The 2022 Hackney London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 57 members of Hackney London Borough Council were up for election. The elections took place alongside the election for the mayor of Hackney, local elections in the other London boroughs, and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.
The Labour Party retained overall control of the council. It won 50 of the 57 seats, losing two seats to the Green Party. The Conservative Party held the five seats that they had had before the election, remaining the official opposition.
Background
History
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.
Since its formation, Hackney has usually been under Labour control except for a period from 1968 to 1971 when it was under Conservative control and from 1998 to 2002 when it was under no overall control. Councillors have mostly been elected from the Labour Party, Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats, with some Green Party councillors being elected in 1998 and 2006. In the most recent election in 2018, the Liberal Democrats lost their three seats in the Cazenove ward with Labour winning 52 seats with 63.0% of the vote across the borough and the Conservatives winning the remaining 5 seats with 11.1% of the vote across the borough. The Green Party won 16.9% of the vote across the borough without winning any seats, performing best in the Dalston and Hackney Downs wards. The Liberal Democrats won 8.6% of the vote without winning any seats, performing best in Cazenove ward. The council is run under a mayoral system, so its leader is the directly elected mayor of Hackney. The incumbent mayor of Hackney was Labour's Philip Glanville, who had held that role since a 2016 by-election.
The local Conservative Party in Hackney selected Oliver Hall as their candidate for Mayor. At nineteen years old, he was thought to have been the youngest ever major-party candidate for a directly elected mayoralty in England and Wales.
Council term A Labour councillor for Victoria ward, Alex Kuye, resigned in September 2018 for health reasons. A by-election to replace him was held in October 2018, which was won by the Labour candidate Penny Wrout with 58% of the vote against a swing to the Liberal Democrats. Wrout taught journalism at the University of Essex. In November 2019, a Labour councillor for Clissold ward, Ned Hercock, resigned for personal reasons. A by-election was held on 12 December 2019 on the same date as the 2019 general election, which was won by the Labour candidate Kofo David. David was an activist training to be a barrister. His selection as the Labour candidate was criticised by opposing candidates who pointed to his unsuccessful court action against a former colleague who had accused him of sexual harassment and bullying.
Feryal Clark, a Labour councillor for Hoxton East and Shoreditch, resigned after being elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North. A Labour councillor for King's Park, Tom Rahilly, resigned in March 2020 due to taking a politically restricted job. A Conservative councillor for Stamford Hill West, Aron Klein, resigned in July 2020 due to ill health. Jon Burke, a Labour councillor for Woodberry Down, resigned in January 2021 due to plans to move out of London. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all four by-elections were not held until May 2021 alongside the 2021 London mayoral election and London Assembly election. The candidates for the incumbent party won in all four seats. The Labour candidate Anya Sizer won in Hoxton East and Shoreditch, with the Green Party coming second. The Labour candidate Lynne Troughton won in King's Park, with the Greens again coming second. The Conservative candidate Stephen Lisser won the Stamford Hill West by-election, with Labour coming a closer second. The Labour candidate Sarah Young won the Woodberry Down by-election with the Green Party coming in second place.
Unlike most London boroughs, Hackney kept its existing ward boundaries, as they were last reviewed in 2013.
Electoral process Hackney, 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 were 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 lived 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. 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.
Campaign
Mayoral election The Conservatives selected the nineteen-year-old law student, Oliver Hall, as their mayoral candidate. Hall said he would stop any new Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes and consult on removing existing ones. He also promised to build more affordable housing. Gwenton Sloley, an anti-gang activist, stood as an independent candidate under the slogan "Hackney People Before Profit". He said that the proceeds of the crime fund should be spent on "talking therapy and drop-in services" to "help people whose mental health has deteriorated during successive lockdowns". He said he would work to stop children from being excluded from school, and provide mentoring to young people after they are arrested, to prevent them from getting involved in gangs and criminal activity.
Previous council composition
After 2018 election Before 2022 election Party Seats Party Seats 52 52 5 5
Results summary
Mayoral election
Council election
Ward results
Asterisks (*) denote sitting councillors
Brownswood
Cazenove
Clissold
Dalston
De Beauvoir
Hackney Central
Hackney Downs
Hackney Wick
Haggerston
Homerton
Hoxton East & Shoreditch
Hoxton West
King's Park
Lea Bridge
London Fields
Shacklewell
Springfield
Stamford Hill West
Stoke Newington
Victoria
Woodberry Down
Changes 2022–2026 September 2023: Philip Glanville resigned as Mayor of Hackney; his last day in office was 22 September 2023, with the statutory deputy mayor, Anntoinette Bramble, acting in his place pending a by-election. November 2023: Caroline Woodley was elected Mayor of Hackney at the resulting mayoral by-election. May 2024: Labour councillors Claudia Turbet-Delof and Penny Wrout, who represented Victoria, and Fliss Premru, who represented Clissold, resigned from Labour to form an independent group. January 2026: M Can Ozsen, a Labour councillor for London Fields, left Labour.
By-elections
De Beauvoir The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Tom Dewey eleven days after he was elected. Dewey was later convicted of possessing indecent images of children.
Cazenove The by-election was triggered when Labour councillor Caroline Woodley gave up her Cazenove council seat after being elected Mayor of Hackney at the 2023 mayoral by-election.
De Beauvoir The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Polly Billington, who had been selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for East Thanet. It was on the same day as the London mayoral election and London Assembly election. Vote share changes displayed are relative to the 2022 by-election.
Hoxton East and Shoreditch The by-election was called after Labour councillor Steve Race resigned to concentrate on his campaign as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Exeter. The by-election was on the same day as the London mayoral election and London Assembly election.
Hoxton West The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Yvonne Maxwell.
Cazenove The by-election was called after Labour councillor Eluzer Goldberg resigned, citing family commitments and his work schedule. The by-election took place on the same day as the 2024 United Kingdom general election. Vote share changes displayed are relative to the January 2024 by-election.
London Fields The by-election was triggered by the resignation and arrest of Labour councillor Lee Laudat-Scott.
Stoke Newington The by-election was caused by the resignation of Labour councillor Mete Coban after he was appointed Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy.
The Green Party gained the seat, increasing their representation on the council to three seats, the highest number they have held since 1998, when they held two seats. The last time the Green Party won a by-election from opposition in London was 2008.
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