Westminster Council

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The local borough in which Downing Street and Buckingham Palace both sit has voted Labour councillors into power for the first time in its history.

City of Westminster Council has been "true blue" ever since the borough was formed in the 1960s.

Wandsworth, too, has long been Conservative. It was Margaret Thatcher's favourite council and pioneered her Right to Buy scheme. #

So what has turned voters against the party they have previously favoured at the ballot box?

I've been out speaking to voters gathering their reaction to two of Labour's huge election gains.

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It is quite a day to be here in Westminster. There is definitely an air of disbelief but of course a sense of real elation for Labour.

Sadiq Khan was here just a short while ago. He was walking side-by-side with the newly elected City of Westminster Council leader Adam Hugg. A group of campaigners cheered holding banners up too.

The mayor gave them a short speech thanking them for their canvassing and listening to issues that matter to residents here.

They did some chanting of "Westminster Labour gain". Words many thought they would never hear.

Out of the boroughs earmarked for Labour gains overnight this was probably considered unlikely.

But, now areas like Hyde Park, Mayfair and Lancaster Gate have all turned red. In fact Hyde Park was always considered a proper Conservative stronghold on a local level and now all three councillors are Labour.

Just in terms of symbolising - Westminster is of course home to the Houses of Parliament. Those corridors of power now on land which is firmly controlled by Labour for the first time ever.

This borough has been Conservative since it was created in 1964 and incoming the leader of Cllr Hugg has promised a "root and branch revolution" of everything the council does.

He says it is an enormous honour to be elected and he will work incredibly hard to deliver what was promised.

So a big task ahead of him it is fair to say.

Sadiq Khan said Labour's route to Downing Street is "through London" as he praised Sir Keir Starmer for tackling anti-Semitism in the party.

The mayor of London spoke outside City of Westminster Council after Labour's first-ever election victory in the central London borough.

We'll be hearing more from the Labour mayor of London shortly.

Sadiq Khan has just arrived at City of Westminster Council on Victoria Street.

BBC London's Frankie McCamley will have more on BBC One at 13:30 BST.

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Westminster City Council’s new leader Adam Hug hailed Labour's victory in the central London borough.

Labour won control of the council from the Tories for the first time since it began in 1964.

Cllr Hug said: “I’m very, very dead very elated, we have made history here in Westminster.

"We had an amazing team of councillors and we have gone out and listened to people across Westminster… the council has ignored their concerns.”

Cllr Hug said he believes Labour won Westminster due to a “mix of local and national issues” and people have felt “taken for granted” by the Tories.

He added: “People were telling us ‘I can’t vote for Boris Johnson any more”.

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Wandsworth and Westminster Councils never aligned with the Sadiq Khan's mayoral policies on cycle lanes, pedestrianisation and LTNs - will that change now?

Could we soon see the full pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, for example, which has been promised for as long as I can remember?

Certainly, active travel supporters see these results as a huge vindication of their policies on issues like low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and school streets.

I think it will give these policies added impetus.

You'd think now that political will at mayoral and council level on active travel will now be aligned.

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The Labour Party has won control of three flagship Conservative London boroughs in the local elections.

Wandsworth and Barnet borough councils, and Westminster City Council, all previously controlled by the Conservatives, are now in Labour hands.

It is the first time Labour has ever won Barnet and Westminster since both councils were created in the 1960s.

The new Labour leader of Wandsworth suggested his party's victory signalled "time for a change" at the top of government.

Barnet's Conservative group leader said the result did not "bode well" for the Conservatives at the next general election, as the partygate scandal and the cost of living crisis impacts on the party's vote share.

All the headlines so far have been about Wandsworth - the flagship Tory council since 1978, which has gone to Labour.

But the final result for Westminster - also swapping from Conservative to Labour - is in some ways more extraordinary.

We have known that Wandsworth was trending Labour over a long period. They won all of the three parliamentary seats, including Putney - its sole victory in the 2019 general election - so we knew it was on the cards.

But Westminster was at the upper end of the Labour Party's ambition overnight.

It is the first time it has had a non-Conservative majority since the borough's creation in 1964.

This is the home of the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Mayfair, Park Lane, Marble Arch - all places you don't necessarily associate with the socialist people's republic.

But Labour now controls Westminster.

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Speaking of the Marble Arch Mound ... the Tory councillor responsible for the ballooning costs of the project has been re-elected in his Westminster Council Little Venice ward.

Cllr Melvyn Caplan stepped down in August after total costs nearly doubled to £6m, up from a forecast of £3.3m.

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The Conservatives have lost Westminster City Council for the first time in its 58-year history.

Labour had promised to build more homes and freeze council tax in Westminster.

Voters appear to have been ultimately swayed by the Partygate scandal inside Number 10, the cost of living crisis and, locally, the £6m Marble Arch Mound fiasco.

Across the borough, a total of 162 candidates battled it out for 54 seats across 18 wards .

Westminster City Council had been held by the Tories since it was first formed in 1964 and the authority currently has the lowest council tax in the country at just £866 per year.

According to Labour, Westminster residents were furious on doorsteps about the Marble Arch Mound tourist attraction which ended up costing three times its budget and other voters felt they could not trust the Tories after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fined for breaking Covid rules at the height of the pandemic.

Other issues voters considered as they headed to the polls including the amount of rubbish and noise generated by partygoers.

Previously the Conservatives had over twice as many councillors (41) as Labour (19).

But this time around, the number of wards in the borough has decreased from 20 to 18, and the total number of councillors decreased from 60 to 54.

Two pictures from separate counts showing a range of emotions.

First, the joy of Labour supporters in Westminster as they take hold of the council for the first time ever.

Below, a Conservative Party supporter pauses for a moment reflecting on the Tories defeat in Wandsworth Council.

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