Local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

took place in London, and some other parts of the United Kingdom on Thursday 4 May 2006. Polling stations were open between 7am and 10pm. All

London borough The London boroughs are the current 32 districts of England, local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present ...

council seats were up for election. Mayoral contests were held in the London Boroughs of Hackney,

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, and

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

. The

London Conservatives The London Conservatives are the regional party of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party that operates in Greater London. Party strength The party's main competition is with the larger London Labour Party for office. The Conservat ...

slightly increased their vote share, made 131 council seat gains and won control of 6 new councils, while

London Labour London Labour is the devolved, regional part of the Labour Party in Greater London. It is the largest political party in London, currently holding a majority of the executive mayoralties, a majority of local councils, council seats and parli ...

saw its vote share decline by 6% and lost 8 councils and 182 seats. The 2006 result was one of Labour's worst local election results in London, with its share of the vote (27.9%), its number of council seats (684) and number of councils (7) all at their lowest levels since

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. Conversely, the Conservatives won the most seats, the most councils and the most votes in London for the first time since

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. The Labour decline was also accompanied by a rise in the number of minor party councillors, mostly concentrated in specific local authorities.

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or deferential action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also th ...

won 15 council seats, the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

won 14 and the London Green Party won 12. The

Christian Peoples Alliance The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) is a minor Christian right political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democrac ...

and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

also won two seats each. In total, the election saw 76 minor party or independent councillors elected in London, a figure which remains the highest on record. Altogether, minor parties and independents won 17% of the vote, the highest ever vote share for 'other' parties until the local elections of

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Results summary

*Turnout: 2,284,882 voters cast ballots, a turnout of 38.9% (+7.1%).

Council results

Overall councillor numbers

The largest party in terms of councils and councillors became the Conservative Party after this election, with losses by the Labour Party and a small increase in share of the vote to the Liberal Democrats. Smaller national parties made significant gains, with the

and

having the second-largest number of councillors in the

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London boroughs, London borough in East London. The borough was created in 1965 as the London Borough of Barking; the name was changed in 1980. It is an Outer London borough and the south is wi ...

and

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

(respectively). The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

also saw its gains concentrated on one area to achieve the third most councillors in the

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, England. It forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The ...

. Scattered across boroughs, unaffiliated residents groups won 24 council seats.

Mayoral results

In three London boroughs the executive function of the council is a directly elected mayor. The mayoral elections take place at the same time as councillor elections in those boroughs.

Ward result maps

London-wide

The map below shows the results for each ward across the whole of Greater London. Citywide ward results of the 2006 London local elections

By borough

File:Barking_and_Dagenham_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Barking and Dagenham 2006 results map File:Barnet UK local election 2006 map.svg, Barnet 2006 results map File:Bexley London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Bexley 2006 results map File:Brent_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Brent 2006 results map File:Bromley London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Bromley 2006 results map File:Camden_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Camden 2006 results map File:Croydon London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Croydon 2006 results map File:Ealing London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Ealing 2006 results map File:Enfield_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Enfield 2006 results map File:Greenwich London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Greenwich 2006 results map File:Hackney London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Hackney 2006 results map File:Hammersmith and Fulham London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Hammersmith and Fulham 2006 results map File:Haringey_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Haringey 2006 results map File:Harrow_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Harrow 2006 results map File:Havering_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Havering 2006 results map File:Hillingdon_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Hillingdon 2006 results map File:Hounslow_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Hounslow 2006 results map File:Islington_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Islington 2006 results map File:Kensington and Chelsea London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Kensington and Chelsea 2006 results map File:Kingston upon Thames London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Kingston upon Thames 2006 results map File:Lambeth London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Lambeth 2006 results map File:Lewisham London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Lewisham 2006 results map File:Merton London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Merton 2006 results map File:Newham London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Newham 2006 results map File:Redbridge London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Redbridge 2006 results map File:Richmond upon Thames London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Richmond upon Thames 2006 results map File:Southwark London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Southwark 2006 results map File:Sutton London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Sutton 2006 results map File:Tower Hamlets_London_UK_local_election_2006_map.svg, Tower Hamlets 2006 results map File:Waltham Forest London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Waltham Forest 2006 results map File:Wandsworth London UK local election 2006 map.svg, Wandsworth 2006 results map File:Westminster London UK local election 2010 map.svg, Westminster 2006 results map

References

* * {{United Kingdom elections May 2006 in the United Kingdom

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...