Photo: Robert Eva · CC BY-SA 2.0No party holds a majority on Welwyn Hatfield Council
Hatfield is run by Welwyn Hatfield Council and Hertfordshire County Council, with Hatfield parish council for local matters. No party holds a majority on either Welwyn Hatfield Council or Hertfordshire County Council. Its MP is Andrew Lewin (Labour), member for Welwyn Hatfield.
£2,514
Band D, a year, the middle band every council sets its tax from.
Where it goes →How Hatfield’s politics has changed since 2021
No majority on Welwyn Hatfield Council
No party holds a majority on Welwyn Hatfield Council. Labour, the largest group, holds 17 of its 47 seats as elected, 7 short of the 24 needed. The Liberal Democrats hold 16, the Conservatives 11 and Reform UK 3. Who’s in charge ↓
Hertfordshire changed hands in 2025
Hertfordshire County Council, which runs schools, social care and roads, went from a Conservative majority (45 of 78 seats in 2021) to no overall control at the May 2025 election: the Liberal Democrats won 31 of 78 seats. Hertfordshire ↓
The 2026 vote
Across Hatfield’s wards, Reform UK took 27.9%, Labour took 21.2% and the Liberal Democrats took 19% of votes in May 2026. In 2024, Reform UK had 1.6%. How Hatfield has voted ↓
Council tax
A Band D bill in Hatfield is £2,514 for 2026–27; Welwyn Hatfield Council keeps 10% of it. The council area’s Band D has risen 56% in ten years, in line with England’s 56%. Council money ↓
Written from the data on this page: Democracy Club results since May 2021, the UK Parliament Members API and MHCLG council tax.
No party has a majority on either council
Seats by party as elected. A party needs 24 of Welwyn Hatfield’s 47 or 40 of Hertfordshire’s 78 seats to run the council alone.
- Labour17
- Liberal Democrat16
- Conservative11
- Reform UK3
Latest election: May 2026.
- Liberal Democrat31+7
- Conservative23−22
- Reform UK13+13
- Green5+4
- Labour5−2
- Independent1no change
Change against the council before the 1 May 2025 election.
Seats are counted from election results: each ward’s most recent winners until its seats are filled. Councillors who have since changed party or resigned aren’t reflected, and which parties lead the council, and who is leader, comes from the council itself.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), elections since May 2021; seats per ward from its EveryElection.
Two tiers of council, and a parish tier
Hatfield has two tiers of council: the county runs the big services, the district the local ones.
Local matters: allotments, play areas, halls, footpaths and benches; it is consulted on planning and adds a precept to the council tax bill. A town council is a parish council by another name.
100% of Hatfield’s residents · Band D precept £124
Bins and recycling, planning, housing, environmental health, leisure, and collecting council tax.
Website ↗Schools, social care, roads and transport, libraries and waste disposal.
Website ↗Who to ask
From GOV.UK’s “Understand how your council works”: in two-tier areas the district or borough runs local services and the county the big ones.
Councils from ONS lookups (wards and councils May 2026, parishes 2025), names and websites from GOV.UK’s local council finder; parish councils from MHCLG’s 2026–27 list of precepting parishes.
From the parish to Westminster
Every elected tier that speaks for Hatfield, from the most recent elections.
- 1Town or parishParish tierHatfield parish council
- 2Welwyn Hatfield Council5 wards · 8 councillorsLukasz Marcin StasiowskiJames BroachJane Oghonweire OtumunyeRose GrewalMark Alexander SmithVaishali ShahSandreni BonfantePaul Mark Zukowskyj
- 3Hertfordshire County Council3 divisions · 3 councillorsPaul Mark ZukowskyjBeth KellyMichael Blissett
- 4Police and crime commissionerHertfordshire Constabulary · elected May 2024Jonathan Ash-Edwards
- 5House of CommonsWelwyn Hatfield
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. Tap an MP’s name for their contact page on parliament.uk.
8 councillors for 5 wards
Wards with at least 2% of the town’s residents, or half their own inside it. Each shows who won its most recent elections, newest first, until its seats are filled.
- Lukasz Marcin StasiowskiLiberal Democrat · May 2026
- James BroachLabour · May 2026
- Jane Oghonweire OtumunyeLabour · May 2024
- Rose GrewalLabour · May 2023
- Mark Alexander SmithReform UK · May 2026
- Vaishali ShahLabour · May 2026
- Sandreni BonfanteLiberal Democrat · May 2026
- Paul Mark ZukowskyjLiberal Democrat · May 2024
Show as a table, with Hertfordshire County Council’s 3 divisions (3 councillors)
| Ward | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield South Westall in Hatfield · 11,399 residents1 seat · May 2026 | 1 | Lukasz Marcin Stasiowski | May 2026 |
| Hatfield Villagesmostly in Hatfield · 10,048 residents3 seats · May 2026, May 2024, May 2023 | 3 | James BroachJane Oghonweire OtumunyeRose Grewal | May 2026, May 2024, May 2023 |
| Hatfield Centralall in Hatfield · 8,317 residents1 seat · May 2026 | 1 | Mark Alexander Smith | May 2026 |
| Hatfield Eastall in Hatfield · 8,109 residents1 seat · May 2026 | 1 | Vaishali Shah | May 2026 |
| Welham Green and Hatfield South48% in Hatfield · 3,688 residents2 seats · May 2026, May 2024 | 2 | Sandreni BonfantePaul Mark Zukowskyj | May 2026, May 2024 |
Hertfordshire County Council: county divisions
| Division | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield South EDmostly in Hatfield · 25,135 residents1 seat · May 2025 | 1 | Paul Mark Zukowskyj | May 2025 |
| Hatfield North EDall in Hatfield · 8,317 residents1 seat · May 2025 | 1 | Beth Kelly | May 2025 |
| Hatfield East EDall in Hatfield · 8,109 residents1 seat · May 2025 | 1 | Michael Blissett | May 2025 |
Councillors can resign, change party or sit as independents between elections; a by-election winner replaces someone not named here. Welwyn Hatfield Council’s website lists who sits now.
Results from Democracy Club’s candidates database (CC BY 4.0; elections since May 2021) and ward seats from its EveryElection, matched to ONS wards (May 2026) and county divisions (May 2025).
Who led each council vote, 2021–2026
Share of all votes cast for candidates in Hatfield’s wards at each scheduled council election since 2021. A gap is a year with no election here.
Seats won at each election
Show as a table
| Party | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 3.3% | 1.6% | 5.3% | 6.1% | 15.5% |
| Labour | 28.5% | 38.1% | 39% | 38.9% | 21.2% |
| Liberal Democrat | 25.4% | 25.6% | 27% | 23.3% | 19% |
| Conservative | 41.4% | 33.4% | 27.4% | 30.2% | 16.5% |
| Reform UK | 0% | 0% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 27.9% |
In 2026, Labour won 2, the Liberal Democrats won 2 and Reform UK won 1 of the 5 seats up in Hatfield’s wards.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0). Where a ward elects several councillors at once, each voter has that many votes; all of them count here.
Welwyn Hatfield council election, May 2026
Results in the wards that make up Hatfield, as declared. Percentages are of votes cast for candidates in each ward; where a ward elects several councillors, each voter has that many votes.
5 wards voted. Not every seat in the town’s wards was up this time.
No election is scheduled yet for Hatfield’s wards in Democracy Club’s list. Councils publish a notice of election about five weeks before polling day.
Who can I vote for? ↗1,832 votes for candidates
2,061 votes for candidates
1,695 votes for candidates
Every ward’s result (2 more)
2,208 votes for candidates
2,055 votes for candidates
Candidates and results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), from councils’ declared results; polling dates from Democracy Club’s EveryElection.
Hatfield is in Welwyn Hatfield constituency
The constituency’s MP and the 4 July 2024 general election, the whole constituency’s result (it reaches beyond Hatfield).
48,455 votes for candidates · majority 3,799
Labour, MP since 4 July 2024.
turnout in July 2024: 48,455 votes from 75,259 registered voters. England: 60%.
Majority 3,799 of 48,455 votes (7.8%): the 149th-narrowest of 543 in England.
MPs and results: UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0); constituencies from ONS (2024 boundaries). Percentages are of valid votes; turnout is votes cast over the electorate.
Hatfield’s Band D council tax is £2,514 a year
Where a Band D bill goes, what it has cost over the years, and what the councils plan to spend per resident.
Welwyn Hatfield Council keeps £252.00 of a Band D bill (10%); the rest goes to the Hatfield parish council, Hertfordshire County Council and the Hertfordshire police and crime commissioner.
Band D since 1993
Welwyn Hatfield’s Band D bill has risen 56% in ten years, from £1,569.35 in 2016–17, in line with England’s average (56%). It was £612.00 in 1993–94.
Your bill by band
A Band D home in Hatfield, 2026–27, before discounts. The Valuation Office Agency’s band search gives any home’s band.
Hertfordshire’s councils
Average Band D in each council area, 2026–27, parish precepts included. Bars start at £2,200.
Council budgets per resident, 2026–27
Show as a table, with Hertfordshire
| Welwyn Hatfield + Hertfordshire | Hatfield’s councils | Hertfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult social care | £475 | £476 | £487 |
| Children’s social care | £219 | £219 | £290 |
| Roads and transport | £51 | £68 | £41 |
| Housing (not council homes’ rents) | £33 | £31 | £61 |
| Bins, street cleaning, environment | £124 | £107 | £119 |
| Libraries, leisure, culture | £55 | £39 | £44 |
| Planning and development | £-7 | £17 | £26 |
| Public health | £54 | £54 | £78 |
| Running the council | £45 | £65 | £59 |
| Other | £1 | £7 | £19 |
| Total, schools apart | £1,093 | £1,124 | £1,234 |
Net budgeted service spending, MHCLG Revenue Account budget 2026–27, per resident (ONS mid-2025 estimates). Both tiers added: Welwyn Hatfield per its residents plus Hertfordshire per the county’s. Schools are left out: academies are paid for directly by government, so council school budgets depend on how many schools have converted. Hertfordshire and England: all their councils together. Police, fire and transport authorities aren’t included.
Band D: MHCLG Band D council tax 2026–27 (each authority’s own figure, excluding parish precepts) and Council Tax statistics for town and parish councils 2026–27; since 1993–94, MHCLG’s area averages including parishes.
Having a say in how Hatfield is run
It takes about five minutes online; the deadline is 12 working days before a poll.
gov.uk ↗Type a postcode to write to each of its councillors and its MP.
WriteToThem ↗GOV.UK sends the report to the council that looks after the road.
gov.uk ↗Council and committee meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
welhat.gov.uk ↗Anyone can comment while an application is open for consultation.
welhat.gov.uk ↗The rules, nomination papers and guidance for council candidates.
Electoral Commission ↗Questions about how Hatfield is run
Which council runs Hatfield?
Hatfield is run by Welwyn Hatfield Council and Hertfordshire County Council. The county council runs schools, social care and roads; the district runs bins, planning and housing.
Does Hatfield have a town council?
Yes: Hatfield has its own parish-tier council (Hatfield parish council; town councils are parish councils by another name), which adds £124 to a Band D bill in 2026–27.
Who is the MP for Hatfield?
Andrew Lewin (Labour) is the MP for Welwyn Hatfield, which covers Hatfield.
How many councillors does Hatfield have?
8 ward councillors represent Hatfield’s 5 wards, and 3 county councillors its county divisions.
When are the next elections in Hatfield?
No election is scheduled yet in Democracy Club’s list for Hatfield’s wards. The next UK general election must be held by August 2029.
How much is council tax in Hatfield?
Band D council tax in Hatfield is £2,514 for 2026–27. Your bill depends on your home’s band, from A (6/9 of Band D) to H (18/9).
Who controls Welwyn Hatfield Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Labour 17 · Liberal Democrat 16 · Conservative 11 · Reform UK 3 of 47 seats; a majority needs 24. The council’s website lists who leads it now.
Who controls Hertfordshire County Council?
As elected, Liberal Democrat 31 · Conservative 23 · Reform UK 13 · Green 5 · Labour 5 · Independent 1 of 78 seats; a majority needs 40.
Who won the 2026 council election in Hatfield?
In Hatfield’s wards on 7 May 2026, Labour 2 · Liberal Democrat 2 · Reform UK 1 of the 5 seats up. Reform UK had the largest share of votes, 27.9%.
Sources: ONS ward, county division, parish, constituency lookups (Census 2021 output areas; Open Government Licence v3.0) · GOV.UK local council finder · Democracy Club candidates (CC BY 4.0) and EveryElection · UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0) · MHCLG Band D council tax, parish precepts and Revenue Account budgets 2026–27 (OGL v3.0) · ONS mid-2025 population estimates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.