The 2026 Newham London Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2026, as part of the 2026 United Kingdom local elections. All 66 members of Newham London Borough Council were elected; the 2026 Newham mayoral election was held on the same date to elect the council's leader. The election took place alongside the local elections in the other London boroughs.
Prior to the election, Labour had held both the mayoralty and a majority of the seats on the council. Labour's Forhad Hussain retained the mayoralty for the party at the associated mayoral election, taking over from the incumbent Labour mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, who did not stand for re-election. At the council election, Labour narrowly remained the largest party but lost its majority, leaving the council under no overall control. Local party the Newham Independents Party and the Green Party both made significant gains at Labour's expense.
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.
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 2022, 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. Electoral process Newham, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors once every four years. The previous election took place in 2022. 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. 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.
Previous council composition
After 2022 election Before 2026 election After 2026 election Party Seats Party Seats Party Seats 64 56 26 2 4 24 3 16 3 Changes 2022–2026: May 2022: Belgica Guana (Labour Co-op) suspended from party May 2023: Cecilia Welsh and Luke Charters (Labour) resign – by-elections held July 2023 July 2023: Mehmood Mirza (independent) gains by-election from Labour Stephanie Garfield (Labour) holds by-election October 2023: Daniel Lee-Phakoe (Labour) resigns – by-election held November 2023 November 2023: Zuber Gulamussen (Labour) leaves party sit as an independent under Newham Independents group Sophia Naqvi (independent) gains by-election from Labour under Newham Independents group May 2024: Sasha Das Gupta, Ken Penton, and James Asser (Labour) resign – by-elections held July 2024 June 2024: Newham Independents Party formed – Mehmood Mirza, Zuber Gulamussen, and Sophia Naqvi (independent) join party Elizabeth Booker (Labour) resigns – by-election held July 2024 July 2024: Areeq Chowdhury (Labour) defects to Green Party Liz Cronin, Melanie Onovo, Blossom Young, and Aktharul Alam (Labour) win by-elections May 2025: Lewis Godfrey (Labour Co-op) leaves party to sit as an independent July 2025: Neil Wilson (Labour Co-op) dies – by-election held September 2025 September 2025: Md Nazrul Islam (NIP) gains by-election from Labour November 2025: Nur Begum (Labour) defects to Newham Independents Party January 2026: Nur Begum (NIP) leaves party to sit as an independent
Results summary
Ward results Source:
Beckton
Boleyn
Canning Town North
Canning Town South
Custom House
East Ham
East Ham South
Forest Gate North
Forest Gate South
Green Street East
Green Street West
Little Ilford
Manor Park
Maryland
Plaistow North
Plaistow South
Plaistow West and Canning Town East
Plashet
Royal Albert
Royal Victoria
Stratford
Stratford Olympic Park
Wall End
West Ham
References
Notes