the Conservatives have dominated politics in the South East. This count now tests whether that pattern holds across the county councils in East and West Sussex and the two brand new councils in East Surrey and West Surrey.
For voters and councillors waiting on the result, the practical issue is control: which party can claim the new West Surrey authority, and whether the Liberal Democrats can emerge as the largest party in East Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex. Those answers will come from the seat totals as each count is completed.
