In the previous election in 2018, the Labour Party maintained its control of the council, winning 57 out of the 63 seats with the Green Party forming the principal opposition with five of the remaining six seats. The 2022 election took take place under new election boundaries, with the number of councillors remaining the same.
Labour held control of the council, winning 58 seats. The Liberal Democrats overtook the Greens as the second-largest group, winning three seats, becoming the official opposition. It also marked the first time that Liberal Democrat councillors had been elected to the council since 2010. The Conservatives lost its lone seat meaning that for the first time since the Council's founding in 1964, it will have no Conservative Councillors.
Background
History
The thirty-two London boroughs were established in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. They are the principal authorities in Greater London and have responsibilities including education, housing, planning, highways, social services, libraries, recreation, waste, environmental health and revenue collection. Some of the powers are shared with the Greater London Authority, which also manages passenger transport, police and fire.[1]
A Labour councillor for Coldharbour, Matt Parr, died in July 2018.[4] A by-election to fill his seat was held on 13 September 2018, which was won by the Labour candidate Scarlett O'Hara.[5] A Labour councillor for Thornton, Jane Edbrooke, resigned in early 2019 to take up a politically restricted job.[6] The by-election was won by the Labour candidate Stephen Donnelly while the Liberal Democrats gained vote share to come in a strong second place.[7] Another councillor for Thornton, Lib Peck, resigned shortly after to take up a role working for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Labour held the resulting by-election in April 2019 with candidate Nanda Manley-Browne, with the Liberal Democrats making further gains, reducing the Labour majority to nineteen votes.[8]Labourcouncillor for Oval, Philip Normal, resigned in January 2022 after historic racist and sexist tweets were uncovered on his Twitter account.[9] In February 2022, Labourcouncillor for Clapham Town, Christopher Wellbelove resigned due to his new job as Deputy-Lieutenant for Greater London.[10]
As with most London boroughs, Lambeth was electing its councillors under new boundaries decided by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which it produced after a period of consultation. The number of councillors remained at 63, under new boundaries with thirteen three-councillor wards and twelve two-councillor wards.[11]
Electoral process
Lambeth, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at once every four years. The previous election took place in 2018. The election took place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors (depending on the number of electors). Electors had as many votes as there are councillors to be elected in their ward, with the top two or three being elected.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in London aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who lived at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities.[12] Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.[12]