Barnsley. May 7 2026 result and what's next

What happened on May 7

Seats won and overall control

After May 7

Reform UK majority

Council size: 63 seats · 63 up on May 7

Reform UK

42 of 63 seats

Won 42 on May 7 · had 0 before · majority

Next election

May 2030

Whole council every 4 years.

Post-May 7 composition

Every party's seat count on the new council

Reform UK

42

Labour

11

Lib Dem

8

Independent / Other

2

Pre-May-7 composition is the latest OCD snapshot of who held each seat; post is pre minus seats up plus actual winners.

How accurate was the model here?

Our 7 May 2026 forecast for Barnsley

48% 10 / 21 winners called correctly across this council's wards

5.66pp major-party MAE, average gap between predicted and actual share

-6.96pp Reform UK signed bias, positive = predicted hot, negative = predicted cold

Locked, sha256-witnessed forecast scored against the actual count. See the full national accuracy audit →

Our locked May 7 forecast

The pre-election prediction

Reform UK

21

Labour

21

Green Party

8

Independent

5

Conservative

3

Lib Dem

3

English Democrats

1

SDP

1

This is the seats-on-the-ballot projection we published before polls opened, used here for accuracy comparison only.

All wards

Per-ward forecast vs actual

Ward	Our top pick	Actual winner	Predicted share	Confidence
Athersley & New Lodge	Reform UK	Reform UK	51.4%	low
Central	Labour	Labour	37.2%	high
Cudworth	Labour	Labour	47.1%	high
Darfield & Great Houghton	Reform UK	Reform UK	51.4%	low
Darton East	Lib Dem	Lib Dem	38.9%	high
Darton West	Labour	Reform UK	31.6%	high
Dearne North	Labour	Reform UK	43.3%	high
Dearne South	Labour	Reform UK	39.5%	high
Dodworth, Stainborough & Tankersley	Reform UK	Reform UK	51.4%	low
Hoyland Milton	Labour	Reform UK	39.4%	high
Kingstone	Lib Dem	Lib Dem	35.9%	high
Monk Bretton	Reform UK	Reform UK	32.0%	high
North East	Labour	Reform UK	36.7%	high
Old Town	Labour	Labour	34.5%	high
Penistone East	Reform UK	Labour	31.2%	high
Penistone West	Reform UK	Lib Dem	31.0%	high
Rockingham	Independent	Reform UK	33.1%	high
Royston	Labour	Reform UK	37.1%	high
Stairfoot	Labour	Reform UK	44.1%	high
Wombwell	Labour	Reform UK	44.4%	high
Worsbrough	Reform UK	Reform UK	31.6%	high

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