The 2026 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2026, as part of the 2026 United Kingdom local elections. All 45 members of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were elected, with a concurrent mayoral election taking place to determine the council's leader. The elections took place alongside the local elections in the other London boroughs. The local political party Aspire won 33 out of the 45 seats up for election, gaining majority control of the council, which had previously been under no overall control, while Aspire's founder and leader Lutfur Rahman won the mayoral election.

Background

Since its formation in 1965, Tower Hamlets had generally been under Labour control, with brief exceptions. From 1990 to 2006, all councillors elected to the council were Labour or Liberal Democrats; this was challenged in the 2006 election, by the new Respect Party winning twelve seats and the Conservatives taking seven.

In the 2010 election Respect lost all but one of its seats, with Labour winning a large majority, but a simultaneous referendum on introducing a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, which was only backed by Respect, was successful.

The Labour councillor Lutfur Rahman, who had been council leader in 2008 until he was replaced in 2010 after a Channel 4 documentary linked him to the Islamic Forum of Europe, was selected as Labour candidate for the mayoral election. He was removed as the candidate by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party after "very serious allegations" about the selection. He subsequently ran as an independent candidate with support from Respect. Rahman was elected in the October 2010 election in the first round.

Having set up a new political party called Tower Hamlets First, Rahman ran for re-election in 2014, being re-elected in the second round against the Labour candidate John Biggs. In the concurrent council election, Tower Hamlets First won 18 seats, with Labour on 22 and the Conservatives on 5, resulting in no overall control of the council.

In 2015, Rahman was removed from office and his election was declared void after he was found guilty of electoral fraud. He was barred from seeking re-election for five years. Tower Hamlets First was de-registered as a political party by the Electoral Commission shortly after. In the 2015 re-run of the mayoral election, Rahman endorsed the independent candidate Rabina Khan. Khan had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2010 but had been suspended for supporting Rahman's initial 2010 election, and had been re-elected in the 2014 council election as a Tower Hamlets First councillor. Biggs won the election.

The former Tower Hamlets First councillors formed the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. Khan formed the breakaway group the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) with some other Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors, which was formally registered in 2018. The remaining Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors formed the new party Aspire.

In the 2018 council election, Labour won 42 seats of the 45 available with 46.1% of the vote. Khan was elected as a councillor for PATH, with her party winning 11.3% of the vote across the borough. Aspire lost all their representation, winning no seats with 15.4% of the vote.

In the 2022 elections, Aspire regained control of the council from Labour, winning 24 seats, and also won the mayoralty with Lutfur Rahman returning as mayor. Reduced to 19 seats, this was the lowest ever number of seats Labour have ever held in the history of Tower Hamlets.

Electoral process and campaigns

Council Tower Hamlets, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at 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.

Mayor Since 2022, the United Kingdom has used first past the post to elect local mayors. There is only one round of voting, with the candidate with the most votes winning. The mayoral election had nine candidates, with incumbent mayor Lutfur Rahman seeking reelection. Rahman's campaign received heavy criticism due to his previously being barred from office for electoral fraud, with a former Aspire councillor accusing Rahman of running "an autocratic council". His campaign was endorsed by Your Party and The Muslim Vote.

The Labour Party's candidate was councillor Sirajul Islam, who received endorsement from Matthew Parris in The Spectator. The Green Party chose Hirra Khan Adeogun as its mayoral candidate after their previous candidate, Nathalie Bienfait, withdrew from the election after a rent increase forced her to move out of Tower Hamlets.

Council composition After 2022 election Before 2026 election After 2026 election Party Seats Party Seats Party Seats 24 22 33 19 16 5 1 1 5 1 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 1 Changes 2022–2026: November 2023: Ayas Miah (Labour) leaves party to sit as an independent 2024: Sabina Khan (Labour) joins Aspire June 2024: Sabina Akhtar (Labour) leaves party to sit as an independent August 2024: Rachel Blake (Labour) resigns – by-election held September 2024 September 2024: Abdi Mohamed (Labour) wins by-election; Kabir Hussain (Aspire) leaves party to sit as an independent October 2024: Saif Uddin Khaled (Aspire) and Ohid Ahmed (Aspire) leave party to sit as independents November 2024: Jahed Choudhury (Aspire) leaves party to sit as an independent; Sabina Akhtar (independent) joins Aspire

Council results summary

Ward results The Tower Hamlets council announced the list of nominated candidates for each website on their website on the 10 April 2026.

Bethnal Green East

Bethnal Green West

Blackwall & Cubitt Town

Bow East

Bow West

Bromley North

Bromley South

Canary Wharf

Island Gardens

Lansbury

Limehouse

Mile End

Poplar

Shadwell

Spitalfields & Banglatown

St Dunstan's

St Katharine's & Wapping

Stepney Green

Weavers

Whitechapel

Mayor election results Rahman won the election with 38.8% of the vote, winning his third term (and second consecutive term) as Mayor. During Rahman's victory speech, independent candidate Terrence McGrenera was escorted out of the venue by police after holding a sign saying "liar".

Percentage change is in comparison to First round results from 2022

References