The England council election results have reflected the changes in local political dynamics. The result showed that local communities rejected the two mainstream parties on their doorsteps.
All 23 council results have been announced, with Reform winning 10, the Liberal Democrats 3, and another 10 under no overall control.
Labour has won 98 but losses 187, while Independent has 89 council seats.
The Conservatives suffered huge losses, especially as many of the areas had been Conservative for many years. The Conservatives losses 674 seats, though they have 319 seats.
The Labour were only defending a limited number of seats in Keir Starmer’s first electoral test as prime minister, but their losses were proportionately significant.
Both Labour and the Conservatives lost at least two thirds of their seats from the last election in 2021.
However, more locally in Hainault by-election, Reform did not do well as it did nationally. Although Labour won but they only beat the independent candidate by one vote! This follows the recent Mayfield by-election where the independent candidate beat Labour in its own previous stronghold.
Redbridge Matters believes it is the beginning of a new era of independent candidates because we are seeing the public continuously frustrated with the mainstream parties, especially Labour and the Conservatives.
We need to seize this opportunity to bring in good independent candidates, but it also requires the local unity to succeed. Therefore, it is extremely important that we should unite and to provide a viable alternative for success.
Redbridge Matters will support independent candidates at the upcoming local elections in 2026.
We encourage interested individuals who aspire to be councillors to come forward and get in touch with us.