Labour Loses Deepen In Camden As Keir Starmer Faces Doubts After 2026 Borough Election

In Camden, London, all 55 seats on Camden London Borough Council were up for election across wards including Belsize, Bloomsbury, Camden Town, Kentish Town North and South, Kilburn, King’s Cross, Holborn and Covent Garden, and West Hampstead, with each ward represented by either two or three councillors.

“Prime Minister Keir Starmer is vowing to fight on to deliver on his promise to bring "change" to Britain after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections that deepened doubts over his ability to govern”

Camden Haven Courier

Before the 2026 election, the council was run by Labour, which had 45 seats, and voters in Camden had polls close at 10pm on Thursday, May 7, with the count taking place on Friday.

Camden Haven Courier

The wider local election day in England involved more than 5,000 council seats up for grabs across 136 local authorities, and mayoral elections also took place in six areas.

In the same election cycle, the Labour Party’s losses in local elections deepened doubts over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ability to govern, as he told reporters in Ealing, west London, "I am not going to walk away."

The Guardian described how Labour’s challenge in London’s local elections is concentrated in places like Camden, where the borough is home to Keir Starmer’s constituency of Holborn and St Pancras and where activists reported being confronted with Starmer’s unpopularity.

Cynthia Boampong, a council tenant and former London bus driver, said she had voted Labour for her entire family but that it felt like "a time for a change," as she spoke in Highgate New Town to Lorna Jane Russell, the only Green member on the local Camden council.

El Mundo

The Guardian also said it would require a uniform swing of 19% to another party for Labour to lose its majority, while noting that five parties were fielding an almost full slate in Camden.

In parallel, Camden Greens dropped backing for Haverstock candidate Aziz Hakimi after the national party suspended him over social media claims, and the Local Democracy Reporting Service confirmed the suspension after an investigation into his social media activity.

The My London report added that Hakimi will remain on Thursday’s ballot paper as a Green Party candidate because, under electoral law, the ballot paper cannot be amended after the nomination deadline even if a candidate is suspended or expelled.

London Now said the 2026 elections determine control over all 32 borough councils and decide around 1,800 council seats, impacting local services including housing, planning, waste collection, schools, and council tax levels.

“Voters across London are preparing to head to the polls in a high-stakes set of elections that could reshape power across the capital”

London Now

It also said the elections could produce more councils with “no overall control,” leading to coalition or minority administrations, as Labour dominance under pressure faces a fragmented five-party contest involving Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, and Reform UK.

Camden Haven Courier reported that Reform UK gained more than 350 council seats in England and that Labour lost 254 seats while the Conservative Party was down 146 seats, with results due later on Friday for Scotland and Wales.

The Guardian framed the stakes for Camden’s council as a fight for control involving the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour, which holds 45 of its 55 seats, and it said there is a high element of unpredictability in a race where five parties are fielding an almost full slate.

In El Mundo’s account of Camden, it said the council has been governed by one party, Labour, since the Camden Council was established in 1964, and it described the last elections in 2022 as Labour winning 55.6% of the vote and 47 of the 55 seats on the council.