The 2022 Hackney London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 57 members of
Hackney London Borough Council
Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...
were up for election. The elections took place alongside the election for the
mayor of Hackney
The mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...
,
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
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 ...
. 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
The London boroughs are the current 32 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 London boroughs wer ...
were established in 1965 by the
London Government Act 1963
The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...
. 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
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...
, 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
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
control and from 1998 to 2002 when it was under
no overall control
In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...
. Councillors have mostly been elected from the Labour Party, Conservative Party and
Liberal Democrats, with some
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 ...
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 mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...
. The incumbent mayor of Hackney was Labour's
Philip Glanville, who had held that role since a 2016 by-election.
In November 2021, the local Conservative Party in Hackney selected Oliver Hall as their candidate for Mayor. At nineteen years old, he is 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
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
. 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
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, all four by-elections were not held until May 2021 alongside the
2021 London mayoral election
The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with 2021 London Assembly election, elections for the London Assembly, 2021 United Kingdom local elections, other local elections ...
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
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
, 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
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The ru ...
(
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
,
Irish,
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
and
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
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
In the United Kingdom, a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) is an area in which filtered permeability and traffic calming are deployed to reduce motorised through-traffic in residential areas. Many LTNs were introduced in spring 2020, although the s ...
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
File:Hackney Council 2018.svg,
File:Hackney Council 2018.svg,
Results summary
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
By-elections
De Beauvoir
A by-election took place on 7 July 2022, following the resignation of Tom Dewey.
Cazenove
A by-election took place on 18 January 2024, following the election of
Caroline Woodley
Caroline Woodley is a British Labour Party politician who was elected as the directly elected mayor of Hackney in London in a by-election in 2023.
Hackney councillor
Woodley was elected in 2018 to Hackney London Borough Council
Hackney Londo ...
as
Mayor of Hackney
The mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...
.
De Beauvoir
Another by-election took place on 2 May 2024, following the resignation of
Polly Billington
Polly Billington (born 1967) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament for East Thanet since 2024.
Prior to her election she was an environmental campaigner and had worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC b ...
. This was on the same day as the
London mayoral election
The London mayoral election for the office of mayor of London takes place every four years. The first election was held in May 2000, and six subsequent elections have taken place. The latest mayoral election took place in 2024.
Electoral system
...
and
London Assembly election. Vote share changes displayed are relative to the 2022 by-election.
Hoxton East and Shoreditch
A by-election took place on 2 May 2024. This was on the same day as the
London mayoral election
The London mayoral election for the office of mayor of London takes place every four years. The first election was held in May 2000, and six subsequent elections have taken place. The latest mayoral election took place in 2024.
Electoral system
...
and
London Assembly election.
Hoxton West
A by-election was held on 27 June 2024, following the resignation of Yvonne Maxwell.
Cazenove
The by-election on 4 July 2024 took place on the same day as the
United Kingdom general election
United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...
. It followed the resignation of Eluzer Goldberg. Patrick Pinkerton was elected as the new Councillor for Cazenove. Vote share changes displayed are relative to the January 2024 by-election.
London Fields
The by-election took place on 12 September 2024, following the resignation of Lee Laudat-Scott.
Stoke Newington
The by-election took place on 12 September 2024, following the resignation of Mete Coban, who became 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.
Notes
References
{{Greater London elections
Council elections in the London Borough of Hackney
Hackney