4 May 2006 2010 → 35.1% 27.6% 14 7 | 6 December 2005 21 July 1994 0.7% 6.2% 6 8 | |
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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.
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All London borough council seats were up for election. Mayoral contests were held in the London Boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham, and Newham.
The Conservatives slightly increased their vote share, made 132 council seat gains and won control of 6 new councils, while Labour saw its vote share decline by 7% and lost 8 councils and 181 seats. The 2006 result was one of Labour's worst local election results in London, with its share of the vote (27.6%) at its lowest ever, and its share of council seats (685) and councils (7) at their lowest level since 1968.
The Labour decline was also accompanied by a spike in the number of minor party councillors. Respect, the British National Party, the Green Party, the Christian Peoples Alliance and the Socialist Party gained 37 council seats between them. In total, the election saw 74 minor party or independent councillors elected in London, 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.
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.
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.