2021 London Assembly election

The next election to the London Assembly is due to be held on 6 May 2021, alongside the 2021 London mayoral election. The mayoral and Assembly elections were originally to be held on 7 May 2020, but on 13 March 2020 it was announced the election would be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] It will be the sixth election since the assembly was established in 2000. Due to the previous term being extended to 5 years, those elected will serve only a three-year term until the next election in 2024.

Next London Assembly election
6 May 2021
All 25 seats in the London Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Len Duvall Susan Hall
Party Labour Conservative
Leader's seat Greenwich and Lewisham Londonwide
Last election 12 seats 8 seats
Current seats 12 8
Seats needed 1 5
 
Leader Caroline Russell Caroline Pidgeon
Party Green Liberal Democrats
Leader's seat Londonwide Londonwide
Last election 2 seats 1 seat
Current seats 2 1
Seats needed 11 12
London Assembly constituencies

Five parties had AMs in the fifth Assembly: London Labour led by Len Duvall; London Conservatives led by Gareth Bacon and latterly Susan Hall;[2] London Greens led by Caroline Russell; UKIP London represented by David Kurten (as part of the Brexit Alliance group led by its former leader Peter Whittle); and the London Liberal Democrats led by Caroline Pidgeon.

Background

2016–2019

In the 2016 local elections, the Labour Party won the post of London Mayor, as well as 12 seats in the London Assembly elections. The party polled over 1 million votes, which represented the best-ever result for any political party in a London Assembly election. The Conservative Party were the runners-up, winning 8 seats, followed by the Green Party (2 seats), the UK Independence Party (2 seats) and the Liberal Democrats (1 seat). The Women's Equality Party, meanwhile, achieved 3.5% of the regional list vote, failing to reach the 5% minimum threshold required for representation.

The following year, in the snap election on 8 June 2017, Labour polled 55% of the popular vote in London, winning 49 of 73 London seats in the British House of Commons. In the 2018 borough elections across the capital, Labour saw their best result in over 45 years, winning 47% of the vote. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Green party also gained seats across London.

UKIP Assembly Member Peter Whittle left the party in December 2018. He and the remaining UKIP Assembly Member David Kurten formed their own Brexit Alliance group on the Assembly.[3] Kurten subsequently also left UKIP.[4]

2019 elections


In 2019, London was involved in two nationwide elections.

In the May 2019 European Parliament elections, the Liberal Democrats came first in London; winning the most votes in the London region with 27% and gaining three MEPs, their best result in the party's history. The Labour Party came second, with 24% of the vote, losing two seats.[5] The Brexit Party gained two MEPs and Greens won 12.5% of the vote, holding their one seat. The Conservative Party failed to get a single MEP elected in London for the first time in the history of the party.

In the general election at the end of 2019, there was no net change in the number of seats for each party, although four constituencies in London changed hands. Across London, Labour comfortably won the most seats.[6][7] Two members of the London Assembly were elected to Parliament: the Conservative group leader Gareth Bacon and Labour member Florence Eshalomi. Susan Hall replaced Bacon as Conservative group leader, and both Bacon and Eshalomi announced that they would not seek re-election at the 2020 London Assembly election.[8]

Electoral system

The members of the Assembly are elected through a combination of both first past the post as well as closed list proportional representation; this system is commonly referred as the additional member system. 14 members are elected in single member constituencies with the candidate receiving the largest number of votes becoming the Assembly Member for that constituency. An additional 11 members are also elected from the whole of London — with parties creating lists of up to 25 candidates — for a party to be included it needs to attain at least 5% of the vote across London. This process divides the remaining seats proportionally to the vote share of the parties with the use of the modified D'Hondt method allocating the seats. This system ensures proportionality with the 11 additional members being allocated in a corrective manner.[9][10]

Campaign

The London Labour Party changed its selection process for assembly members so that party members select new candidates.[11][12] The party started an investigation into a dispute over a "trigger ballot" organised by Momentum members to deselect Florence Eshalomi, Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark.[13][14]

The Conservatives intend to stand candidates. Their constituency candidate for the North East, Ben Seifret, stood down and joined the Lib Dems in 2019.[15]

Nominations for the Green Party's list candidates closed in January 2019. Their final list was headed by their two current Assembly Members, Sian Berry (also the mayoral candidate) and Caroline Russell. The other three individuals who sought the mayoral nomination are also all Assembly candidates: Shahrar Ali (list candidate in 2016), Peter Underwood and former Liberal Democrat Zack Polanski.[16] Other candidates include Benali Hamdache (list candidate in 2016; sought to be the Green mayoral candidate in 2016, losing to Berry).[17]

The Liberal Democrats announced a shortlist of 15 people to be list candidates. These were voted on by the party membership, with the results announced in late November 2018.[18][19] The candidate list was reshuffled in May 2019 following the withdrawal of Lucy Salek, originally placed third on the list.

Candidates

Constituency candidates need to submit a deposit of £1000, which is returned if they get 5% of the vote. A London-wide list requires a deposit of £5000, returnable if the list gets 2.5% of the vote.[20]

Constituency candidates
Constituency Labour[21] Conservative Green[22] Lib Dems[23] Others
Barnet & Camden Anne Clarke[lower-alpha 1] Roberto Weeden-Sanz Kirsten de Keyser Marisha Ray
Bexley & Bromley Stefano Borella Peter Fortune[24][lower-alpha 1] Kate Matos Alan Tweddle
Brent & Harrow Krupesh Hirani[lower-alpha 1] Molly Samuel-Leport Shaka Lish Anton Georgiou
City & East Unmesh Desai (incumbent) Nick Vandyke Tim Kiely Richard Flowers
Croydon & Sutton Patsy Cummings Neil Garratt[lower-alpha 1] Peter Underwood Claire Bonham
Ealing & Hillingdon Onkar Sahota (incumbent) Gregory Stafford Marijn van de Geer Hussain Khan
Enfield & Haringey Joanne McCartney (incumbent) Lee David-Sanders Jarelle Francis Dawn Barnes
Greenwich & Lewisham Len Duvall (incumbent) Charlie Davis Rosamund Kissi-Debrah Ade Fatukasi
Havering & Redbridge Judith Garfield Keith Prince (incumbent) Melanie Collins Thomas Clarke
Lambeth & Southwark Marina Ahmad[lower-alpha 1] Hannah Ginnett Claire Sheppard Florence Cyrot
Merton & Wandsworth Leonie Cooper (incumbent) Louise Calland Pippa Maslin Sue Wixley
North East Sem Moema[lower-alpha 1] Emma Best Caroline Russell Kate Pothalingam
South West Candice Atterton Nicholas Rogers[lower-alpha 1] Andrée Frieze Gareth Roberts
West Central Rita Begum Tony Devenish (incumbent) Zack Polanski Jessie Venegas
  1. Though this constituency was won by this party it is standing a new candidate.

London-wide list candidates
2021 London Assembly election (London-wide)[21][25][26][27]
List Candidates Votes % ±
Conservative Shaun Bailey, Andrew Boff, Susan Hall, Emma Best, Selina Seesunkur, Toby Williams, Ahmereen Reza, Tim Briggs, Simon Hoar, John Riley, Julian Gallant
Green Siân Berry, Caroline Russell, Zack Polanski, Benali Hamdache, Gulnar Hasnain, Shahrar Ali, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Ben Fletcher, Scott Ainslie, Hannah Graham, Peter Underwood
Labour Elly Baker, Sakina Sheikh, Liam Young, Preston Tabois, Murad Qureshi, Miriam Mirwitch
Liberal Democrats Caroline Pidgeon, Hina Bokhari, Rob Blackie, Chris Maines, Joyce Onstad, Irina von Wiese, Hussain Khan, Michael Bukola, Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, Ade Fatukasi, Charley Hasted
Women's Equality Harini Iyengar, Tabitha Morton, Christine Dean, Rebecca Manson-Jones, Guilene Marcor, Pamela Ritchie, Leila Fazal, Sarabajaya Kumar, Nikki Uppal, Jenn Selby, Sellisha Lockyer

David Kurten, who was elected to the Assembly as a UKIP candidate, left the party and announced his intention to stand as an independent candidate for the mayoralty and the Assembly.[28][4] He subsequently formed a new party, The Heritage Party.[29]

Assembly members not standing for re-election

Opinion polls

Constituency
Pollster Client Date(s)
conducted		 Sample
size		 Lab Con Green Lib Dem Others Lead
YouGov Queen Mary University of London 2–6 Mar 2020 1,002 47% 31% 9% 11% –[lower-alpha 1] 16%
2016 Assembly election 5 May 2016 — 43.5% 31.1% 9.1% 7.5% 8.8% 12.4%

London wide vote
Pollster Client Date(s)
conducted		 Sample
size		 Lab Con Green Lib Dem Others Lead
YouGov Queen Mary University of London 2–6 Mar 2020 1,002 45% 29% 12% 10% –[lower-alpha 1] 16%
2016 Assembly election 5 May 2016 — 40.3% 29.2% 8.0% 6.3% 7.4% 11.1%

Notes
  1. Brexit Party: 2%

See also

References
  1. "Local elections postponed for a year over coronavirus". BBC News. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  2. @GLAConservative (17 December 2019). "We're pleased to announce that @Councillorsuzie is our new leader. 💙💪
    🗣 "As Sadiq Khan's unsuccessful mayoralty draws to a close, we will champion a new path for London.""     (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. "Ukip London Assembly members form new Brexit Alliance group amid Tommy Robinson chaos". London Evening Standard. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  4. Mathewson, Jessie (28 January 2020). "David Kurten announces run for Mayor of London". Times Series. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  5. "Lib Dems top London European vote". 27 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  6. correspondent, Jamie Grierson Home affairs (13 December 2019). "London still a 'Labour city' after night of few changes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  7. "General Election 2019: As it happened in London". BBC News. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  8. "New London MPs will step down from City Hall roles in May". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  9. Matters, Your Vote (24 September 2018). "London Mayor and Assembly". Your Vote Matters. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  10. "The Voting Systems". London Elects.
  11. Jessica Elgot (5 November 2018). "Labour London assembly members face reselection fight". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  12. Sophia Sleigh (16 March 2019). "Momentum bids to push Sadiq Khan manifesto to Left". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  13. "Labour accused of London Assembly deselection 'stitch-up'". 30 April 2019.
  14. "Probe into London Labour 'deselection plot'". 1 May 2019.
  15. "Conservative London Assembly candidate quits over 'direction the party is taking'". OnLondon. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  16. "New year, new structures and new policies - Green news round up week 1". Bright-green.org. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  17. "Green Party reveals full list of runners for London Mayoral and Assembly spots | the Green Party".
  18. "Lib Dem shortlist for London Mayor and GLA list published". Markpack.org.uk. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  19. "Lib Dems announce results for London Assembly list selection". Markpack.org.uk. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  20. https://www.londonelects.org.uk/im-candidate/nominations
  21. Chappell, Elliot; Rodgers, Sienna (20 February 2020). "Corbynsceptics score victories in London Assembly candidate selections". LabourList. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  22. "Elections". london.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  23. "Full set of Liberal Democrat candidates for London Assembly unveiled". Mark Pack. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  24. https://twitter.com/Suraj_Sharma/status/1235701959027392514
  25. Party, Green (14 February 2019). "We have an incredible team of people ready to represent Londoners on the @LondonAssembly. Here's the full list of our 2020 candidates pic.twitter.com/MEn31EGyoy". @TheGreenParty. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  26. "London 2020 team". London Liberal Democrats.
  27. "Meet the Candidates".
  28. "David Kurten".
  29. https://twitter.com/davidkurten
  30. Cumiskey, Lucas. "Jennette Arnold announces she won't stand for re-election to London Assembly". Islington Gazette. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  31. "New London MPs will step down from City Hall roles in May". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  32. Rodgers, Sienna (5 February 2020). "Labour First reveal slate of candidates for London Assembly selection race". Labourlist.org. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  33. Osley, Richard (11 January 2019). "Andrew Dismore to step down as London Assembly member". Camden New Journal.
  34. "Labour selects Krupesh Hirani for Brent and Harrow seat in upcoming London election | EasternEye". Eastern Eye. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.