Local Democracy Reporting Service

The Conservative Party has tightened its grip on the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council by winning 35 seats.

Despite Labour making huge gains in neighbouring councils, the Tories still have a tight grip over the west London borough with Labour unable to improve on their 2018 result.

The opposition party still has 13 seats with a second Liberal Democrat councillor also being elected.

Across the borough, a total of 146 candidates battled it out for 50 seats across 18 wards.

The Conservatives and Labour had both put forward 50 candidates while there were also 39 Liberal Democrat candidates, four Green candidates, and three Independents.

The night saw little drama with the most excitement coming over the hotly contested Earl’s Court ward.

A recount was held for the seat after there were just eight votes separating the Lib Dems and Tories.

Ultimately the Tories took one seat and the Lib Dems took the other two.

The Conservatives also promised to save Notting Hill Police Station from being turned into luxury housing.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Another victory for the Conservatives in Hillingdon, but the Tories have lost several seats in the west London borough.

Hillingdon, which is home to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, saw 30 seats won by the Tories.

But, Labour has narrowed that majority to seven after gaining four seats.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, PA Media

Westminster City Council’s new leader Adam Hug hailed Labour's victory in the central London borough.

Labour won control of the council from the Tories for the first time since it began in 1964.

Cllr Hug said: “I’m very, very dead very elated, we have made history here in Westminster.

"We had an amazing team of councillors and we have gone out and listened to people across Westminster… the council has ignored their concerns.”

Cllr Hug said he believes Labour won Westminster due to a “mix of local and national issues” and people have felt “taken for granted” by the Tories.

He added: “People were telling us ‘I can’t vote for Boris Johnson any more”.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Down in south London Labour held on to Merton Council overnight - however it wasn't a celebratory night all round for the party.

Merton Council leader Mark Allison lost his seat in the new Wandle ward to the Liberal Democrat candidate Kirsten Galea.

It was one of many seats the Lib Dems managed to gain - 12 in total.

The Lib Dems took nine from the Conservatives and three from Labour.

Jennifer McKiernan
BBC London

Rachel Hadley from Wandsworth said she was proud to have voted Labour and was "really pleased" with the result after decades of Conservative control.

Rushing into work, she said: "This shows a complete lack of faith in the Conservative government and a real disgust for how the Cabinet and Tories in general have behaved.

"Partygate is the obvious thing that had an impact on how people voted.

"I think issues around shipping refugees off to Rwanda and the poor response to people trying to escape Ukraine all made people think twice."

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, EPA

Sir Keir Starmer said the Labour Party has changed, after the party won a council in a Jewish-populated area in north London.

Outlining the importance for the party to gain Barnet after the antisemitism rows during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership,

Sir Keir told Labour supporters in Barnet: "My first words as leader of our party, when I took over in April 2020, was that we were going to root out antisemitism from our party, not tolerate it any more in our party, change our party.

"I said the test of that will be whether voters trust us again in places like Barnet, and they've done it.

"That is your hard work, that is the change we've collectively brought about in our Labour Party, the trust that we're building, putting us on the road to Number 10, on the road to that general election.

"That change these last two years has been really hard for us as a party, but we've done it, we've built those solid foundations, we've won here in Barnet, we've won across London, we're winning from coast to coast."

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, PA Media

More from Sir Keir Starmer's photo call up in Barnet.

The Labour leader is in a buoyant mood and described the party's gains in Barnet as "fantastic" and has said the party is "back on track".

Sir Keir met supporters in north London on Friday morning where he celebrated the party's win from the Conservatives.

He said: "This is a big turning point for us. From the depths of 2019 in that general election, back on track, winning in the north. Cumberland! Southampton! We've changed Labour and now we're seeing the results of that."

He added: "What brilliant teams we've got, all the fantastic work we've put in. "When it comes to London, you can hardly believe those names come off our lips. Wandsworth!

"They've been saying for years 'You'll never take Wandsworth from us.' We've just done it! Westminster! It's an astonishing result."

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

A light-hearted moment from last night's election came in north London at the Camden Council election count.

One of the surprise wins was Adrian Cohen, who went to bed because he did not expect to win a seat for Labour in Hampstead Town.

He returned to the count after finding out he will represent the traditionally safe Tory seat with Conservative incumbent Stephen Stark.

BBC Breakfast

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden downplayed Conservative losses and Labour gains in the local elections.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Of course we've had some difficult results and you can see that in London.

"I would say, though, that we are mid-term and it's quite a mixed picture because you look elsewhere, whether that's in Hartlepool or Nuneaton and Thurrock, we've actually made gains and I think if you take the whole picture of this, it really doesn't demonstrate that Labour has the momentum to form the next government".

He also said: "This isn't like what Tony Blair got in say 1995 two years before his election victory, they were making 1,800 gains.

"If you look at Ed Miliband (he) managed to make 800 gains in 2011 and still not win the election".

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Reuters

Twenty London boroughs have declared results - another 12 in the capital are still do so with the majority expected on Friday.

These include Bromley, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Harrow, Islington, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham and Newham.

Croydon and Tower Hamlets are expected to declare on Saturday.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us here is a quick recap of a hat-rick of Labour Party victories in key Conservative flagship areas.

Here are some of the key results so far:

- Westminster had been run by the Conservatives continuously since the council was created in 1964. Now it is in Labour hands - an outcome not predicted by many, but one that symbolises the slump in Tory support in the capital.

- Wandsworth is a long-standing Labour target in London and this year the party has finally won power from the Conservatives, who had been in control of the council since 1978 and had prided themselves on charging residents one of the lowest average levels of council tax in the country.

- Barnet proved to be third time lucky for Labour. It has been the party's top London target in the last three local elections. The party failed narrowly to win control in 2014, while 2018 saw the council swing further towards the Conservatives. This time Labour has won a hefty majority of 19.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Over in Richmond-upon-Thames in south-west London the Tories have all but been wiped out.

The council was a Liberal Democrat stronghold with the Conservatives only holding 11 seats.

It meant that going into the 2022 local elections, the Lib Dems held a majority of 28.

That's now been extended after the Lib Dems won 48 out of the 54 seats available.

The Green Party took home five seats, while the Tories only secured one.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, PA Media

Sir Keir Starmer has been welcomed by a cheering crowd of supporters as he arrived in Barnet.

The Labour leader shouted the names of councils the party had gained overnight in the local elections, including Barnet, Wandsworth and Westminster, with each one being applauded.

Sir Keir said the results "sent a message to the Prime Minister that Britain deserves better" as he thanked the Labour team in Barnet for its efforts.

Loss of totemic London councils hits Johnson hardpublished at 08:34 British Summer Time 6 May 2022

08:34 BST 6 May 2022

Tim Donovan
BBC London, Political Editor

In 1990 Conservative success in Wandsworth and Westminster enabled then party chairman Kenneth Baker to spin disastrous results overall into a kind of victory. Now we’ve seen the inverse of that.

While there may be some reasons for Boris Johnson to be cheerful in parts of the north and the Midlands, it will be eclipsed by the loss of these totemic councils. It is a dangerous political moment for him.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan listed every one of the previous Tory leaders who managed to hang on to them – even in bleak times. He has more reason than most to understand the Labour agony it’s entailed. As a local councillor he fought – and failed -to dislodge the Tories from Wandsworth over more than a decade.

Westminster was arguably even more sacrosanct for the Conservatives. Always Tory, the party now felled by what looks at this stage to be a toxic mix of economic woes and distaste for the Covid lockdown antics at the heart of its own SW1 postcode – layered over existing unhappiness about Brexit.

With Labour also winning Barnet for the first time, they now control a record 24 of the capital’s councils. The Conservatives are down to four, not seen since the dying Major days.

Their councillor base is decimated, losing 10 out of 11 councillors in Richmond for instance, along with a handful in Hillingdon, the borough where Boris Johnson is an MP. His parliamentary colleagues in London constituencies will be alarmed.

The new Labour leader of Westminster City Council describes his party's victory as a "huge privilege".

Labour has won a majority on the council, which has been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1964.

Speaking at the count, Adam Hug says: "We are delighted that people in Westminster put their trust in us. It’s a huge privilege.

"We are going to work really hard to put their interests first over the next four years."

He adds the council has "big challenges ahead".

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

Image source, Getty Images

In Dulwich Village, one of the big issues locally were the road closures and the low traffic neighbourhood (LTN).

Planters block roads to through traffic but opponents complain it pushes congestion onto other roads outside the scheme.

The local Conservatives and Lib Dems campaigned to get rid of them - but Labour have held onto the ward convincingly.

If you look at London’s results through that prism - and clearly there are many other issues, and I appreciate this is a narrow view - the councils which were reticent to introduce schemes to improve walking and cycling - do seem to have swung to Labour.

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

Image source, AVRLONDON/MAYOR OF LONDON

Wandsworth and Westminster Councils never aligned with the Sadiq Khan's mayoral policies on cycle lanes, pedestrianisation and LTNs - will that change now?

Could we soon see the full pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, for example, which has been promised for as long as I can remember?

Certainly, active travel supporters see these results as a huge vindication of their policies on issues like low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and school streets.

I think it will give these policies added impetus.

You'd think now that political will at mayoral and council level on active travel will now be aligned.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Reuters

The Labour Party has won control of three flagship Conservative London boroughs in the local elections.

Wandsworth and Barnet borough councils, and Westminster City Council, all previously controlled by the Conservatives, are now in Labour hands.

It is the first time Labour has ever won Barnet and Westminster since both councils were created in the 1960s.

The new Labour leader of Wandsworth suggested his party's victory signalled "time for a change" at the top of government.

Barnet's Conservative group leader said the result did not "bode well" for the Conservatives at the next general election, as the partygate scandal and the cost of living crisis impacts on the party's vote share.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Reuters

Wandsworth first turned blue in 1978 and has been in Tory control ever since, until Labour's overnight gain.

Reportedly Margaret Thatcher's favourite Conservative council, the authority was an early proponent of Thatcherite policies, including the right-to-buy and the privatisation of local services.

Wandsworth boasts one of the lowest average council tax rates in England, with Boris Johnson pointing to the low rates as an example of Conservative party competence in local office.

The borough's new Labour leader Simon Hogg promised to "build a compassionate council that truly listens, and keep that same low council tax".

He added: "When we were calling around on voters we didn't even have to raise partygate, we didn't have to mention Boris Johnson.

"People have formed their own views on this Government, so I am afraid it is time for change at the top as well."

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, PA Media

Theresa May's former chief of staff Lord Barwell said the local election results were "catastrophic" in London and should be a "wake-up call".

The former Conservative Croydon Central MP said on Twitter: "Wandsworth & Westminster were flagship councils.

"We held them during the Blair honeymoon.

"We held them during austerity.

"We held them under Theresa May.

"Losing them should be a wake up call for the Conservative Party."