Labour has retained control of Ealing Council following the local elections but lost 13 seats in the process. It will be a historic fifth consecutive term of governance for Labour.
The Liberal Democrats saw a surge in their seats on the council, up by seven to 13 councillors.
The Green Party also had much to celebrate, gaining five new councillors. The Conservatives saw no change overall from 2022.
Labour candidates, councillors and activists were seen in tears on the night, with some saying they were “shocked” and “this isn’t working”. Gareth Shaw (Chief Whip) and Polly Knewstub (Cabinet Member for Healthy Equal Lives) both lost their seats.
The Greens won all three seats in Hanwell Broadway, and the Conservatives shocked the room when they won all three seats in North Greenford from Labour. The longest serving councillor, Anthony Young, lost his election, bringing an end to his 48-year councillorship for the Conservatives.
Breakdown by party
Labour – 46 (-13)
Liberal Democrats – 13 (+7)
Greens – 5 (+5)
Conservatives – 5 (-)
Independent – 1 (+1)
The turnout was 43.54 per cent of a potential 250,275 eligible voters. This is an increase of 3.23 per cent compared to 2022.
Unlike the 2022 elections, Labour was forced to contend with a resurgent Green Party, Reform UK, and a new local independent party backed by Jeremy Corbyn. The Ealing Community Independents described its existence as being to challenge Labour’s dominance in Ealing, though failed to win a seat.
‘Always the trend for ruling parties to do less well’
When asked what went wrong for Labour, Cllr Peter Mason, the Labour Leader of the Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Well, I think you have to look at the national picture. You have to look at the situation that we find ourselves in.
“Look, in any election cycle where you have a government in power nationally, it is always the trend that in local government the ruling party tends to do less well and that is because we have a government that has inherited 14 years of mess from the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives and they have had just two short years to steady the ship and there is so much more happening that we know is going to restore people’s faith and confidence in Labour.”
Cllr Mason saw his personal vote share in Southall Green plummet by 44 per cent. When asked why this was, he said: “The election is free and fair and people are entirely entitled to express their opinion. I think we have to look at the trend across London and we have to look at the trend in the UK.
“We’re absolutely committed to making sure that we represent the incredible people of Southall and we deliver for them on all the promises that we’ve made and all the promises that we’ve demonstrated that we’ve delivered over the last four years. Elections come every four years and I’m totally hopeful that in four years time that we’ll be able to secure that important historic sixth consecutive election and perhaps even get more councillors.”
This year saw the largest number of candidates to ever stand in the borough, and the largest of any London borough this year with a total of 367 candidates standing across 24 wards. In 2022, 264 candidates stood – 103 fewer than this year.
