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All 70 seats to Ealing London Borough Council 36 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2026 Ealing London Borough Council election will take place on 7 May 2026, as part of the 2026 United Kingdom local elections. All 70 members of Ealing London Borough Council will be elected. The election will take place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs. [1] [2]
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. [3]
Since its formation, Ealing has been under either Labour control or Conservative control. The council has had an overall Labour majority since the 2010 election. In the most recent election in 2022, Labour won 59 seats, the Liberal Democrats won six and the Conservatives won five. The incumbent leader of the council is the Labour councillor Peter Mason, who has held that position since May 2021. [4]
In July 2024, three councillors were elected as Members of Parliament (MPs), Labour councillors Callum Anderson [5] and Deirdre Costigan [6] and Conservative councillor Gregory Stafford [7] .
As a result, three by-elections took place. The 2024 South Acton by-election and 2024 Northolt Mandeville by-election were both held by Labour, while the Conservatives lost the 2024 Hanger Hill by-election to Liberal Democrat Jonathan Oxley.
In May 2025, the Liberal Democrats formed a shadow cabinet in opposition to the Labour administration, with each of the seven Lib Dem councillors having a role. [8]
Ealing, as is the case all other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at once every four years, with the previous election having taken place in 2022. The election takes place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors. Electors will have 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 are entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. [9] Voting in-person at polling stations takes place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters are able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election. [9]
| After 2022 election | Before 2026 election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Party | Seats | ||
| Labour | 59 | Labour | 59 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 6 | Liberal Democrats | 7 | ||
| Conservative | 5 | Conservative | 4 | ||
