Three new councillors voted in and Onkar Sahota re-elected

Candidates for the Ealing and Hillingdon seat. Onkar Sahota (centre). Clockwise from top left: Marijn Van De Geer, Anthony Goodwin, Gregory Stafford, Hussain Khan

The borough of Ealing has three new councillors after the results were declared for by-elections in local wards. At the same time Onkar Sahota has been re-elected as the area's Greater London Assembly member after he held on to the Ealing and Hillingdon constituency.

Julian Gallant held Ealing Broadway ward on Ealing Council for the Conservatives with a slight increase in the number of votes from the last election. Labour candidate Claire Tighe also increased her party’s vote at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.

The pattern was different in Hanger Hill ward where Fabio Conti was elected with a reduced share of the vote. Labour, represented by Grace Quansah saw its support remain steady and it was Athena Zissimos for the Liberal Democrats who was the big gainer. She said, " said: “It was nice to see how much of an increase in support there was for me as a local resident in Hanger Hill. Many residents feel that both the Tory councillors, who are not local, and the Labour council neglect us, we are collectively forgotten by both. I plan to change all that in next year's council elections with a Liberal Democrat win. I look forward to building on the doubling of the vote and becoming a councillor in Hanger Hill.”

Hanger Hill By-election May 2021

In Hobbayne ward on the other hand, where Louisa Brett was elected for Labour, the Conservatives did make some in roads into her majority.

Hobbayne Ward By-election May 2021

Dr Onkar Sahota, Labour Assembly Member for Ealing & Hillingdon since 2012, saw his majority dropp by 2% but Conservatives in the borough were disappointed by the outcome. One local party member said, “Given how much better than expected Shaun Bailey appears to have been doing and our strong performance in the by-election as well as across the country we should have been making a bigger challenge in this seat. With no UKIP candidate standing our vote should have risen more so it now looks like a missed open goal.”

The Conservative Party has held the constituency seat of West Central, as the other early election results roll in.

The constituency, which includes the whole of the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, had been earmarked as a potential swing seat for Labour, but Conservative Tony Devenish narrowly defeated Labour’s Rita Begum to retain the seat he won in 2016.

But the Conservative Party’s majority has fallen dramatically, from 14,564 in 2016 to just 2,225 in this year’s election.

Elsewhere, the Conservatives comfortably retained the constituency seat of Bexley and Bromley, with Peter Fortune to take over the seat vacated by MP Gareth Bacon, beating Labour candidate Stefano Borella with 97,966 votes to 47,389.

Labour, meanwhile, have retained their seats in Lambeth and Southwark as well as Brent and Harrow.

Marina Ahmad will take over the seat held by MP Florence Eshalomi, while Krupesh Hirani will take over Brent and Harrow from former Assembly chair Navin Shah.

In Lambeth and Southwark, Green Party candidate Claire Sheppard beat the Conservative candidate Hannah Ginnett to second place, securing 36,933 votes, which is an increase of 11,140 votes since 2016.

Turnout in this year’s election had been expected to be low, but figures from the constituencies that have so far declared results show only a slight drop from 2016 figures.

In Bexley & Bromley, voter turnout fell from 47 per cent in 2016 to 44 per cent this year, while Lambeth & Southwark saw turnout fall from 44 per cent to 41 per cent.

In the final results of Friday night, Labour retained the North East constituency, with Sem Moema taking the seat that had been held by Jennette Arnold for 17 years before she retired, while Keith Prince of the Conservative Party held his seat of Havering & Redbridge.

Havering & Redbridge had been identified as a potential swing seat, but Mr Prince eventually beat his Labour rival Judith Garfield by 15,327 votes, increasing his party’s majority from 1,438 in the previous election.

Results for the remaining seven constituencies as well as the London-wide seats will be announced this Saturday (8 May ), with the London Mayoral election results to be announced either Saturday night or Sunday (May 9) morning.

May 12, 2021