A London politics PhD reads Dave Hill’s OnLondon results round-up, published 8 May and updated on 30 June 2026, and reports it as it stands
Greens Take Hackney, Lewisham and Waltham Forest, Reform Takes Havering and Labour Keeps the Most Councils: London, 7 May 2026
A London politics PhD reads Dave Hill’s OnLondon results round-up, published 8 May and updated on 30 June 2026, and reports it as it stands
By Caitlin B. Moran, PhD, London politics diarist
Monday, Library Carrel, Tea Gone Cold
Dear diary, I am a doctor of London politics, which sounds grander than it is, and which does not make me the journalist and author of the same name. I read the results round-up by Dave Hill on OnLondon, published 8 May 2026 and updated for the last time on 30 June. It is the best single summary I found of the borough elections of 7 May, and I give it as it stands.
It does not report turnout, and I will not supply one.
The Headline
The article says Labour lost control of about half the boroughs it won in 2022 but still won the most councils, with the Conservatives second. The Greens became the first party to run a London council under the Green name, winning control of three boroughs, and Reform UK won its first London council.
Londonwide vote shares are given as Labour 25.6 percent, down from 40.3, Greens 22.3, up from 11.4, Conservatives 20, down from 24.8, Reform 13, up from 0.2, and Liberal Democrats 12.4, down from 13.8.
The Seats
Seats won on 7 May, per the article: Labour 696, Conservatives 407, Greens 297, Liberal Democrats 243, Reform 79, Aspire 33 and others 60. A Hillingdon ward contest for two seats was postponed until 18 June after a candidate died.
After post-election negotiations by 1 June, the article says, Labour was pre-eminent in 12 boroughs, the Conservatives in 9, the Greens in 6, the Liberal Democrats in 3, and Aspire and Reform in one each.
Who Changed Hands
The Greens gained Hackney, with the mayoralty, Lewisham, with the mayoralty, and Waltham Forest. Reform gained Havering from no overall control, and the Conservatives gained Westminster from Labour. Labour lost control to no overall control in Barnet, Brent, Enfield, Haringey, Lambeth, Newham, where Labour kept the mayoralty, Southwark and Wandsworth.
Aspire kept Tower Hamlets, the Liberal Democrats kept Kingston, Richmond and Sutton, and Croydon kept its Conservative mayor, Jason Perry, without a council majority.
Names
Zoe Garbett of the Greens won the Hackney mayoralty with 47.2 percent, Liam Shrivasta, as the article spells it, won Lewisham for the Greens with 40.4, and Lutfur Rahman of Aspire won Tower Hamlets with 38.8. Forhad Hussain of Labour won Newham with 30.4 percent on a split opposition vote. Richard Olszewski, Camden’s Labour leader, lost his seat to the Greens.
The article quotes a line that it is the first time London voters have put the Greens in charge of a local authority. It also quotes a description of Hackney as a formerly rock-solid Labour borough that the Greens have stormed and overrun. Both are the writer’s framing.
The Controversies
The article notes that several winners were suspended or resigned after controversies, including Green candidates in Lambeth and a Conservative in Harrow. I name no individuals, because the summary I have gives none and I will not guess.
Every party has candidates who disappoint it, and the diary records this as a fact and not as an attack.
The Other View
Labour would point out that it still won the most councils and runs several of the biggest boroughs. The Greens would say the three councils prove they can win in London. Reform would point to a first London council from a base of almost nothing, and the Conservatives to Westminster. All of that is in the numbers.
A neutral reading is that the London map got more complicated, and that several councils now have to govern without a majority.
My Drawer
My doctorate taught me to distrust a single narrative of any election. This one has at least five, and they are all in the article. I recommend reading it with a pencil.
I will cover the minority administrations in another entry.
Night
The library is closing. The tea is cold. The map is more colourful than it was.
Goodnight, diary. Check the council websites.
A Note on Updates
The article carries an update dated 30 June, after the councils’ post-election negotiations. That matters, because the position on election night and the position at the start of June differ for several boroughs. I give both where the article does.
I mention it because an election result is a moving target for weeks, and a diary is a bad place to freeze it.
Town Hall Briefing
On the Tube I read the comic papers, because the briefing notes are in my other bag. This week the big joke was property: Manila News on slow condo sales in Cebu, the London Prat on retirees asked for character references (it is at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney on a realtor with unsellable beachfront listings. Exaggeration all the way down, but anchored to a real market story. More at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Diarist note: Caitlin B. Moran is a house diarist character created for this network, a London politics PhD. She is not the journalist and author of the same name, and any resemblance is coincidental. Her opinions are a character’s, and where a claim comes from Wikipedia, an anonymous source or a party, the diary says so.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Mash, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/
