Labour Increases Its Majority in Hammersmith & Fulham
Party has five more councillors with the Conservatives losing one
The count delivered few surprises in the borough
The Labour Party has easily won Hammersmith and Fulham Council again and has extended its power over the local authority.
The Conservatives lost one seat while the Labour party now has 40 seats out of the available 50 an increase of five councillors. The Conservatives were unable to improve on their 2018 result after a muted campaign.
Across the borough, a total of 146 candidates battled it out for 50 seats across 21 wards compared to 46 previously. The Conservatives had put forward candidates in every seat while there were also 36 Liberal Democrat candidates, eight Green candidates, one Independent and one Social Democrat standing for office.
Labour councillors looked relaxed and quietly confident on the night as ward after ward was declared to be in their favour.
The Conservatives were able to keep Fulham Town, Palace & Hurlingham, Parson’s Green & Sandford and Munster wards blue but the rest of the borough remained firmly red.
Voters backed the Labour-run council to fix Hammersmith Bridge and promised to continue to protect Charing Cross Hospital. The Labour party also promised to scrap controversial parking fees introduced at the height of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives had promised to run services better than the Labour party and pointed out the council was dubbed the worst authority in England for damp and mouldy homes. Cycle lanes in the borough have also been controversial.
Control of Hammersmith and Fulham Council has alternated between Labour and the Conservatives since the first local elections in the borough in 1964 but the Labour Party has held it since 2014.
A total of 146 candidates battled it out for 50 seats across the West London borough’s 21 wards but ultimately Labour increased the number of seats it has from 35 to 40.
The councillors elected will serve a four-year term and represent eight three-councillor wards and 13 two-councillor wards across the borough according to a redrawn map provided by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.
The first full meeting of the new council will be held on 25 May.
Jacob Phillips - Local Democracy Reporter
May 6, 2022