All the signs were that there'd be fireworks in the 2026 London borough election. We weren't disappointed. Rip up those political maps, so dominated by the red of Labour for over 15 years. A new colour palette is required to add to teal and green to red, orange and blue.
Let's start with Labour. Heading into these elections controlling 21 of 32 boroughs, with nearly two-thirds of London's 1,817 councillors, exhausted party activists staggered out of counts left in charge of nine town halls, having lost 460 councillors. Inner London red bastions fell like dominos – majorities evaporated in Lambeth, Southwark, Haringey and Brent. Hackney, Lewisham and Waltham Forest snatched by the Greens.
So seismic is this election that it ended 55 years of continuous Labour control in Haringey and Lewisham. Further evidence of Labour's shifting centre of gravity is the party now having more councillors in Wandsworth than in Lambeth, Brent, Haringey, Newham and Hackney. Hammersmith and Fulham is now Labour's biggest majority in the capital.
London Labour may take solace from the fact the party is still in control of more town halls and has more councillors than any other party and performed better than in the 2006 shellacking. That maybe so, but there's no getting away from what was a dreadful night, cut to ribbons by their traditional supporters across in the capital. Two Labour council leaders – in Camden and Haringey – lost their seats.
Up there as the story of the night is the Green party surge, becoming the third force in London local government. Remarkably, the Greens won just 18 councillors London-wide four years ago. Now with 297 councillors, the party exceeded 18 in seven boroughs. Mayoral contests in Lewisham and Hackney were won by some margin the party took control of Waltham Forest and are the biggest group on both Lambeth and Haringey council.
Ordinarily, with Labour government mid-term blues, the Tories make serious gains in London. Heading into these elections with a record low number of councillors, the Tories did swell their ranks – but by just three. Better than a fall and when contrasted against losing 563 Tory councillors nationwide, the party performed better in the capital than beyond the M25.
But this small increase in councillors masks some serious subplots. Let's start with the good news – an increased majority in Harrow, Jason Perry narrowly re-elected Mayor of Croydon and Reform held off in Bromley and Bexley. Of the trio of boroughs lost to Labour in 2022, Westminster was definitively won back.
But wipe out in Havering and Sutton will worry the Tories. Falling short of winning a majority in both Wandsworth and Barnet must be frustrating where remarkably both are on a knife edge, with a single councillor the kingmaker in each. Six Tory councils is still their third lowest total since 1965.
Up there as the story of the night is the Green party surge, becoming the third force in London local government. Remarkably, the Greens won just 18 councillors London-wide four years ago. Now with 297 councillors, the party exceeded 18 in seven boroughs. Mayoral contests in Lewisham and Hackney were won by some margin the party took control of Waltham Forest and are the biggest group on both Lambeth and Haringey council.
Reform UK were the dog that didn't bark – except in one borough. Nigel Farage visited east and southeast London, launching the party's campaign in Croydon, claiming Reform would win the borough. Yet just two of the 70 councillors in Croydon went Reform. In Bromley and Bexley, two other boroughs where Reform fancied their chances, the party managed just a handful of councillors. Just one Reform councillor was elected in all inner London. Havering was a different story – leaping from no councillors in 2022 to 39 and taking control of their first (and so far only) London borough.
The Lib Dems reinforced their already solid orange south-west London strongholds and wiped out the remaining 20 Tory councillors in Sutton. Richmond becomes the capital's only one-party borough. But failing to snatch top target Merton will hurt, as will not exploiting Labour's woes elsewhere in the capital.
Another dog that didn't bark were independent parties in east London. Outside of Tower Hamlets, where Aspire's Lutfur Rahman tightened his grip, the expected breakthroughs in Newham and Redbridge didn't materialise.
One product our fragmenting politics is the return of no overall control (NOC) councils – nine is a record and three go NOC for the very first time (Wandsworth, Enfield and Haringey). A fascinating few weeks lie ahead as the parties cajole, entice and love bomb each other in their attempts at forming administrations.
In five NOC boroughs, new kids on the block the Greens are either in the driving seat or the kingmakers. Who – if anyone – will the Greens side with? Or who, to that matter, will want to side with them? Adding more spice, many senior Greens are defectors from Labour, souring relations. It'll be hard to put aside these bitter rivalries for the common good.
I'll end with a final observation. Three boroughs are now in the hands of parties who won zero councillors four years ago – Lewisham, Havering and Waltham Forest. Nothing illustrates the level of change we've witnessed – and the relative inexperience that comes with this – better than this statistic. But with few London boroughs in a flush financial state, further cuts ahead next year and the demand for statutory services rising exponentially, there's little time for an apprenticeship.
Nick Bowes is managing director of Insight and Public Affairs at LCA, and a former long-time adviser to Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
