2006 London local elections

Local government elections took place in London, and some other parts of the United Kingdom on Thursday 4 May 2006. Polling stations were open between 7am and 10pm.

2006 London local elections
4 May 2006

All 1,861 on all 32 London boroughs
Turnout38.9% (7.1%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Bob Neill Ken Livingstone Graham Tope
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Popular vote 746,177 596,570 443,772
Percentage 34.9% 27.9% 20.7%
Swing 0.8% 6.2% 0.1%
Councils 14 7 3
Councils +/– 6 8
Councillors 785 684 316
Councillors +/– 131 182 9

Results by Borough in 2006.

All London borough council seats were up for election. Mayoral contests were held in the London Boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham, and Newham.

The London Conservatives slightly increased their vote share, made 131 council seat gains and won control of 6 new councils, while London Labour saw its vote share decline by 6% and lost 8 councils and 182 seats. The 2006 result was one of Labour's worst local election results in London, with its share of the vote (27.9%), its number of council seats (684) and number of councils (7) all at their lowest levels since 1968. Conversely, the Conservatives won the most seats, the most councils and the most votes in London for the first time since 1982.

The Labour decline was also accompanied by a rise in the number of minor party councillors, mostly concentrated in specific local authorities. Respect won 15 council seats, the British National Party won 14 and the London Green Party won 12. The Christian Peoples Alliance and the Socialist Party also won two seats each. In total, the election saw 76 minor party or independent councillors elected in London, a figure which remains the highest on record.

Altogether, minor parties and independents won 17% of the vote, the highest ever vote share for 'other' parties until the local elections of 2014.

Results summary

Party[1][2] Votes won % votes Change Seats % seats Change Councils Change
Conservative 746,177 34.9 +0.8 785 42.2 +133 14 +6
Labour 596,570 27.9 -6.0 684 36.8 -182 7 -8
Liberal Democrats 443,772 20.7 +0.1 316 17.0 +9 3 ±0
Green 169,160 7.9 +2.4 12 0.6 +11 0 ±0
Respect 38,662 1.8 n/a 15 0.8 +15 0 ±0
BNP 21,625 1.0 +0.6 14 0.8 +14 0 ±0
Others 123,713 5.8 +0.4 35 1.9 +2 0 ±0
No overall control n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 8 +2
  • Turnout: 2,284,882 voters cast ballots, a turnout of 38.9% (+7.1%).[3]

Council results

Council Previous control Result Details
Barking and Dagenham Labour Labour Details
Barnet Conservative Conservative Details
Bexley Labour Conservative Details
Brent Labour No overall control Details
Bromley Conservative Conservative Details
Camden Labour No overall control Details
Croydon Labour Conservative Details
Ealing Labour Conservative Details
Enfield Conservative Conservative Details
Greenwich Labour Labour Details
Hackney Labour Labour Details
Hammersmith and Fulham Labour Conservative Details
Haringey Labour Labour Details
Harrow No overall control Conservative Details
Havering No overall control Conservative Details
Hillingdon No overall control Conservative Details
Hounslow Labour No overall control Details
Islington Liberal Democrats No overall control Details
Kensington and Chelsea Conservative Conservative Details
Kingston upon Thames Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Lambeth No overall control Labour Details
Lewisham Labour No overall control Details
Merton Labour No overall control Details
Newham Labour Labour Details
Redbridge Conservative Conservative Details
Richmond upon Thames Conservative Liberal Democrats Details
Southwark No overall control No overall control Details
Sutton Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Tower Hamlets Labour Labour Details
Waltham Forest No overall control No overall control Details
Wandsworth Conservative Conservative Details
Westminster Conservative Conservative Details

Overall councillor numbers

The largest party in terms of councils and councillors became the Conservative Party after this election, with losses by the Labour Party and a small increase in share of the vote to the Liberal Democrats. Smaller national parties made significant gains, with the British National Party and Respect having the second-largest number of councillors in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Tower Hamlets (respectively). The Green Party also saw its gains concentrated on one area to achieve the third most councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham. Scattered across boroughs, unaffiliated residents groups won 24 council seats.[4]

London local elections 2006

Councillor statistics

Party Seats Gain/loss
  Conservative 785 +132
  Labour 685 -181
  Liberal Democrats 317 +8
  Respect 15 +12
  BNP 14 +14
  Green 12 +10
  CPA 3 +2
  Socialist Alternative 2 0
  Local 24
  Independent 5

Mayoral results

In three London boroughs the executive function of the council is a directly elected mayor. The mayoral elections take place at the same time as councillor elections in those boroughs.

Mayoralty 2002 2006
Hackney Jules Pipe (Labour) Jules Pipe (Labour)
Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock (Labour) Sir Steve Bullock (Labour)
Newham Robin Wales (Labour) Robin Wales (Labour)

Borough result maps

References

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