London local election results 2022 live: Latest news on who won council elections - Labour wins Westminster

Labour have won the first six councillors in Waltham Forest, which is expected to be one of the first boroughs to declare overall control.

Ward results:

The Conservatives are confident of holding Hillingdon, the borough’s local democracy reporter, Lisa Haseldine, reports.

Lisa says: “Early Conservative predictions coming in Hillingdon - they seem to be confident they’re heading for a majority.

“A Tory source tells me they’re ‘pretty confident that that majority will be double figures’.

“Labour, however, are hedging their bets.

“A source tells me some ballot boxes have been positive, others not so much.

“Nevertheless, they say: ‘It’s clear that this is a two horse race.’”

On a really good night, Labour would have hoped to challenge in Hillingdon, which is home to Boris Johnson’s constituency.

YouGov polled it as one of the 16 key battlegrounds in England, giving it as “likely Conservative”.

Total turnout across the borough is 35.39%.

Camden Council candidates have said turnout has been “slow and sluggish”, the BBC local democracy reporter Julia Gregory, who covers the borough, reports.

Counting has started in most wards, with King’s Cross recording turnout of just 27.4%.

Highgate, which is a Green target, has hit 49% turnout, which is exceptionally high for a local election.

The first ward of the night has come in from Wandsworth, with the Tories Matthew Corner and Mark Justin being elected.

On a special episode of Uncovered, NationalWorld’s news podcast, we give an oversight of what is happening across the country as well as a deeper dive into some of the key local battlegrounds.

Host Kelly Crichton is joined by political reporter Ethan Shone, who explains why the Conservatives are not predicting significant gains and why Labour will still have a battle on their hands despite recent Tory-centred scandals such as Partygate.

Journalists from around the UK join Kelly to outline the key issues in their areas.

Ralph Blackburn, Editor of LondonWorld, highlights some of the councils set for a potential change in administration and the motivations behind this, including Barnet.

Fionnuala Bourke, Editor of BirminghamWorld and Joshua Powling, Political Editor for SussexWorld also join Kelly to discuss how elections are set to play out in their areas.

You can listen to the podcast in full here, and subscribe on any platform, including Apple and Spotify.

Counting in Merton is under way, with the first turnout figures filtering through.

The south London council, which voted Labour in 2018, is expected to declare at 5am.

Merton Council has revealed turnout for five wards:

Pollcat has predicted that Westminster Council could turn Labour for the first time in history, BBC local democracy reporter Hannah Neary reports.

The pollster projects that Labour will have a gain of 17 seats.

Hannah reports: “Locals are concerned about the financial recovery of the West End, where the Tory-led council built the £6m Marble Arch Mound, in a bid to boost local spending.

“The area has also been plagued by noisy pedicabs, which the Conservatives have pledged to tackle and have been targeting through a crackdown with help from the Met Police.

“The Conservatives have also pledged to help businesses ‘bounce back from Covid’, maintain regular bin collections, deliver a carbon-neutral city and keep residents safe at night.

“Labour’s campaign in Westminster has focused on tackling poor housing in the borough, where many residents are living in damp, leaking and overcrowded homes.”

A senior Conservative source has said that they believe they have “lost control of the council”, the BBC’s Charlotte Rose has reported.

The source said that Tory voters “have not come out” to these polls, while “Labour’s have”.

The Tory said that there is quite a lot of unhappiness to do with partygate and other issues, which the source described as the “mid-term blues”.

YouGov polls found that Wandsworth was leaning Labour, with Britain Elects also predicting it would vote Labour.

Prior to the election, Conservatives told LondonWorld that they were going to switch to Labour over partygate.

Kevin, 54, said: “I would be a natural Tory voter, however at the last election I couldn’t vote for Johnson as I thought he’s not somebody who’s credible.

“So I voted for Lib Dem which is a waste of a vote.”

Maurice Mcleod, Labour council candidate for Battersea Park told LondonWorld: “It’s always an exciting night because these only come around every four years and it’s a real chance to change the direction of the council.

“I certainly wouldn’t say feeling confident, that’s not a useful way to be feeling when you’re canvassing.

“You go and talk to as many people as you can and you do as well as you can and we tried to do that.

“There’s so many other variables that go into it, we’re hopeful by then we were hopeful four years ago so who knows?”

The Conservatives’ flagship council of Wandsworth is likely to be taken by Labour, pollster YouGov has predicted.

And Westminster and Barnet - which have both never been controlled by Labour in their history - have been classified as “too close to call”.

YouGov polled voters in 16 key English battleground councils ahead of the elections.

Of these, five were in London: Hillingdon, Barnet, Westminster, Wandsworth and Croydon.

The pollsters have predicted Labour will further cement their control of Croydon Council, despite the local authority effectively declaring itself bankrupt in 2020.

While in the west London borough of Hillingdon, YouGov forecasts that a Labour surge will not be enough to unseat the Conservatives.

However it has declared Wandsworth as “leaning Labour” and Westminster and Barnet as “too close to call”.

YouGov associate director Patrick English said: “Labour are defending a very strong set of local election results in London, with Jeremy Corbyn leading his party to 44% of the vote and over 1,100 councillors last time round.

“But despite this high baseline, our data suggests that Labour will improve further still in the capital.

“Not only are they likely to keep hold of and increase their presence on Croydon council, but Labour have a good chance of taking Wandsworth – once described as a ‘flagship’ Conservative council.

“Elsewhere in London, their progress will bring them within striking distance of taking both Barnet and Westminster councils, but the result there is too close to call.

“Meanwhile, Hillingdon is likely to remain under Conservative control, despite Labour advances.”