2026 Newham London Borough Council election

2026 Newham Council election

←  2022 7 May 2026 2030 →
All 66 seats on Newham London Borough Council 28 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Green NIP Last election 64 seats, 61.2% 2 seats, 19.9% Did not exist Seats before 56 3 5

2026 Newham mayoral election

←  2022 7 May 2026 2030 →
The Mayor of Newham
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Forhad Hussain TBD TBD Party Labour Green NIP Last election 56.2% 11.0% 8.5% [a]
Mayor before election Rokhsana Fiaz Labour Mayor TBD

The 2026 Newham London Borough Council election will take place on 7 May 2026, as part of the 2026 United Kingdom local elections. All 66 members of Newham London Borough Council will be elected, along with the Mayor of Newham. The election will take place alongside the local elections in the other London boroughs. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

History

Result of the 2022 council election

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]

Newham has been under Labour control since its creation, besides a period of no overall control from 1968 to 1971. In the most recent election in 2018, Labour won 64 seats with 61.2% of the vote across the borough, whilst the Green Party of England and Wales received two seats with 19.9% of the vote. The Labour candidate Rokhsana Fiaz was reelected as mayor of Newham in the concurrent mayoral election.

Council term since 2022

Newham as of 4 July 2024

In 2022, the Labour Party suspended Canning Town South councillor Belgica Guana for offensive social media posts. ^[4] As of July 2025 ^[update] , Guana sits as an independent councillor for Canning Town South. ^[5]

In the 2023 Boleyn by-election, Mehmood Mirza ran as an independent candidate and was elected on 13 July 2023. ^[6] At the 2023 Plaistow North by-election, Sophia Naqvi, standing as an independent, gained the seat from Labour. ^[7] The defection of Zuber Gulamussen of Plashet ward from Labour in November 2023 gave the Newham Independents group the role of the principal opposition over the Green Party. ^[8]

The Newham Independents Party registered as a political party on 3 June 2024. ^[9] In July 2024 Areeq Chowdhury, representing Canning Town North, defected from the Labour Party to the Green Party. This put both the Newham Independents and the Green Party equal as opposition. ^[10]

Electoral process

Newham, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at once every four years. The previous election took place in 2018. The election took place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors. Electors had 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 were 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, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. ^[11] Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election. ^[11]

Previous council composition

After 2022 election			Before 2026 election			After 2026 election
Party		Seats	Party		Seats	Party		Seats
	Labour	64		Labour	56
	Green	2		Green	3
				NIP	5

References

1. Coughlan, Joe (30 April 2025). "London local elections, why they aren't in 2025 and when the next ones will be". My London. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
2. "Local authority, combined authority, and county combined authority election cycles in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
3. "The essential guide to London local government | London Councils". www.londoncouncils.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
4. "Newham Council resigns itself to inaction after suspended Labour councillor Belgica Guaña apologises for horrific social media posts, but police investigation ongoing". 10 October 2022.
5. "Councillor details - Councillor Belgica Guaña". Newham London Borough Council. 8 July 2025. Archived from the original on 8 July 2025. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
6. "Shock for Labour in Boleyn by-election". 7 August 2023.
7. Baston, Lewis (24 November 2023). "Plaistow North by-election loss is headache for Newham Labour". OnLondon. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
8. "Labour loses another seat to Independent councillor after by-election in Newham". 24 November 2023.
9. "Registration: Newham Independents Party". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
10. "Councillor suddenly quits Labour for Greens after Starmer Bangladesh comments". July 2024.
11. "How the elections work | London Councils". www.londoncouncils.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2021.

Notes

1. Newham Independents leader Mehmood Mirza stood as an independent in the 2022 mayoral election prior to forming the group.