2006 London local elections

2006 London local elections

4 May 2006
All 1,861 on all 32 London boroughs
Turnout	38.9% (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.

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.

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)

Ward result maps

London-wide

The map below shows the results for each ward across the whole of Greater London.

2006 London local elections results map

By borough

• 
  Barking and Dagenham 2006 results map
• 
  Barnet 2006 results map
• 
  Bexley 2006 results map
• 
  Brent 2006 results map
• 
  Bromley 2006 results map
• 
  Camden 2006 results map
• 
  Croydon 2006 results map
• 
  Ealing 2006 results map
• 
  Enfield 2006 results map
• 
  Greenwich 2006 results map
• 
  Hackney 2006 results map
• 
  Hammersmith and Fulham 2006 results map
• 
  Haringey 2006 results map
• 
  Harrow 2006 results map
• 
  Havering 2006 results map
• 
  Hillingdon 2006 results map
• 
  Hounslow 2006 results map
• 
  Islington 2006 results map
• 
  Kensington and Chelsea 2006 results map
• 
  Kingston upon Thames 2006 results map
• 
  Lambeth 2006 results map
• 
  Lewisham 2006 results map
• 
  Merton 2006 results map
• 
  Newham 2006 results map
• 
  Redbridge 2006 results map
• 
  Richmond upon Thames 2006 results map
• 
  Southwark 2006 results map
• 
  Sutton 2006 results map
• 
  Tower Hamlets 2006 results map
• 
  Waltham Forest 2006 results map
• 
  Wandsworth 2006 results map
• 
  Westminster 2006 results map

References

1. "Year Tables". 19 December 2015.
2. "Local Elections 2006". www.andrewteale.me.uk.
3. "London Borough Council Elections 4 May 2006" (PDF). files.datapress.com. March 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2018.
4. Minors, Michael; Grenham, Dennis, eds. (March 2007). London Borough Council Elections: 4 May 2006 (PDF). Greater London Authority. ISBN 978-1-85261-232-0. Retrieved 8 September 2019. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

• "English elections list". electoralcommission.org.uk. 2006. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
• Wintour, Patrick; Muir, Hugh (17 February 2006). "Party leaders put to the test with a capital campaign". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2019.