Nottinghamshire is represented by eleven members of parliament, of which seven are members of the Labour Party, and four are Conservatives.Kenneth Clarke of Rushcliffe is a former Conservative Chancellor of the exchequer.
Following the 2009 local elections, the County Council is Conservative controlled, a gain from Labour. There are 67 councillors, 35 of which are Conservative, 13 are Labour and 9 are Liberal Democrat. Local government is devolved to seven local borough and district councils, Bassetlaw, Gedling, Newark and Sherwood and Rushcliffe are Conservative controlled whileMansfield is controlled by the local Independent forum. Ashfield and Broxtowe have no overall control but are led by the Labour and the Liberal Democrat groups respectively. In 2007, Nottinghamshire County Council won an Ashden Award for their work converting coal-fired boilers in schools to burn wood pellets.
In 1998 Nottinghamshire had a GDP per capita of £12,000, and a total GDP of £12,023 million. This is compared to a per-capita GDP of £11,848 for the East Midlands, £12,845 for England and £12,548 for the United Kingdom. Nottingham holds the British Insurance and Investment Brokers' Association and works very closely with various trade and union bodies throughout the UK. Nottingham has a GDP per-capita of £17,373, North Nottinghamshire £10,176, and South Nottinghamshire £8,448. In October 2005 the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and Nottingham travel-to-work area 2.4%.
