1998 Wandsworth London Borough Council election

The 1998 Wandsworth Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Wandsworth London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

At the same as the election Wandsworth saw 74.3% vote in favour of the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum and 25.7% against, on a 38.7% turnout. ^[2]

Campaign

In the run up to the election a private Conservative poll was leaked which showed them 17% behind Labour and likely to only win in 4 wards as compared to 18 for Labour. ^[3] However Labour and the Liberal Democrats accused the Conservatives of leaking the poll in order to lower expectations. ^[4] The Conservatives would have lost control of the council on a 7% swing from the 1994 election, ^[5] or if the 1997 general election results in the area were repeated. ^[6] However Wandsworth had low council tax levels, the lowest in the country, and the Conservatives had recently cut the tax by 24%. ^[7] This meant commentators expected the Conservatives to stay in control of what was described as their showpiece council. ^{[6] [8]}

For the election 9 of the 22 wards that made up the council were seen as being marginal. ^[8]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives increase their control of the council gaining an extra 5 seats. ^[9] This meant that with 50 seats the Conservatives had the most seats they had yet had on the council. ^[10] Labour lost seats in St John and Roehampton wards, which was put down to the closure of the local Queen Mary's Hospital. ^[11] Voter turnout at 40% was 10% down on the previous 1994 election. ^[11]

Wandsworth Local Election Result 1998 ^[12]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	50	5	0	+5	82.0
	Labour	11	0	5	-5	18.0

Ward results

Balham (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Bedford (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Earlsfield (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

East Putney (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Fairfield (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Furzedown (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Farebrother	1,963
	Labour	Jane Briginshaw	1,949
	Conservative	Ian Hart	1,896
	Labour	Margaret Hepburn	1,835
	Conservative	Ian Cheshire	1,812
	Conservative	Oliver Lodge	1,794
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Hill	301
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Knight	231
	Green	Richard Ekhsigian	222
	Liberal Democrats	David Patterson	166

Graveney (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Latchmere (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Nightingale (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Northcote (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Parkside (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Queenstown (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Roehampton (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

St John (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

St Mary's Park (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Shaftesbury (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Southfield (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Springfield (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Thamesfield (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Tooting (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

West Hill (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

West Putney (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

References

1. "London Borough Council Elections 7th May 1998" (PDF). London Datastore. London Research Centre. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
2. "Policy and politics: Local elections: How London voted for a mayor". The Guardian . 9 May 1998. p. 16.
3. Pierce, Andrew (14 April 1998). "Tories face big losses in local elections". The Times . p. 2.
4. Reiss, Charles (14 April 1998). "Tories accused of bogus leak in London poll war". Evening Standard . p. 17.
5. "Tories fear for Wandsworth". Local Government Chronicle. 5 May 1998. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
6. Kellner, Peter (15 April 1998). "First test for new parties". Evening Standard . p. 22.
7. "Councils of war: the 12 key town halls they're fighting for". Evening Standard . 6 May 1998. p. 19.
8. Frean, Alexandra (17 April 1998). "Tories rally round showpiece council in election countdown". The Times . p. 12.
9. Abrams, Fran (8 May 1998). "A day from which all parties took comfort". The Independent . p. 11.
10. "Voters leave parties guessing". BBC News Online . 8 May 1998. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
11. Comerford, Cathy (8 May 1998). "Tories score flagship victory with low taxes: Wandsworth". Evening Standard . p. 4.
12. "Local Elections results". The Times . 9 May 1998. p. 46.